Dr. Dritan Agalliu, PhD is an Associate Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at Columbia University and founder of the Agalliu Lab. Research in his laboratory is focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate formation of the blood-brain barrier in the central nervous system (CNS) and the mechanisms of barrier breakdown in a variety of CNS diseases such as stroke and autoimmune diseases having symptoms that include blood-brain barrier failure, using a variety of genetic, molecular, cellular and imaging approaches. The lab has developed novel mouse strains that allow the visualization of changes in structural components of the blood-brain barrier, namely tight junctions and caveolae, in living animals for several CNS diseases (e.g. stroke and multiple sclerosis) in order to understand the cellular mechanisms underlying barrier impairment in these neurological disorders. In addition, Agalliu Lab is investigating the role of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in development of the CNS vasculature and formation of the blood-brain barrier, and are exploring the role of this pathway in repairing the barrier in diseases where its function is compromised (e.g. stroke and autoimmune disorders). Finally, they are investigating the mechanisms of immune cells entry into the CNS in a novel animal model for a neuropsychiatric disorder caused by multiple Streptococcus pyogenes infections, in order to understand how immune cells induce neurovascular, synaptic and behavioral deficits in the brain.

Dr Lauren Breithaupt is a faculty member at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry (Psychology), based in the Eating Disorder Clinical and Research Program and the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. She completed her pre- and post- doctoral training Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in translational neuroscience. Dr. Breithaupt holds a PhD in Psychology (Clinical Psychology and Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience) from George Mason University, which was funded by two National Science Foundation grants. Dr. Breithaupt's program of research focuses on understanding the neurobiology of eating disorders, a heterogenous class of disorders highly prevalent among females with substantial morbidity risk. In her research, she uses advance neuroimaging to identify state-specific consequences of dieting behaviors that contribute to the intractable and chronic nature of restrictive eating disorders in to develop novel biologics to improve treatment outcomes. This research is currently funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Brain Behavior Research Foundation. Dr. Breithaupt is a past recipient of the Early Career Investigator Award from the Eating Disorders Research Society, Society for Biological Psychiatry, and American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Results from Dr. Breithaupt's research has been featured in several prominent news sources, including, CNN Health, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Scientific American. Her clinical expertise includes evidence based treatments for adolescents and adults with eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorders.

Jennifer Frankovich, MD MS is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Allergy, Immunology Rheumatology (AIR) at Stanford University/Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH). Dr. Frankovich’s clinical expertise is in systemic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases that co-occur with psychiatric symptoms. She completed her training in pediatrics, pediatric rheumatology, and clinical epidemiology at Stanford. Jenny directs the Stanford PANS Program (2012- present) and along with her collaborators have created a longitudinal clinical database and large biorepository of patient and control biospecimens. In addition to generating clinical data to better understand the PANS illness, she is collaborating with over 15 basic science labs who aim to understand the immunological underpinnings of the illness. Dr. Frankovich also co-led the development of evaluation and treatment guidelines for post-infectious neuropsychiatric conditions including PANS and autoimmune encephalitis. The Immune Behavioral Health Research program has been recently named a site for an upcoming sponsored Phase III, placebo controlled double blind IVIG Clinical Trial and Dr. Frankovich is also co-leading an Autism “wearables” study at Stanford with genomist Mike Snyder, PhD. Her over-arching career goal is to develop better diagnostic algorithms and treatment pathways for children with sudden severe psychiatric deteriorations caused by post-infectious inflammatory processes.

Dr. Earl Harley Jr, MD graduated from the Howard University College of Medicine in 1971. He trained as a pediatrician and an otolaryngologist in the U.S. Navy with further pediatric otolaryngology fellowship training at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Harvard University. He has practiced at Georgetown University and Medstar Georgetown University Hospital for 26 years where he is a professor of otolaryngology and pediatrics. He is a leading voice in the otolaryngology community for research and treatment of PANDAS/ PANS and Basal Ganglia Encephalitis.

Herbert Lachman MD is a physician-scientist and professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Medicine, Genetics, and Neuroscience at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. His primary research focus is the generation of models for neurodevelopmental disorders using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, which are either generated from patients or by engineering control lines using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. The Lachman lab differentiates iPSCs into monolayer neurons, neural progenitor cells, monolayer neurons, cerebral organoids, and microglia, which are then analyzed by a variety of molecular strategies. In the past year and a half, he has developed a strong interest in PANS, and is a co-author of a study led by Peter van der Spek describing the first candidate genes in the disorder.

M. Elizabeth Latimer, MD received her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. She completed her residencies in Pediatrics and Neurology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, with special certification in Child Neurology. She served as chief of the Child Neurology Division at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC for five years, prior to practicing at Fairfax Hospital in Virginia. In 2000, Dr. Latimer opened her practice of Child and Adolescent Neurology in Bethesda, MD, where she provided treatment for autism, ADHD, migraines, and other neurological conditions. She’s currently practicing out of her office in Washington DC conveniently located in the heart of Georgetown. In addition to her general neurology and headache practice, Dr. Latimer specializes in caring for PANDAS patients, and cerebral palsy patients who require spasticity management. Throughout her years of working in the field of Child and Adolescent Neurology, Dr. Latimer has been involved with several health and non-profit organizations. She was a founding Board Member of the Catholic Coalition for Special Education, and served on the Board between 2004 and 2009.

Dr. Madan joined the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth and Geisel School of Medicine faculty in 2008 in Pediatrics, and in 2016 received a joint appointment in Epidemiology as well as Quantitative Biomedical Data Sciences at Geisel. She joined the Department of Psychiatry in 2018 to expand her training in line with her research goals. Dr. Madan is the Clinical Director of the Dartmouth Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center, and the focus of her research is on the developing microbiome in infants and children and the relationship to immune training and health outcomes that are alterable. She is a graduate of Brown University School of Medicine and trained in pediatrics followed by fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine at Tufts University, where she also completed a master’s degree in clinical and translational research. Dr. Madan is an expert in the developing microbiome in large infant cohorts examining the relationship between exposures, the microbiome, and health outcomes (infectious disease risk, respiratory outcomes and neurodevelopment), leading to publications in JAMA Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Nature Scientific Reports and highlighted in The New York Times, NPR and on Science Friday. She is the founding co-director of the Psychiatry Immunology and Neurology Group at Dartmouth begun in 2019, which aims to provide clinical care and translational research initiatives in infection and inflammation mediated neuropsychiatric illnesses in children and young adults. Dr. Madan’s lab is now focused on the relationship between the gut microbiome and neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric outcomes and interventions such as nutritional, probiotic regimens and fecal transplant.

Dr. Melissa McCormack is a general pediatrician practicing in Winchester, MA. She received her medical degree from Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a Ph.D. in Medical Science from the Division of Artificial Organs, Biomaterials, and Cellular Technology at Brown University, with a focus on nerve regeneration. She completed her general pediatric training at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and MassGeneral Hospital for Children. Dr. McCormack also conducted postdoctoral research in the fields of neuroscience and immunology at the University of California San Diego, University of Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts General Hospital. Her primary work experience over the past 22 years has been in primary care pediatrics. Additionally, Dr. McCormack has worked extensively in neonatal medicine and developmental/behavioral pediatrics due to her longstanding interest in neurodevelopment. She believes strongly in supporting the continued evolution of medicine to uncover the pathophysiologic basis for newly discovered and previously misunderstood biological disorders in order to optimally treat human illness. This philosophy has lead her into the field of neuroimmune disorders, where her role as both healer and advocate for her patients inspires her daily.

Richard Morse, MD is a Pediatric Neurologist/Epileptologist currently serving as Section Chief of Pediatric Neurology at The Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. He is a professor of Neurology and Pediatrics and serves on the admissions committee of The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. He received his MD through Dartmouth Medical School and training in Pediatric Neurology at Tufts in Boston. He served in the USAF as Chief of Pediatric Neurology at Wilford Hall Medical Center, then worked at Duke University Medical Center where he completed a fellowship in neurophysiology and epilepsy. Richard has long had an interest in PANDAS/PANS and, together with Dr. Juliette Madan, Child Psychiatry, helped start the research-based PING (Psychiatry, Immunology, Neurology Group) at Dartmouth Health. He is pleased to be focusing his efforts in the arena of clinical care and research initiatives in PANS, and on raising awareness of this disease entity among medical students and residents as well as fellow physicians.

MARK S. PASTERNACK, MD Mark S. Pasternack graduated from Harvard Medical School in the inaugural class of the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology. He completed clinical training in internal medicine and infectious disease at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and is board certified in these disciplines. After working as a research fellow at the MIT Cancer Center studying T cell immunology (where he discovered granzyme A), he returned to the MGH as chief of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Unit. He has been active clinically in pediatric infectious disease and infectious disease throughout his career. He has been awarded the Brian A. McGovern Award for Clinical Excellence by the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization and the Massachusetts Infectious Diseases Society Kenneth Kaplan Clinician Award. He served as president of the Massachusetts Infectious Diseases Society. Dr. Pasternack has provided clinical care to PANS/PANDAS patients for over a decade and has participated in the PANS/PANDAS Research Consortium efforts to develop clinical guidelines for the management of these patients.

Michal Caspi Tal, PhD, is an immunoengineer, and a principal scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Tal leads the Tal Research Group within the department of Biological Engineering and also serves as the associate scientific director of the Center for Gynepathology Research at MIT. From tick-borne disease to COVID, there are many similarities across chronic inflammatory diseases and important sex differences in these responses. Michal is working to map the trajectory of the immune response to infection and to examine how sex and age differences impact these trajectories. Dr. Tal is running the largest clinical study at MIT, MAESTRO, and complimenting that with the use of the mouse model of Lyme disease to deeply investigate sex and age differences in the immune response to infection. Her research is focused on creating predictive diagnostics, to distinguish those at risk of developing infection-associated chronic illness.

Dr Tim Ubhi is a Consultant Paediatrician, Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health and founder of the Children’s e-hospital and The London PANS Clinic. He has over 30 years experience in Paediatrics & Child Health. Tim has a specialist interest in Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcus (PANDAS) and is a founding member of the UK PANS/PANDAS Physicians Network and is also a member of the Scientific and Medical Advisory Board of the European Immunopsychiatry Association (EXPAND). He founded the Children’s e-Hospital in 2015, which was the world’s first online child health service, the service has been rated "Outstanding" by The Care Quality Commission. The London PANS Clinic opened it’s doors in August this year and is a dedicated centre for the treatment & research of children and adults with immune mediated behavioural change. The early part of his career was as a lecturer in Paediatrics & Child Health at Leeds University. During this time he completed his research into using botulinum toxin to help children with cerebral palsy. For this piece of work Tim was awarded the prestigious Michael Blacow prize by the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health. Tim was then awarded a Medical Research Council training fellowship looking at the development of novel treatments for childrens cancers. Tim has treated over 1200 patients with PANDAS in the UK over the past 8 years and also has a blog where you can read about child health political issues as well as heart warming and humorous stories in "The Diaries of a Children's Doctor" - www.drtimubhi.com

Dr. Kyle Williams completed his residency, fellowship (in child psychiatry), and PhD (in Investigative Medicine/Neuroimmunology) at the Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Graduate Studies. In 2013 he joined the faculty of Harvard Medical School and founded the Pediatric Neuropsychiatry and Immunology Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he treats children with PANDAS/PANS and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and conduct research on the role of the immune system in shaping behavior. He’s authored multiple peer-reviewed journal articles and book-chapters on PANDAS, OCD, and Tourette Syndrome, and recognition throughout the years in the form of awards from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Outstanding Resident Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, and recently the Early Career Award in OCD Studies from the University of Toronto. He has conducted research on OCD/PANDAS and Tourette Syndrome, and have evaluated and treated hundreds of children and adults with these conditions. Most importantly, he greatly enjoys helping people manage and overcome the challenges that OCD, PANDAS, and anxiety disorders can present in their lives and the lives of their children.