A conversation between three longtime friends and colleagues, Drs. Ann Tilton, Nina Schor, and Pat Crumrine. Conversation taped in October 2015 at the 44th Annual Child Neurology Society Meeting.
Patricia K. Crumrine, MD
Patricia K. Crumrine is Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Residency Program Director of Child Neurology at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She graduated from Marietta College with a BS in Biology in 1964 and received her MD degree in 1968 from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. She completed three years of pediatric residency training at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital and then went to Columbia University for her Child Neurology training under Dr. Sidney Carter which she completed in 1974. She spent a year at the Gundersen Clinic in LaCrosse, Wisconsin as a clinical child neurologist and was then recruited to the University of Pittsburgh, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in 1975 . She has served as Director of EEG and the Pediatric Epilepsy Program there. In 2005 she was appointed as the Child Neurology Residency Training Director. Dr. Crumrine’s clinical and research interests have been in the field of epilepsy.
Dr. Crumrine has served as chair of the Neurology Residency Review Committee for the ACGME, secretary of the Board of Directors for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology(ABPN) and chair-elect for the Board of Directors for the ABPN. She has been an examiner, team director and exam writer for the ABPN. She has played key roles on committees of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Neurophysiological Society, the American Epilepsy Society and the American Academy of Neurology. She has served two terms on the Professional Advisory Board for the Epilepsy Foundation of America and was chair of the committee on Public and Client Information 1996-1999.
Dr. Crumrine has served many roles in the Child Neurology Society: chair of the membership committee (1986-1989), CNS Newsletter Editor (1989-1998), Councillor from the Northeast (1995-1997), and Secretary- treasurer (1998-2002). She has been a member of the board of the Child Neurology Foundation, serving as secretary-treasurer from 2003-2009. She has been the recipient of the Robert Eiben lectureship at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital in 1998, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Drexel Alumni Association in 2012, and the CNS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.
Nina F. Schor, MD, PhD
Dr. Nina Schor is the seventh Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and the William H. Eilinger Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She is also Pediatrician-in-Chief of the Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong and Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Neurobiology & Anatomy. Before arriving in Rochester, she was the Chief of the Division of Child Neurology in the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She also served as Professor of Pediatrics, Neurology, and Pharmacology at the University of Pittsburgh and held the Carol Ann Craumer Endowed Chair in Pediatric Research at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
A native of New York City, Dr. Schor received her BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, her MD from Cornell University, and her PhD from Rockefeller University. Her work at Rockefeller University resulted in being awarded a U.S. Patent and an IND from the FDA for development of a mucolytic agent for use in children with cystic fibrosis. She did her Pediatrics and Child Neurology residencies at Harvard University, Children’s Hospital of Boston, and the Longwood Area Neurology Program. Dr. Schor heads a research effort aimed at design and development of new strategies for treating tumors of the nervous system, including neuroblastoma and pheochromocytoma and for understanding the developmental mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. She served as Associate Dean for Medical Student Research at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Schor’s research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health, among other agencies, since 1988.
Dr. Schor has been a Counselor of the Society for Pediatric Research, Secretary-Treasurer of the Child Neurology Society (2004-10), and President of Professors of Child Neurology. She has served most recently as President of the Child Neurology Society (2013-15) and as a member of the Executive Council of the American Pediatric Society and the Science Committee of the American Academy of Neurology. Dr. Schor was given the Child Neurology Society’s highest honor, the Hower Award, in October 2017.
Ann Tilton, MD
Ann Tilton, MD is a Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics and Section Chair of Child Neurology at Louisiana State Health Science Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is director of the Rehabilitation Center at Children’s Hospital of New Orleans and director of the Comprehensive Spasticity Program. Special interests include neurorehabilitation, neuromuscular disorders, and clinical applications and research in novel uses of botulinum toxin and intrathecal baclofen in the care of children and young adults with abnormal tone.
Dr. Tilton has served on the executive committee of the Professors of Child Neurology and has been active in the national Child Neurology Society, serving on its board of directors as a Councillor for the South (1996-98), Secretary/Treasurer (2003-04), and President (2005-07). She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Child Neurology Foundation. Dr. Tilton has been involved in the American Academy of Neurology Board of Directors where she served as the treasurer of the American Academy of Neurology Institute. Residency education is one of her priorities and she served as a member and Vice Chair of the ACGME Neurology Residency Review Committee (RRC). She is currently the Chair of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). Her interest in children with disabilities extends to the American Academy of Pediatrics where she served on the national Council for Children with Disabilities. Additionally, she is a certified member of the American Society of Neurorehabilitation and has been active on the executive committee.
Dr. Tilton has published on numerous topics and has spoken nationally and internationally on child neurology, rehabilitation, and spasticity management.