Release date: October 17, 2022
This is part three in Talking About Kids' three-part series on traumatic brain injury (TBI). In part one, Keith Owen Yeates explained what TBI is and why we care. In part two, Juliet Haarbauer-Krupa shared strategies for preventing TBI. In this final installment, Stacy Suskauer presents the latest research on responding to concussions, TBIs, and other head injuries to ensure the best possible outcomes children and adolescents. Stacy is the Vice President of Pediatric Rehabilitation at Kennedy Krieger Institute and the Director of the Division of Pediatric Rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. More information about Stacy and links to some TBI resources hand-picked by her can be found below.
Biography of Stacy Suskauer
Dr. Suskauer earned her undergraduate and medical degrees from Duke University. She completed a combined residency in Pediatrics and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Suskauer then completed a Pediatric Rehabilitation Brain Injury Research fellowship at Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She subsequently joined the faculty of those institutions and is currently an Associate Professor in PM&R and Pediatrics as well as the Vice President for Pediatric Rehabilitation at Kennedy Krieger and Director of the Division of Pediatric Rehabilitation in the Department of PM&R at Johns Hopkins.
As Co-Director of the Center for Brain Injury Recovery at Kennedy Krieger, Dr. Suskauer oversees clinical services and provides direct care to children with acquired brain injury of all severities. Under her leadership, the Institute’s Rehabilitation Continuum of Care has expanded to include thriving programs for children with concussions and those with disorders of consciousness.
As Director of the Brain Injury Clinical Research Center at Kennedy Krieger, Dr. Suskauer is the principal investigator on a number of studies including a current NIH-funded project which evaluates children after clinical recovery from concussion. Her research focus is to better understand and improve outcomes after childhood brain injury. She is working towards identifying neuroimaging and behavioral biomarkers to assess and understand recovery and long-term outcome. This work will set the stage for trialing interventions to improve outcome after pediatric brain injury.
Nationally, Dr. Suskauer has been involved in many key initiatives related to developing standards for pediatric concussion care and related research. She was one of the leaders in the development of CDC Guideline pertaining to evaluation and management of children with concussion.
Links
TBI resources for families in English and Spanish
The Brain Injury Alliance of Arizona:
Information on brain injury (BI) from the Brain Injury Clinical Research Center at Kennedy Krieger
