REGISTRATIONS

Dr. Maitre is a board-certified neonatologist and research investigator with a focus on neurodevelopment in high-risk newborns and developmental interventions after neural injury. Before joining us at Emory and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, she was the Director of the NICU Follow-up Program and the Medical Director of NICU Developmental Therapies at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. In the Department of Pediatrics at Emory, she serves as the Director of Research in Early Development and Cerebral Palsy. She will help support the expansion of the Neonatal Follow-up Clinic (DPC), grown to national repute by the late Dr. Ira Adams-Chapman, and, in collaboration with the Division of Neurology and Department of Rehabilitation, is developing a program focused on early detection and intervention for infants at risk for cerebral palsy. This Children’s and Emory program is now the lead site of the National Implementation Network funded by the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. In support of her growing Implementation Science program, Dr Maitre is a member of the international IMPACT for Cerebral Palsy workgroup and has developed caregiver-based motor learning programs for UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

Dr. Maitre’s lab's research focuses on neurodevelopment in high-risk newborns and rehabilitation of long-term disabilities. She emphasizes the development of quantitative measures of neural function in infants to allow the rational design and testing of parent-based and technology-assisted strategies. A career development award from the NICHD allowed her to elucidate mechanisms through which the NICU environment contributes to cortical sensory processing differences in hospitalized neonates and their neurobehavioral outcomes in childhood. For the past 15 years Dr. Maitre has conducted multidisciplinary research with neuroscientists, engineers and therapists in neurophysiology of NICU infants and rehabilitation. She now leads NIH-and foundation-funded of parent-driven sensory-motor interventions such as constraint and bimanual movement therapy, and pacifier-activated voice players. In outpatient and inpatient settings. She has a robust technology portfolio developed in collaboration with SmallTalk and Enlighten Mobility teams. She continues to work with engineering and mathematical modeling teams in the US and Switzerland to develop new methodologies for brain-based assessment and therapy in infants and young children.

Dr. Maitre mentors undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral trainees in rehabilitative therapies, developmental medicine, neurology, neonatology and engineering, who are interested in developing a career in the neuroscience of infant developmental interventions.

Eleanor Molloy is the Professor and Chair of Paediatrics and Child Health in Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. She is a paediatrician and neonatologist based in Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin & Tallaght, the Coombe Hospital. She qualified in Medicine in UCC (1993) and received her PhD from UCD in 2003. Her research is concerned with interdisciplinary child health research and the promotion of Paediatric Translational projects to improve child health. The Molloy translational research laboratory evaluates and studies immunomodulation of systemic inflammation in newborn infants with brain injury and through childhood Internationally she has served as the Secretary & President of the Irish American Paediatric Society and as the Irish representative on the European Board of Paediatrics: European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS), Confederation of European Specialists in Paediatrics (CESP), Board member of the European Society for Paediatric Research. She was awarded Honorary Fellowship at the American Paediatric Society, a Professorial Fellowship by Trinity College and became the Associate Editor in chief for the journal “Paediatric Research” on behalf of the International Paediatric Research Foundation since 2015.She has supervised more than 20 PhD and MD students and have over 250 peer reviewed publications. She had the pleasure of working with the late Dr. Maureen Hack in her neurodevelopmental clinic in Cleveland, Ohio during her fellowship training in neonatology and is interested in collaborative research encompassing consensus definitions of terminology related to neonatal brain injury and measuring the same outcomes so that research data can be shared to improve outcomes for children. She is developing programmes in multiorgan care as well as functional motor care from the newborn period to adulthood in the area of CP in partnership with the CP foundation and families.

Rachel Byrne is the Executive Director at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. She has been working in the field of pediatric rehabilitation and cerebral palsy research for the past 14 years. Rachel has a background in physical therapy, with a particular interest in neuroplasticity and motor learning. Her early career as a clinician delivering physical therapy services in schools, hospitals and private practice is underpinned by her research interests focused on knowledge translation and the impact on a person’s ability to participate in the community across the lifespan.

At the Foundation, she has continued her research interest in evidence-based practice, knowledge translation, early detection and interventions across the lifespan and population studies for cerebral palsy. Rachel was instrumental in developing the Just Say Hi inclusion curriculum which is now being taught nationally. In the last 12 years she has given multiple presentations at international conferences and managed large multisite research projects.

Lily Collison is Program Director at Gillette Children’s Healthcare Press.

Lily co-authored “Pure Grit: Stories of Remarkable People Living with Physical Disability” with Kara Buckley, Senior Advisor, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. “Pure Grit” tells the stories of nineteen people across the globe, who grew up with physical disability and are living and thriving in diverse fields. Published in 2021, this book is available on Amazon, and all proceeds go to research.

Lily’s adult son has spastic diplegia. In 2020, she wrote “Spastic Diplegia–Bilateral Cerebral Palsy” in conjunction with senior medical staff at Gillette Children’s. This book is also available on Amazon, and again, all proceeds go to research.

Lily previously completed a research master’s – a case study on SEMLS, rehabilitation and outcome evaluation.

With a background in science, her 30+ year career included senior management positions in industry and education.

Edel Davin-Power comes to the Foundation as the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Irish project. A mother of three little boys under ten, she has a wealth of lived experience navigating the Irish health and education system.

Edel is an honours graduate in International Commerce from University College Dublin. She also holds a postgraduate diploma in Human Resources.

Early in her career, Edel redirected to primary school teaching, and also completed a post graduate diploma in same.

Having worked as a primary school teacher for over 20 years, Edel specialises primarily in the field of SEN (special educational needs).

Edel’s passion is in seeking out the full and rounded potential in every individual, striving to break down barriers to achievement and inclusion, and ultimately working towards ensuring that every life can lived to the fullest.