Epilepsy: As Director of Epilepsy at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, Dr. Zecavati cares for children with epilepsy with a mission of providing comprehensive care that includes both surgical and non-surgical treatments for epilepsy. Her epilepsy research interests are broad and include the neurogenetic underpinnings of epilepsy, best practices in the transition of epilepsy care from pediatric to adult, dietary therapies for epilepsy and studies of novel anti-seizure drugs in pediatric epilepsy.
Concussion: In collaboration with colleagues, our group developed a pediatric concussion protocol that included a clinical evaluation during which time neuropsychological testing was performed. Dr. Zecavati participated in the direct neurological evaluation and testing of these patients and was a co-investigator in the studies that followed. The data we collected allowed us to study the relationship between concussion, sleep and other demographic variables which led us to the discovery that there were significant differences in gender with respect to concussion recovery with female athletes experiencing significantly more sleep symptoms and postinjury cognitive findings.
Cross Collaboration: Much of her focus in the last 10 years has been on developing best clinical practices with an emphasis on cross-collaboration between disciplines to launch clinics that are able to adequately able to meet the needs of patients with complex neurological needs such as autism spectrum disorders, spasticity and stroke.
Nassim Zecavati, MD, MPH