Our Medical Advisory Council

The physicians and scientists who serve on Periodic Paralysis International's Medical Advisory Council are without question among the world's foremost authorities on the periodic paralyses and the cardiac, cognitive and physical issues which come with them. We are honored that they share with us and our members the gifts of their time, experience and knowledge.

Listed alphabetically: 

Kelly J Airey MD has been Assistant Professor of Medicine at Creighton University School of Medicine, Division of Cardiology since 2009.  She graduated with her MD from the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and achieved her BSc at the University of Western Ontario, London. read more

Annabelle SJ Baughan  MB  BS  FRCP FRCPath was Consultant Physician (haemato-oncologist) and Head of Department for ten years at the 650-bed university general hospital, Ashford, Middlesex UK. Hospital Clinical Tutor, and Tutor for the Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Pathologists. read more

Giorgio Buzzi, MD is a practicing neurologist with a special interest in sleep disorders, including sleep paralysis and related sleep disorders and is very interested in the Periodic Paralyses. read more

Steve Cannon MD, PhD is Professor of Neurology and Associate Dean for Medical Education at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He received a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from Washington University in St Louis, and then completed MD training at Johns Hopkins Medical School. read more.

Gea Drost MD PhD is a Neurologist/Clinical Neurophysiologist at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands read more

Robert Griggs, MD is Professor of Neurology, Medicine, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He was Chair of the Department of Neurology and Neurologist-in-Chief at Strong Memorial Hospital (1986-2008)... read more

Michael G Hanna MD, is a Consultant Neurologist with a longstanding clinical and research interest in muscle diseases and is head of the Queen Square (London UK) muscle disease clinical service. read more

Karin Jurkat-Rott MD, PhD - Dr. Jurkat-Rott's main interest is to identify the mechanisms of the diseases caused by pathologically altered ion channels known as channelopathies. Examples are myotonia, periodic paralysis, ataxia and migraine... read more

Frank Lehmann-Horn MD, PhD has a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and is a Medical Doctor specializing in Neurology and in Physiology. He received a PhD Degree for his work on muscle disorders caused by defective ion channels read more

Stephen Fraser Lewis, MD - After attending Davidson College and graduating with a BS in Biology, I spent 6 years doing basic Neuroscience Research (at Weill Medical School of Cornell University and Wake Forest University Medical School). I then attended medical school at Wake Forest University. read more 

Jonathan T. Lu MD, PhD is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. His clinical specialty is Cardiac Electrophysiology. He has extensive experience in the management of complex rhythm disorders of the heart. His research focuses on integrating cellular physiology and ion channel biophysics with their role in disease states. read more

Giovanni Meola, MD is a clinician interested in the field of neuromuscular disorders since 1975. In particular I am an expert in the diagnosis and management of myotonic dystrophies and non-dystrophic myotonias. read more

Nuntiya Kakanantadilok DDS is currently the Director of the Division of Pediatric Dentistry at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York. read more

Louis J. Ptáček MD Dr. Ptácek’s laboratory focuses on genetic diseases of muscle, heart and brain and hereditary variation of human sleep behavior. His group has cloned genes causing many disease and behavioral phenotypes in humans. read more

Valeria Sansone MD Dr. Sansone has had experience in neuromuscular disorders Medical School, initially working in basic research regarding ion channel modulation in vitro using the patch-clamp technique. She switched to clinical research in ion channel disorders since the first years of her residency. For the past 20 years she has been in charge of in-patients with muscle disorders at the University Department of Neurology in Milan...read more

Rabi Tawil, MD completed his medical training at the American University of Beirut Faculty of Medicine in Beirut, Lebanon and his Neurology residency and Neuromuscular fellowship training at the University of Rochester, in Rochester, New York. read more

Susan Tomlinson MD - University of Sydney, Australia Consultant Neurologist, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney and Lecturer, University of Sydney. Areas of expertise: Qtrac/Trond, HCN channels, genetic channelopathies read more

Domenico Tricarico MSc Pharm, PhD - Professor of Pharmacology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy. Main interest is pharmacological studies of ion channels involved in skeletal muscle channelopathies. Efficacy of drug treatments and novel therapeutical approaches. read more

Martin Tristani-Firouzi  MD- Pediatric Cardiologist; Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Utah. My laboratory is interested in the structural basis of K+ channel function and the cellular mechansims that underlie susceptibility to arrhythmia. read more

Arthur A.M. Wilde MD, PhD is Professor in Cardiology and Head of the Department of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology (University of Amsterdam). Scientific interest: Clinical and experimental electrophysiology. Genetics of inherited arrhythmia syndromes (including cardiomyopathies) and sudden cardiac death. read more

Li Zhang MD is a clinical research scientist specializing in investigating inherited arrhythmias associated with increased risks of sudden death in young otherwise healthy individuals. read more