In the Division of Child Neurology, our research interests include pediatric headache, concussion, neurogenetics, neurocutaneous syndromes, and neuromuscular diseases.

Historically, child neurology has focused on the diagnosis and symptomatic treatment of neurologic conditions affecting children. However, recent advances in neurobiology and genetics have led to transformational changes in our ability to target and treat underlying neurologic disease processes, and previously untreatable and sometimes fatal conditions can now be reversed through a variety of new targeted and genetic treatments.

Our faculty are involved in a number of clinical trials and investigational studies to help us better diagnose and treat children with neurologic conditions.

Investigators in the Section of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology at the Stephen D. Hassenfeld Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders are actively exploring novel treatments for brain and spine tumors in children, including phase 1, 2, and 3 clinical trials. We are part of a number of regional and national consortia including the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium and the Children’s Oncology Group.

NYU Langone’s Comprehensive Neurofibromatosis Center is a member of the Department of Defense–funded Neurofibromatosis Clinical Trial Consortium (NFCTC), 1 of 15 sites in the United States, and the only site in the tristate region. We conduct phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials for NF1 and NF2 for adults and children. Additionally, we are exploring better ways to differentiate benign from malignant tumors in neurofibromatosis using advanced radiographic techniques and serum biomarkers. We are involved in designing and validating clinical trial outcome measures for NF1, NF2, and schwannomatosis.

Investigators in pediatric neurology, neuromuscular neurology, and neurogenetics are utilizing registries and databases to better understand the natural history of rare neurogenetic conditions, participating in clinical trials for enzyme replacement and other novel therapies, and to design ways of measuring treatment outcomes for rare genetic conditions. We also collaborate with the Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center and the Pediatric Epilepsy Program to address research questions in these pediatric conditions.