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.

Margaret (Peggy) Chapman is a Clinical Nurse Specialist, Board Certified, in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing. Peggy received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Creighton University in 1976. In 1982 she graduated from Boston University with a Master of Science in Nursing and was certified as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in 1983. She has worked in various capacities in the Omaha and the Boston areas as a Nurse Manager of Child, Adolescent and Adult psychiatric units. She has been a child, adolescent and adult therapist and has done psychopharmacology for all ages since 1998. She is the Medical Advisor to the New England PANS/PANDAS Association, a psychiatric consultant to Dearborn Academy and a co-owner of Bridge Consultants, which specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of neuroimmune psychiatric disorders. She treated her first patient with PANDAS in 1998.

Shannon Delaney, MD, earned her medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2009. She completed her residency training in adult psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in 2012 and completed her clinical child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Columbia/Cornell in 2014. She pursued a 3-year NIH-sponsored research fellowship at Columbia University studying immune and infectious biomarkers of psychosis with Dr. Brian Fallon as her mentor. She joined the faculty at CUIMC in 2017, doing a mix of clinical and research work. She specialized in seeing children and adults with complex neuropsychiatric presentations, after suspected Lyme disease or other Tickborne Diseases, as well as PANS/PANDAS patients. In 2020 Dr. Delaney et al published on a new tickborne illness, Borrelia miyamotoi, finding seropositivity in 26% of patients seeking a second opinion for suspected tickborne illness. Dr. Delaney received Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors award in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and recently started a private practice in Manhattan, specializing in complex neuropsychiatric presentations related to tickborne illness in kids and adults.

Scott most recently served as a Vice President of Research and Development at AbbVie (ABBV), functioning also as the Chief Scientific Officer of the Stemcentrx division in South San Francisco, CA until July 2018. Scott co-founded Stemcentrx in 2008, growing the company to 160 employees with numerous clinical assets launched by 2016 when the company was acquired by AbbVie for $6.2B. Prior to founding Stemcentrx, Scott was one of the first scientists at OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, where he spearheaded the identification and characterization of solid tumor cancer stem cells. Scott received his BS in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, a Master’s Degree in Molecular Pathobiology from the University of Alabama-Birmingham, and his doctorate in Immunology & Cancer Biology from the University of Minnesota. Scott moved to California in 2002 to postdoc at Stanford University with stem cell pioneer Irv Weissman, and in 2005 was recognized by the British Council as one of eight outstanding young US-based researchers in the field of stem cell biology.

Dr. Frankovich is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Allergy, Immunology Rheumatology (AIR) at Stanford University/Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH). Her 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 University/LPCH. She directs the Stanford PANS Program (2012- present) where she and 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 10 basic science labs who aim to understand the immunological underpinnings of the illness.

Jim Giordano is Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Biochemistry, Chief of the Neuroethics Studies Program, and Co-Director of the O’Neill-Pellegrino Program in Brain Sciences and Global Law and Policy at Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA. He is Distinguished Visiting Professor of Brain Science, Health Promotions and Ethics at the Coburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany, and was formerly Fulbright Professor of Neurology and Ethics at the Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich. Professor Giordano is Chair Emeritus of the IEEE Brain Project Sub-Program on Neuroethics and has served as a Senior Fellow of the EU-Human Brain Project, and as an appointed member of the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections (SACHRP). His ongoing work addresses the mechanisms and treatment of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric spectrum disorders; and the neuroethico- legal and social issues arising in and from research and use of emerging neuroscientific techniques and technologies. The author of over 300 papers, 15 government reports and 7 books on brain science and neuroethics, in recognition of his achievements, he was elected to the European Academy of Science and Arts, is a Fellow of the Dana Alliance of Brain Initiatives; an Overseas Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (UK), and was awarded Germany’s Klaus Reichert Prize in Medicine and Philosophy.

Dr. Harris is a tenured, academic physician-scientist neuropathologist with interests in neurological disease research, medical education, and neuropathology clinical service. His research focuses on the areas of neurodegeneration and CNS neoplasia. His primary interest is in understanding how mechanisms of neuroinflammation and glial-neuronal communication influence the pathophysiology of neurological diseases. As a neuropathologist and neuropharmacologist he also seeks to uncover novel targets for pharmacological intervention. As Director of Neuropathology and the Georgetown Brain Bank, Dr. Harris works collaboratively with other investigators interested in basic, translational, and clinical neuroscience research projects at GUMC and with other academic and industry partners. Dr. Harris also serves as a neuropathology consultant for the DOJ and the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and as the Chair for the Neuropathology Committee for the College of American Pathologists.

Pawel Kiela received his DVM degree from the Warsaw University of Life Science in Poland, followed by a PhD at the same University and the Lund University in Sweden in the developmental physiology of the gastrointestinal tract. He completed his post-doctoral training in the laboratory of Fayez K. Ghishan, MD at the University of Arizona, where he currently holds the rank of Professor and PANDA Endowed Chair in Autoimmune Disease Research. His main research interest is autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases, with particular focus on Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, gut microbiota, mucosal immunology, and extraintestinal manifestations of intestinal inflammation, including bone metabolism and gut-brain axis.

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 Massachusetts General 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 25 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 led her into the field of neuroimmune disorders, where she has incorporated evaluation and treatment in her primary care practice. She is a member of the Massachusetts PANDAS/PANS Advisory Council and the TAMF Scientific Advisory Board.

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.

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.

Dr. Yujuan (Julia) Zhang went to medical school at Medical Center of Fudan University in Shanghai, China, moved to the States in 2004. She had her residency training in Pediatrics at UCSF-Fresno program, fellowship training in pediatric rheumatology at Stanford University, and joined the faculty of Tufts Medical Center Pediatric Rheumatology in 2014. During her training at Stanford, she has become familiar with the condition of PANS/PANDAS from her mentor Dr.Frankovich. With strong belief that PANS/PANDAS patients often share an inflammatory/autoimmune/autoinflammatory process in pathophysiology, Dr.Zhang started seeing PANS/PANDAS patients since 2015, focusing more on the anti-inflammatory approach, in addition to seeing other pediatric rheumatology patients. Through the past few years, she has been learning with her patients and parents, gaining more confidence in assessing and managing PANS/PANDAS cases or cases mimicking PANS/PANDAS, along with other providers from different subspecialty background (pediatrics, developmental pediatrics, infectious disease, neurology, psychiatry, behavioral therapy, naturopathic medicine).