PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Candidate: I am a headache specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). I have a PhD in
visual systems neuroscience that focused on studying properties of neuronal adaptation in the visual cortex.
More recently, I have begun clinical research related to pediatric headache disorders and the study of
photophobia in migraine. My long-term goal is to elucidate the pathophysiology of concussion and headache,
identify relevant biomarkers, and improve the treatment of these conditions in young people. This grant will
enable me to build skills in concussion biomarker development to become an independent, translational
neuroscientist dedicated to improving the care of concussion and headache in children.
Research: Concussion is a major health concern, affecting 20% of youth in the United States. Headache is the
most common symptom following concussion and is associated with longer recovery times and greater
disability. However, there are no accepted guidelines on how or when to treat post-traumatic headache (PTH),
and there are no early biomarkers to identify youth at risk for prolonged PTH. PTH and migraine share many
clinical features and may have overlapping pathophysiology. The goal of this proposal is to determine if
pathophysiologic substrates of migraine are present early in PTH. I will examine electrophysiologic and blood
candidate biomarkers associated with trigeminovascular pathway sensitization (central to migraine
pathogenesis) at multiple time points in youth with PTH lasting longer than 1 month. These measures will be
compared to youth with symptom resolution.
Environment and Career Development: CHOP and University of Pennsylvania (Penn) offer a rich
environment for me to develop as an independent investigator. My mentorship team has diverse expertise and
will provide me with a unique set of skills to support biomarker development in pediatric concussion. My
primary mentor, Dr. Geoffrey K Aguirre, is an accomplished vision neuroscientist with expertise in the visual
system in migraine. He will provide the mentorship needed to develop advanced techniques in signal
processing for electrophysiologic biomarkers. My co-mentor, Dr. Ramon Diaz-Arrastia, is a leader in traumatic
brain injury biomarker research. He will provide guidance and support on study design for blood biomarker
development including the use of biomarkers in clinical trials. My second co-mentor, Dr. Christina Master, is an
expert in pediatric concussion who has built the Frontier Minds Matter concussion program at CHOP. This
program provides an extensive and well-integrated clinical and research infrastructure for longitudinal
concussion studies in youth, which will provide crucial support to the proposed studies.