31st Annual Abby Stoddard Lectureship

Abby Stoddard Lectureship at Pediatric Grand Rounds

Friday

September 20, 2024 12:30–1:30 p.m.

Mt. Oxford 2nd Floor Conference Center Children’s Hospital Colorado Virtual Option Link: https://bit.ly/PedsGR24

“Harnessing Alternative Neural Pathways to Enable Life Participation for Children with Perinatal Brain Injuries”

Adam Kirton, MD, MSc, FRCPC

About Abby Stoddard Over 30 years ago, The Children’s Hospital and Division of Pediatric Neurology were fortunate and privileged to develop a close relationship with Mr. Rick Stoddard and his family, especially his daughter, Abby. Abby was a patient at The Children’s Hospital and had required neurological and neurosurgical care for an extended period of time beginning when she was 10 days old. She was subsequently followed regularly for several years in the neurology and neurosurgical clinics. In 1992, Mr. Stoddard and his family approached the Division of Pediatric Neurology about making a contribution to the hospital in Abby’s honor and in recognition of the excellent care she had received. After considering several possible options, Mr. Stoddard decided to endow the annual Abby Stoddard Visiting Professorship and Lectureship beginning in 1993 with the goal of bringing important, international leaders in the field of pediatric neurology to Children’s Hospital so that our trainees and faculty could meet them and observe them interact with families and share their knowledge and experiences.

This program from its inception was designed to go beyond divisional and departmental boundaries at The Children’s Hospital to include members of the adult neurology department at the university; community and regional pediatric neurologists, pediatricians, nurses, primary care providers and adult neurologists; divisions with shared clinical interests and groups with overlapping research interests.

Now in its 31st year, the Abby Stoddard Lectureship and Visiting Professorship at Children's Hospital Colorado continues to provide residents and students the opportunities to observe master clinicianteachers interview children and families, examine children of all ages, and formulate and discuss clinical cases presented to them. In addition to the case presentations, each of our visiting professors has given Pediatric Grand Rounds and has made bedside rounds on wards in the hospital where additional cases and clinical discussions take place. During each lectureship, time is arranged for our residents, fellows and students to meet and talk with our visiting professor in an informal setting to discuss career choices, professional development and other topics that they choose.

Adam Kirton, MD, MSc, FRCPC Professor of Pediatrics, Radiology and Clinical Neurosciences, Dr. Robert Haslam Chair in Pediatric Neurology Deputy Head (Research), Department of Pediatrics, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary Pediatric Neurologist, Alberta Children's Hospital

Adam Kirton, MD, MSc, FRCPC, is Professor of Pediatrics, Radiology and Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary and an attending Pediatric Neurologist at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

He holds the Dr. Robert Haslam Chair in Pediatric Neurology and serves at the Deputy Head (Research) for the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Kirton’s research focuses on applying technologies including neuroimaging, non-invasive brain stimulation, and brain computer interfaces to measure and modulate the response of the developing brain to early injury to generate new therapies and opportunities for life participation for disabled children. He served as the inaugural board chair and vice president of the International Pediatric Stroke Organization (internationalpediatricstroke.org, @curekidstroke).

Dr. Kirton directs the Calgary Pediatric Stroke Program (perinatalstroke.com, @PedStrokeYYC), Alberta Perinatal Stroke Project, the University of Calgary Non-invasive Neurostimulation Network (N3), and the ACH Brain Computer Interface Laboratory (BCI4kids.com, @BCI4kids).

Thank you to the Stoddard Family We have been exceptionally fortunate that the Stoddard family has remained involved continuously in the activities of this lectureship providing funding to support its further growth and development. As an outgrowth of the Abby Stoddard Lectureship, the Stoddard family has chosen to fund two additional annual lectureships at Children's Hospital Colorado, one in pediatric urology and one in neonatology (Gregor Stoddard Visiting Professorship and Lectureship).