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Rebecca N. Ichord, MD
Director, Pediatric Stroke Program
Dr. Ichord participates in multiple research projects within Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and in collaboration with other stroke investigators. Dr. Ichord is especially interested in better understanding the effect of stroke on complex brain function, such as thinking and learning, and developing new strategies to promote recovery and rehabilitation.
Bio
Dr. Ichord’s research focuses on critically ill children with stroke and acute brain injury. During her early career at Johns Hopkins, she had studied mechanisms of cerebral ischemic injury in the critical care/aAnesthesiology research laboratory, using animal models of stroke and cardiac arrest. After moving to CHOP in 2002, she focused exclusively on clinical research, aiming to better understand determinants of outcome, and treatment for stroke, cardiac arrest and traumatic brain injury.
Dr. Ichord was a founding member of the International Pediatric Stroke Study (IPSS) in 1998. She completed the validation of the pediatric National Institutes of Health stroke scale with an NIH-funded R01 in a multicenter prospective cohort study via the IPSS network. She completed the validation of the pediatric NIH stroke scale with an NIH-funded R01 in a multicenter prospective cohort study via the IPSS network. This was a precursor to multiple ongoing multicenter studies of childhood stroke through the IPSS.
Along with her colleagues, Dr. Ichord continues to analyze and publish data from the CHOP stroke prospective cohort study, including incidence and predictors of post-stroke epilepsy; recurrent stroke in posterior circulation ischemia; neuropsychological sequelae of childhood stroke; the role of patent foramen ovale as a risk factor; and barriers/opportunities for hyperacute reperfusion therapies in ischemic stroke. Collaborations with rehabilitation scientists at CHOP include pilot studies of novel interventions for hemiplegia using modified constraint strategies and gait training.
In addition, Dr. Ichoard collaborates with investigators at Georgetown University to better understand language and cognitive sequelae of neonatal and childhood stroke. She has partnered with critical care researchers studying neurologic outcomes after pediatric cardiac arrest through on-going studies at CHOP and with the NIH-sponsored THAPCA trial (Therapeutic Hypothermia after Pediatric Cardiac Arrest), and cerebrovascular complications of heart failure treated with a ventricular assist device in the Berlin EXCOR trial.
Education and Training
BS, University of Hawaii (Biology), 1975
MD, George Washington School of Medicine, 1979
Titles and Academic Titles
Director, Pediatric Stroke Program
Professor of Neurology & Pediatrics
Professional Memberships
American Academy of Neurology, 1991-
Child Neurology Society, 1991-
Professional Awards
Master Clinician Award, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 2008
Publication Highlights
PubMed:
Ichord R, Silverstein FS, Slomine BS, Telford R, Christensen J, Holubkov R, PhD4, Dean JM, Moler FW for the THAPCA Trial Group. Neurological Outcomes in Pediatric Cardiac Arrest Survivors Enrolled in the THAPCA Trials. Neurology. 2018 Jul; 91(1):e123-e131. PMID: 29884735
Billinghurst LL, Beslow LA, Abend NS, Uohara M, Jastrzab LE, Licht DJ, Ichord RN. Incidence and Predictors of Epilepsy after Pediatric Arterial Ischemic Stroke. Neurology. 2017 Feb; 88(7):630-637 PMID: 28087825
Ichord RN, Benedict SL, Chan AK, Kirkham FJ, Nowak-Göttl U for the International Paediatric Stroke Study Group. Paediatric Cerebral Sinovenous Thrombosis: Findings of the International Paediatric Stroke Study. Arch Dis Child. 2015 Feb; 100(2):174-9. PMID: 25288688
Bernard TJ, Manco-Johnson MJ, Lo W, MacKay MT, Ganesan V, deVeber G, Goldenberg NA, Armstrong-Wells J, Dowling MM, Roach ES, Tripputi M, Fullerton HJ, Furie KL, Benseler SM, Jordan LJ, MD, Kirton A, Ichord R. Towards a consensus-based classification of childhood arterial ischemic stroke. Stroke. 2013 Feb; 43(2):371-7. PMID: 22156694
Ichord RN, Bastian R, Abraham L, Askalan R, Benedict S, Bernard TJ, Beslow L, deVeber G , Dowling M, Friedman N, Fullerton H, Jordan L, Kan L, Kirton A, Amlie-Lefond C, Licht D, Lo W, McClure C, Pavlakis S, Smith SE, Tan M, Kasner S, Jawad AF. Interrater Reliability of the Pediatric NIH Stroke Scale (PedNIHSS) in a Multicenter Study. Stroke. 2011 Mar; 42(3):613-7. Epub Feb 11. PMID: 21317270