Dr. Youssef Kousa awarded Pediatric Epilepsy Research Grant

The Child Neurology Foundation has awarded Youssef A. Kousa, M.S., D.O., Ph.D., physician-scientist within the Division of Neurology at Children’s National Hospital, and founder and director of the Zika Genetics Consortium, the 2020 Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation Shields Research Grant. The funds will support his work on identifying genetic risk factors in congenital Zika syndrome.

This prestigious grant provides $100,000 of research funding to help identify treatments and cures for pediatric neurologic diseases. It will allow Dr. Kousa to test the hypothesis that rare genetic variants in individuals contributed to being affected with congenital Zika syndrome and the severity of the phenotype for those who were affected.

“Despite decades of research, identifying those at greatest risk of congenital infection or being severely affected remains an elusive goal,” says Dr. Kousa. “This research is important because identifying genetic risk or protective factors for developmental brain malformations can help teach us how the brain develops.”

Dr. Kousa adds that this work will provide key insights into maternal and fetal genetic factors that can contribute to brain malformations. The hope is that these insights may one day translate into targeted prevention efforts.

“Dr. Kousa’s project is very creative and has a fantastic opportunity to look at factors of Zika on brain development,” says William D. Gaillard, M.D., division chief of both Epilepsy and Neurophysiology, and Neurology at Children’s National. “This is a very competitive award. It’s a tremendous achievement that few accomplish.”

Children’s National is the leading site for this international research study.

In 2015, Dr. Kousa established the Zika Genetic Consortium to investigate whether maternal and fetal genetic factors can modify the risk of brain injury from congenital infections. Dr. Kousa is the principal investigator of the consortium, which includes 19 co-investigators representing 13 different institutions.

The consortium is bringing together cohorts of 12,000 mother-infant participants retrospectively and prospectively. These cohorts come from 15 international health centers in seven countries in collaboration with partners at the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This support gives us the opportunity to test our hypothesis,” says Dr. Kousa. “We also hope what we continue to learn about Zika can play a role in helping us understand other congenital infections and neurodevelopment diseases.”