Inflamma­tory Brain Disorders
Conference 2021

The Inflammatory Brain Disorders Conference 2021 featured nationally and internationally renowned experts skilled in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches who will present a diverse range of emerging clinical and research challenges, insights, and advances in the field of inflammatory brain disorders.

The intended audience is pediatric and adult physicians. Both generalists as well as specialists will find the conference valuable to their practices. The conference is designed for pediatricians, family physicians, psychiatrists, rheumatologists, immunologists, neurologists, and infectious disease physicians. Though the conference is designed for physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners will find the series valuable to their practices as well.

Neuropsychiatric Presentation in Pediatric COVID-19 Patients Associated with Anti-neural Autoantibodies

Keynote: Sam Pleasure, MD, PhD
Glenn W. Johnson, Jr. Memorial Endowed Chair
Professor, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
Director Neuroscience Graduate Program, UCSF
Joined by Claire Johns, MD,
Pediatric Neurology Resident/Fellow, UCSF

Metabolic and Mitochondrial Considerations in Neuropsychiatric Deteriorations

Richard Frye, MD, PhD
Chief of the Division of Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Phoenix Children’s Hospital
Professor, Department of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children’s Professor, Pediatric Neurology, The Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, Scottsdale, AZ

Rheumatology and Psychiatry: What We Can Learn From Overlapping Conditions

Jennifer Frankovich, MD
Clinical Professor of Pediatrics
Stanford University School of Medicine, Division of Allergy, Immunology, Rheumatology
Co-Director, Stanford Children’s Immune Behavioral Health Clinic
Director, Stanford Immune Behavioral Health Research Program

Autoantibody Discovery in Psychotic Spectrum Disorders

Christopher Bartley, MD, PhD
Immunopsychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)

A Neurologist’s Perspective on PANS: Case Studies

Hrissanthi (Chris) Ikonomidou, MD, PhD
Chief, Section of Pediatric Neurology, University of Wisconsin American Family Children’s Hospital
Faculty, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Plasmapheresis in Treatment of PANS

Wei Zhao, MD, PhD
Professor and Chief, Division of Allergy and Immunology
Virginia Commonwealth University

The Role of the Adaptive Immunity and Genetic Risk Factors in Vascular and Neuronal Dysfunction in Post-Infectious Autoimmune Encephalitis

Dritan Agalliu, PhD
Associate Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology in Neurology
Columbia University

Immunogenetic Variation in PANS and Neuroinflammatory Disease

Jill Hollenbach, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor, Departmeent of Neurology
University of California, San Francisco

Antibodies in Children with PANDAS Bind To AND Inhibit Specific Interneurons in The Basal Ganglia

Chris Pittinger, MD, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry in Yale Child Study Center

Disordered Eating in PANS

Cynthia Kapphahn, MD, MPH
Medical Director, Eating Disorders Program
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford
Clinical Professor, Division of Adolescent Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine

Immunophenotypes of Monocytes in PANS

Elizabeth Mellins, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, Pediatric Rheumatologist and Molecular Immunologist
Stanford University School of Medicine

Preliminary Findings from the International PANS Registry Epidemiology Study

Erin Masterson, PhD, MPH
Epidemiologist, University of Washington, School of Public Health

Neuropsychiatric Presentation in Pediatric COVID-19 Patients Associated with Anti-neural Autoantibodies (with Dr. Pleasure)

Claire Johns, MD
Pediatric Resident/Fellow, University of California, San Francisco

Closing Remarks: Vision for an International Research Collaboration to Study Neuroimmune Disorders (Non-CME)

Carlos Bustamante, PhD
Professor of Biomedical Data Science, Genetics, and Biology
Professor of Genetics and (by courtesy) Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine
Founding Director, Stanford Center for Computational, Evolutionary, and Human Genomics

A Pediatrician’s Perspective on Treating Mild to Moderate PANS

Andrew Baumel, MD
Pediatrician, Framingham Pediatrics

Clinical Work up and Treatment of Rheumatological Diseases That Have Psychiatric Co-Morbidities

Ruy Carrasco, MD
Director, Pediatric Rheumatology Consultants of Austin

Clues From The Clinical Exam

Theresa Willett, MD, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Pediatrics – Immunology, Allergy
Medical Director, SCH Immune Behavioral Health Clinic
Stanford University School of Medicine

The Link Between Infectious Diseases and Neuroimmune Disorders

Hayley Gans, MD
Clinical Professor, Pediatrics—Infectious Diseases
Stanford University School of Medicine

Psychiatric Medication Management in Inflammatory Psychiatric Disease With a Focus on PANS

Margo Thienemann, MD
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Stanford University School of Medicine

Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis

Cynthia Wang, MD
Pediatric Neurologist
Assistant Professor, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center