Dr. Hossam H. AbdelSalam
Dr. Michael R. Pranzatelli
Dr. Theodore R. Sunder

December 5, 2006                                                   

SIU Med School Expands Neurology Services for Children and Adolescents

Three faculty physicians now staff an expanded Division of Child and Adolescent Neurology at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield.

The child and adolescent neurology division includes three full-time specialty physicians – Dr. Michael R. Pranzatelli, division chief, Dr. Theodore R. Sunder, director of clinical services, and a newly recruited faculty member, Dr. Hossam H. AbdelSalam.  They work with two nurse practitioners – Elizabeth D. Tate and Diane C. Wildrick – to provide 24-7 coverage for neurological care and consultations for both children and adolescents.

“We’re very pleased that the Department of Neurology at the SIU medical school has been able to build our clinical services for the entire downstate region by providing round-the-clock care for children with various neurological problems,” explained Sunder.

SIU’s group provides expertise in both common and specialty areas in pediatric neurology – epilepsy, headaches, intellectual and developmental disabilities, movement disorders, neuroimmunologic disorders, neuromuscular diseases and neuro-intensive care.

The team sees patients at a medical building in a second-floor clinic with six exam rooms and a large treatment room.  It is located at 340 West Miller St., just south of the medical school’s main campus along Rutledge St. in Springfield.  Patients also are seen in a clinic on the fourth floor of the Carol Jo Vecchie Women and Children’s Center at St. John’s Hospital.  The faculty physicians treat patients at both Springfield hospitals and are part of St. John’s Children’s Hospital, which combines SIU faculty resources with the pediatric facilities and services of St. John’s Hospital.

Sunder, professor of neurology, pediatrics and psychiatry, specializes in epilepsy and in epilepsy and behavioral disorders in patients with developmental disabilities.  He is director of SIU’s child neurology clinics, having joined SIU’s faculty in 1994.  Board certified in both pediatrics and neurology, Sunder completed a three-year pediatric neurology fellowship at Duke University Medical Center (1977).

Pranzatelli, professor of neurology and pediatrics, is a specialist in pediatric movement disorders and directs SIU’s pediatric muscular dystrophy clinic.  He joined SIU’s faculty in 1999.  He also is director of the National Pediatric Myoclonus Center, which is based at SIU, and one of the few physicians in the U.S. who treats this hard-to-diagnose disorder which strikes children unexpectedly.  Board certified in pediatrics, psychiatry and neurology, Pranzatelli completed a three-year fellowship in neuropharmacology at the University of Southern California’s Children’s Hospital (1985).

Dr. Hossam H. AbdelSalam joined SIU’s faculty this August as an assistant professor of neurology and pediatrics.  He specializes in pediatric neurology including treatment of headaches, epilepsy and neuro-intensive disorders.  He recently completed a three-year fellowship in child neurology at Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland (2006).  AbdelSalam is board certified in pediatrics.

Consultations for children or adolescent patients with neurological problems can be arranged by calling the new clinic during weekday business hours – 217-545-6950.  The phone is also answered after hours for emergencies.

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