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Andrea Gropman, MD, Named Division Chief of Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and Neurogenetics

Washington, DC – Children’s National Medical Center has named Andrea Gropman, MD, as Chief of Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and Neurogenetics, a division created to reflect advances in genetics research and its translational applications to patient care in neurological injury and disorders, including developmental delays.

“The advances in understanding and treatment made possible by sophisticated imaging and discoveries at the molecular level of neurodevelopment have fundamentally altered what we can offer patients and families in the way of assessment and care,” said Dr. Gropman. “At Children’s National we can personalize care based on genetic sequencing and tracking specific bio markers with which we can determine optimum therapies, verified in many cases with fine-tuned imaging. We also can offer access to a significant number of clinical trials by virtue of the role we play in many of the national research consortia in the neurosciences.”

The new division includes the Neurogenetics Program and the Developmental Pediatrics Program. Dr. Gropman and her team will see patients at the Sheikh Zayed Campus for Advanced Children’s Medicine in Washington, DC, as well as in Virginia at the Children’s National regional outpatient center in Fairfax, and in Maryland, at the outpatient centers in Laurel, Annapolis, and Rockville.

Dr. Gropman is part of the Children’s National Center for Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine team, one of the largest in the country, with a comprehensive range of programs and services to meet the needs of patients and families in the mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Additionally, she is a Principal Investigator with the Children’s Research Institute’s Center for Neuroscience Research.

“Dr. Gropman has been a tremendous member of our team,” said Roger J. Packer, MD, Senior Vice President, Center for Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine. “This appointment synthesizes important clinical and research capabilities to improve how we serve patients and families who come to us from across the region and around the world for sophisticated diagnosis, treatment, and management of conditions and injuries that impact the mind and brain.”

A highly regarded researcher, Dr. Gropman’s current work is focused on establishing biomarkers of neurological injury and developmental delay in inborn errors of metabolism using specialized neuroimaging modalities, all to better characterize injury and delay, and to apply and then follow the efficacy of novel therapeutics.

Before joining Children’s National, Dr. Gropman was a senior staff fellow in the Intramural Research Program at the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where her research focused on the genetic pathways involved in neuronal migration disorders and on neurologic phenotypes in neurometabolic and genetic disorders.  She continues to work with the National Human Genome Research Institute as a member of the pediatric undiagnosed disorders team.

In addition to her assignment with Children’s National, Dr. Gropman is also an Associate Professor of Neurology and of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She also has a staff appointment at the Clinical Center at the NIH.

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Contact: Paula Darte or Emily Hartman, Children’s National Public Relations: 202.476.4500.

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