Annapurna Poduri, M.D., MPH
Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Director, Neurogenetics Program; Director, Epilepsy Genetics Program
Associate Chief for Academic Development, Department of Neurology
Diamond Blackfan Chair in Neuroscience Research
Professor Ann Poduri grew up in Rochester, NY. She graduated summa cum laude from Harvard and Radcliffe, studied medicine with a focus on neurosciences at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, pediatrics at the BCRP, neurology back at Penn and CHOP, and – again back in Boston – epilepsy at BCH and research methodology through an MPH at the Harvard School of Public Health. As a fellow and Instructor, she took her questions from the epilepsy service, OR, and neuropathology microscope to Chris Walsh’s lab, where she pursued a neurogenetics fellowship to study somatic mutation as a cause of focal epilepsy in children. She launched the Epilepsy Genetics Clinic in 2011 and her independent research program in 2013 to study and model germline and somatic variants involved in human epilepsy. Over the years, Dr. Poduri’s multi-disciplinary program has spanned from the clinic to the laboratory, revealing many genetic causes for epilepsy and other neurodevelopmental disorders and including novel discovery of somatic mutation in pediatric brain disease. Dr. Poduri serves as an elected member of the Board of the American Epilepsy Society and has served as an invited member of the Genomics Commission of the International League Against Epilepsy, Chair of the American Epilepsy Society/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Benchmarks Stewards Committee, member of the NINDS NST1 study section, and on scientific advisory boards for foundations devoted to developing precision medicine for patients with epilepsy. Her collaborative research and mentorship contributions have been recognized through numerous honors, including the American Neurological Association’s Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award, the American Academy of Neurology’s Dreifuss-Penry Epilepsy Award, and the Harvard Club of Boston’s Most Influential Women designation. She has been selected as the Deputy Director of the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke starting later this year, and she will serve in this role while continuing to mentor and collaborate with her trainees and colleagues at BCH and the HMS community.
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