Sucheta Joshi

I am deeply honored to be considered for the position of Councillor for the Midwest for the Child Neurology Society. I am currently Clinical Associate Professor at Michigan Medicine (University of Michigan), in Ann Arbor. I grew up on the west coast of India, in Mumbai, where I went to medical school at Seth G.S. Medical College and completed a residency in Pediatrics at Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital in the same city. I then moved to the United States west coast, training at the University of California San Francisco (Pediatrics) and Stanford University (Child Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology). I joined the faculty at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2003, and went on to get a Masters in Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

My area of clinical interest is the management of children and adolescents with difficult to treat epilepsy. This is also the foundation for my scholarly activity, teaching, and advocacy efforts. Early in my career, I participated in intra-mural, industry-funded, and NIH-funded collaborative research that included multicenter studies such as the Epilepsy Phenome Genome Project. I was a founding member of the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium.

In the past six years, my scholarly activity and advocacy have focused on improving access to care for children and youth with epilepsy. I have been invited by the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Neurology to participate in national initiatives to develop programs to improve physician knowledge and self-efficacy in managing childhood epilepsy and employ telemedicine to provide care to children and youth with epilepsy.

I am the PI of a Quality Improvement project funded by the MCHB branch of HRSA to increase access to care for children and youth with epilepsy. Central to this project is development of Telemedicine for Pediatric Epilepsy, providing improved access to specialty epilepsy care for children in underserved areas of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, thereby giving them access to a Level 4 Pediatric Epilepsy Center. Through this project I have also developed an Epilepsy Learning Collaborative across the state of Michigan for educating primary care providers in various aspects of epilepsy as well as for transition of care. I have developed a mechanism for assessing transition readiness for adolescents and young adults with epilepsy that has been piloted across the epilepsy clinics at Michigan Medicine.

I am the Medical Director for an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) initiated, federally funded National Coordinating Center for Epilepsy. Through this project, and in collaboration with Project ECHO (Extension of Community Healthcare Outcomes) from University of New Mexico, I directed development of a curriculum and national learning collaborative for pediatric epilepsy that was implemented in several states to increase knowledge and self-efficacy of primary care providers in pediatric epilepsy. This program was the first of its kind for pediatric epilepsy. I am currently leading a second Epilepsy ECHO program through the AAP. At the National Coordinating Center, I have also led an initiative to improve access to epilepsy care using telemedicine that has been implemented in three states across the country.

Within the Child Neurology Society, I have served on the International Affairs Committee, and am currently on the Scientific Program Planning Committee. I am also a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Neurology, serving on the Executive Committee from 2102-2018.

Serving on the CNS Executive Committee will truly be an honor. I hope my experiences as a clinician, researcher, educator and mentor will help advance the mission of the Child Neurology Society.