After graduating from the MD PhD program at Columbia University in NY, I did a year of pediatrics internship at St. Louis Children's Hospital, where I got to do a month on the neurology service. I returned to NY to do the child neurology residency at Columbia, led by Darryl De Vivo. I then did a neurobiology post doctoral fellowship at Harvard, in the lab of Ed Furshpan, and developed the microisland culture system and was able to record ictal epileptiform activity in networks of one or two hippocampal cells. After getting a faculty appointment in the neurology department of Boston Children's Hospital, my lab was able to demonstrate the key role of persistent sodium currents in driving these epileptiform discharges, including characterizing the late sodium channel openings that drove this activity.
Taking up an interest I started during my residency, I founded SimulConsult to develop diagnostic decision support software. That began in neurology, and then expanded to include rheumatology and genetics. With the advent of whole genome sequencing, the software now provides the clinical context that allows interpreting genome results in the clinical context.
My interest in ion channels led into unexpected areas after finding a apparent channelopathy that accounts for a significant chunk of ADHD, and opens up new opportunities for treatment.