Smith-hicks

Biography

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Dr. Smith-Hicks completed her Bachelors of Science degree in Biochemistry from the City College of New York (CUNY) and the Medical Scientist Training Program at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she obtained her M.D., Ph.D. in 2000. She trained in Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and completed her Neurology and Pediatric Neurology training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2005. She then trained as a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, under the guidance of Dr. Paul Worley and joined the faculty at Kennedy Krieger Institute in 2010. She is a member of the Child Neurology Society, the Society for Neuroscience, and the American Academy of Neurology. She serves on several National Fragile X syndrome leadership teams and has served as a guest editor for several journals. Dr. Smith-Hicks specializes in Autism Spectrum Disorder, Fragile X and Rett Syndrome. She is keenly interested in other genetic causes of neuro-developmental disabilities. RESEARCH SUMMARY: Neuro-developmental disorders affecting learning and memory result from defective communication between neurons. Dr. Smith-Hicks’ team works to understand the process by which neurons are selected to integrate into networks. Her laboratory utilizes molecular, cell imagining, biochemical and electrophysiological techniques, as well as strategies that rely on the cellular reporting of active neurons from awake, behaving animals. She is interested in understanding the effect of imbalance of excitation and inhibition on the ability of neurons to integrate into stable networks. Her work is currently directed at understanding the mechanisms relevant to Fragile X Syndrome and Down syndrome and examines the impact of novel and current experimental therapies on network formation and stability in mice.

Research Interest

Neurology