ORLANDO, Fla. ― Renée Shellhaas, MD, MS, FAES, has been elected to the American Epilepsy Society (AES) board of directors beginning at the conclusion of the Society's 2023 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla., Dec. 1-5, 2023. A medical and scientific society of more than 5,200 members, the AES is dedicated to advancing research and education for preventing, treating, and curing epilepsy.
Dr. Shellhaas is a professor of neurology and associate dean for Faculty Promotions & Career Development at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where she also holds the David T. Blasingame professorship. She received her M.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and completed her residency in pediatric neurology and fellowship in clinical neurophysiology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Following her fellowship, Dr. Shellhaas returned to the University of Michigan where she joined the faculty and completed her master’s degree in clinical research design and statistical analysis at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. There, she served as director of research for the Division of Pediatric Neurology and as the associate chair for career development for the Department of Pediatrics from which she received the inaugural Chair’s Award for Outstanding Mentorship in 2021. In 2022, she transitioned to a senior leadership position at Washington University.
Dr. Shellhaas’ research focus is neonatal neurology and early-life epilepsy, including approaches to seizure detection, improved treatment paradigms, and prediction of long-term outcomes for affected infants. She is also a leader in studies of sleep and sleep-disordered breathing and their impact on neurodevelopment in high-risk newborns, for which she was awarded the Sleep Science Award by the American Academy of Neurology.
Dr. Shellhaas has published extensively and is a principal investigator for two active R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has served as associate editor of Neurology and continues to serve on the editorial boards of the Journal of Child Neurology, Pediatric Neurology, and Annals of the Child Neurology Society. She also currently serves as president-elect of the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation®.