Quick Study: Anti-Seizure Medications in Children & Youth (ASMs)

Dr. Katherine Muir is the Program Director of Pediatric Neurology Residency Training Program at the University of Ottawa. She completed her medical degree at the University of Toronto in 2011 and post-graduate training in pediatric neurology at the University of British Columbia from 2011 to 2017. This was followed by fellowship training in pediatric epilepsy at Columbia University from 2017-2018. Her clinical and research interests include pediatric epilepsy, electroencephalography and genetic causes of epilepsy.

Dr. Sarah Buttle is a paediatric neurologist at CHEO. She completed residency training in paediatric neurology at CHEO from 2018-2023, becoming certified in electroencephalography by the CSCN in 2022. She subsequently completed fellowship training in paediatric neurocritical care at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, along with a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology. Her clinical and academic interests include understanding risk and prognosis of neurologic injuries that occur during critical medical illness, clinical practice guideline development, and critical care EEG monitoring.

Dr. Juan Toro Perez joined CHEO/University of Ottawa as an Assistant Professor in July 2024. He completed his Neurology training in Trujillo, Peru. He also completed an Epilepsy/EEG fellowship at Western University and a Paediatric Epilepsy fellowship at University of Ottawa. He completed a Master’s in Neuroscience (University of Murcia, Spain). He is involved in pre-surgical evaluation, EMU, sleep, research and quantitative EEG and was a winner of the AES Young Investigator Award (2021) and CLAE Fellow publication award (2024).

Nina Rongavilla is a pediatric Social Worker with the neurology and neurosurgery teams at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). She specializes in supporting families navigating complex neurological conditions and surgical care, providing compassionate emotional support, resource guidance, and systems navigation assistance. With a Social Work degree from the University of Toronto, she is dedicated to improving the quality of life for children and their families.

Aritshana works as a Research Coordinator in the Department of Neurology at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), where she oversees a variety of studies focused on rare epilepsy syndromes and youth mental health. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Health Sciences degree from the University of Ottawa and a postgraduate certificate in Clinical Research from Seneca College.

Sandi’s journey with Epilepsy Ottawa began in 2018 when her daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy. After benefiting from services like the Seizure Smart presentation, she volunteered with the agency, fueling her passion for helping others. Sandi made the bold decision to close her home daycare to focus on supporting families navigating epilepsy. Her personal experiences equip her with unique insights, allowing her to educate and empower others to better support individuals living with epilepsy.