Ingrid Tonning Olsson

Biography

I started my career in year 2000 as a clinical neuropsychologist at Skåne University hospital, department of neuropaediatrics. My main task was to do cognitive assessment and rehabilitate children and teenagers with epilepsy and brain tumours. During the years of clinical practice I have met a lot of parents and children/teenagers who have raised really good and relevant questions e.g. “What are the risk factors for cognitive sequelae after paediatric brain tumour?” or “How do children with CSWS epilepsy develop and what are the risk factors for a negative development?”. Me myself have been struggling with questions like “How do I assess cognitive sequelae in a cost effective and systematic way?” and “Which patients should be given priority to neuropsychological assessment?”. Those questions started my research career in 2003 when I got my first research grant and all my research since then have been clinically oriented. Most of my research has been funded by the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation. Our research has benefitted from a very large, population based data base with cognitive data on paediatric brain tumour patients diagnosed since 1993. In our research we have been able to show that a longitudinal, systematic neuropsychological follow-up is essential after paediatric brain tumour, both in terms of finding individuals with rehabilitation need and in terms of evaluating the cancer treatment given with respect to cognitive sequelae. We have further shown that risk factors for cognitive impairment and IQ decline are whole brain radation therapy, large tumors, young age at diagnosis, male sex, supratentorial lateral tumor, and treatment with chemotherapy. In a longitudinal study (yet unpublished) we have been able to show that a decline in IQ after PBT is common, unconsidered treatment given. My current research interest lays within further exploring risk factors for cognitive sequelae after paediatric brain tumour, especially gender differences and in social ability in paediatric brain tumour survivors. The latter has shown to be an important issue for adult survivors of paediatric brain tumour. I also work towards a Swedish and Nordic common neuropsychological protocol for paediatric brain tumour survivors and a common database which would be of benefit to researchers within paediatric oncology, unconsidered their professional backgrounds. I started my career in year 2000 as a clinical neuropsychologist at Skåne University hospital, department of neuropaediatrics. My main task was to do cognitive assessment and rehabilitate children and teenagers with epilepsy and brain tumours. During the years of clinical practice I have met a lot of parents and children/teenagers who have raised really good and relevant questions e.g. “What are the risk factors for cognitive sequelae after paediatric brain tumour?” or “How do children with CSWS epilepsy develop and what are the risk factors for a negative development?”. Me myself have been struggling with questions like “How do I assess cognitive sequelae in a cost effective and systematic way?” and “Which patients should be given priority to neuropsychological assessment?”. Those questions started my research career in 2003 when I got my first research grant and all my research since then have been clinically oriented. Most of my research has been funded by the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation. Our research has benefitted from a very large, population based data base with cognitive data on paediatric brain tumour patients diagnosed since 1993. In our research we have been able to show that a longitudinal, systematic neuropsychological follow-up is essential after paediatric brain tumour, both in terms of finding individuals with rehabilitation need and in terms of evaluating the cancer treatment given with respect to cognitive sequelae. We have further shown that risk factors for cognitive impairment and IQ decline are whole brain radation therapy, large tumors, young age at diagnosis, male sex, supratentorial lateral tumor, and treatment with chemotherapy. In a longitudinal study (submitted) we have been able to show that a decline in IQ after PBT is common, unconsidered treatment given. My current research interest lays within further exploring risk factors for cognitive sequelae after paediatric brain tumour, especially gender differences and in social ability in paediatric brain tumour survivors. I also work towards a Swedish and Nordic common neuropsychological protocol for paediatric brain tumour survivors and a common database which would be of benefit to researchers within paediatric oncology, unconsidered their professional backgrounds. At present I hold a position as a post-doctoral fellow at St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memhis, TN, USA, working with one of the world's largest data-bases on childhood cancer survivorship, the St Jude Lifetime Cohort Study. I started my career in year 2000 as a clinical neuropsychologist at Skåne University hospital, department of neuropaediatrics. My main task was to do cognitive assessment and rehabilitate children and teenagers with epilepsy and brain tumours. During the years of clinical practice I have met a lot of parents and children/teenagers who have raised really good and relevant questions e.g. “What are the risk factors for cognitive sequelae after paediatric brain tumour?” or “How do children with CSWS epilepsy develop and what are the risk factors for a negative development?”. Me myself have been struggling with questions like “How do I assess cognitive sequelae in a cost effective and systematic way?” and “Which patients should be given priority to neuropsychological assessment?”. Those questions started my research career in 2003 when I got my first research grant and all my research since then have been clinically oriented. Most of my research has been funded by the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation. Our research has benefitted from a very large, population based data base with cognitive data on paediatric brain tumour patients diagnosed since 1993. In our research we have been able to show that a longitudinal, systematic neuropsychological follow-up is essential after paediatric brain tumour, both in terms of finding individuals with rehabilitation need and in terms of evaluating the cancer treatment given with respect to cognitive sequelae. We have further shown that risk factors for cognitive impairment and IQ decline are whole brain radation therapy, large tumors, young age at diagnosis, male sex, supratentorial lateral tumor, and treatment with chemotherapy. In a longitudinal study (yet unpublished) we have been able to show that a decline in IQ after PBT is common, unconsidered treatment given. My current research interest lays within further exploring risk factors for cognitive sequelae after paediatric brain tumour, especially gender differences and in social ability in paediatric brain tumour survivors. The latter has shown to be an important issue for adult survivors of paediatric brain tumour. I also work towards a Swedish and Nordic common neuropsychological protocol for paediatric brain tumour survivors and a common database which would be of benefit to researchers within paediatric oncology, unconsidered their professional backgrounds. I started my career in year 2000 as a clinical neuropsychologist at Skåne University hospital, department of neuropaediatrics. My main task was to do cognitive assessment and rehabilitate children and teenagers with epilepsy and brain tumours. During the years of clinical practice I have met a lot of parents and children/teenagers who have raised really good and relevant questions e.g. “What are the risk factors for cognitive sequelae after paediatric brain tumour?” or “How do children with CSWS epilepsy develop and what are the risk factors for a negative development?”. Me myself have been struggling with questions like “How do I assess cognitive sequelae in a cost effective and systematic way?” and “Which patients should be given priority to neuropsychological assessment?”. Those questions started my research career in 2003 when I got my first research grant and all my research since then have been clinically oriented. Most of my research has been funded by the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation. Our research has benefitted from a very large, population based data base with cognitive data on paediatric brain tumour patients diagnosed since 1993. In our research we have been able to show that a longitudinal, systematic neuropsychological follow-up is essential after paediatric brain tumour, both in terms of finding individuals with rehabilitation need and in terms of evaluating the cancer treatment given with respect to cognitive sequelae. We have further shown that risk factors for cognitive impairment and IQ decline are whole brain radation therapy, large tumors, young age at diagnosis, male sex, supratentorial lateral tumor, and treatment with chemotherapy. In a longitudinal study (submitted) we have been able to show that a decline in IQ after PBT is common, unconsidered treatment given. My current research interest lays within further exploring risk factors for cognitive sequelae after paediatric brain tumour, especially gender differences and in social ability in paediatric brain tumour survivors. I also work towards a Swedish and Nordic common neuropsychological protocol for paediatric brain tumour survivors and a common database which would be of benefit to researchers within paediatric oncology, unconsidered their professional backgrounds. At present I hold a position as a post-doctoral fellow at St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memhis, TN, USA, working with one of the world's largest data-bases on childhood cancer survivorship, the St Jude Lifetime Cohort Study.

Research Interest

Pediatrics