Shonni J Silverberg, MD - Columbia University Endocrinology

Tina A. Leone, MD, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center and is the Training Program Director of the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship. After completing her medical degree and pediatrics training at the University of Medicine and Dentistry - New Jersey Medical School, Dr. Leone pursued neonatology training at the University of California, San Diego, where she developed an interest in neonatal resuscitation research and neonatology education. She also received additional training in neonatal functional echocardiography and uses ultrasound in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to enhance clinical management. Dr. Leone’s clinical interests are optimizing the stabilization of newborn infants at the time of birth, assessing the newborn physiology during the transition from fetal to newborn life, and improving outcomes for preterm infants and for infants with chronic diseases. Her research interests focus mostly on assessment of neonatal resuscitation interventions. She is also interested in developing new technologies and educational tools for teaching neonatal resuscitation skills and is involved in several multi-center clinical trials to assess novel approaches to therapies in preterm infants. As Training Program Director, Dr. Leone guides pediatricians to develop into neonatologists who provide compassionate care to patients and contribute to advancing the field of neonatology throughout their careers. She enjoys mentoring trainees and is dedicated to helping families understand their babies’ conditions and treatments in the NICU and after discharge from the hospital.

Dr. C. Gustavo De Moraes is an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Medical Director of Clinical Trials of the Department of Ophthalmology at Columbia University Medical Center / New York Presbyterian Hospital. He sees patients with or at risk of developing glaucoma...

Tristan T. Sands, MD, PhD is Assistant Professor in the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons (Columbia VP&S) Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics. He is a pediatric neurologist who treats children and babies suffering from epilepsy and a physician scientist with expertise in genetic causes of epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disease. Dr. Sands completed his MD-PhD at Columbia VP&S through a Medical Scientist Training Program with thesis work in lab of Dr. Arnold Kriegstein. During child neurology residency at UCSF, Dr. Sands trained in electroclinical phenotyping of the epilepsies under Dr. M. Roberta Cilio. After finishing his clinical training at Columbia VP&S in epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology with Dr. Jim Riviello, Dr. Sands joined Columbia VP&S as faculty in 2017, first training in neurogenetics at the Institute for Genomic Medicine, and then returning to the bench to study genetic epilepsy using mouse models under the mentorship of Dr. Wayne Frankel. Dr. Sands has worked closely with families to treat hundreds of children with epilepsy. He is the author of chapters on pediatric epilepsy and genetic epilepsy in major textbooks in the field of neurology, including Merritt’s Neurology and Swaiman’s Pediatric Neurology. Dr. Sands has served as an expert on ClinGen’s epilepsy gene curation panel since 2017. In 2023, Dr. Sands was named Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society in recognition of professional accomplishment and dedication in the field of epilepsy. Dr. Sands is a 2024 Louis V. Gerstner Scholar. His research contributions include demonstration of the exquisite efficacy of carbamazepine for neonatal epilepsy caused by inherited loss-of-function variants in KCNQ2 and KCNQ3, work that led to changes to the International League against Epilepsy guidelines and recommendations on the treatment of seizures in newborn babies. Dr. Sands reported the electroclinical characterization of a new gain-of-function phenotype caused by de novo variants in KCNQ3. Dr. Sands reported variants in NBEA as a cause epilepsy and neurodevelopment, and he characterized the largest cohort of patients with epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disability caused by pathogenic variants in CSNK2B. The Sands "END (Epilepsy & Neurodevelopmental Disease) Laboratory," established in 2022 in the Center for Translational Research in Neurodevelopmental Disease (CTRND), uses mouse and human cellular models to identify convergent disease mechanisms and novel therapeutic strategies for epilepsy and encephalopathy caused by rare genetic mutations. These research efforts are supported by federal grants from both NIH and private agencies.