We are adding to the Leadership Team!
We are adding to the leadership at the Chromosome 18 Clinical Research Center. This month, get to know Jonathan Gelfond, MD, PhD, Associate Director and Kameel Karkar, MD, Medical Director. The article here provides a little bit about their lives and background, and you can get to know them in-person at the Annual Conference in Charlotte in July.
Jonathan Gelfond, MD, PhD, Associate Director
Jon is originally from Towson Maryland near Baltimore, where his parents were psychiatry residents. When he was 6 months old his family moved to San Antonio, Texas where his parents practiced psychiatry after his father left the army. He is the middle of 5 children with 2 sisters and 2 brothers. As a child he wanted to be an architect when he grew up but spent most of his time programming BASIC on computers. He attended UT Austin majoring in physics and philosophy. Then he went to UT Health San Antonio Medical School and if that wasn’t enough, he then completed his PhD in biostatistics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His professional interests and expertise lie in clinical trials, aging, and genomics and of course the chromosome 18 conditions. He is married to Cheryl who is a pharmacist and professor at the Incarnate Word University Feik School of Pharmacy. They have two children, Alexandra age 10 & Isaac age 14. In his spare time, he likes to read, run, and argue about who makes the best pizza.
Kameel Karkar, MD, Medical Director
Kameel is originally from Ramallah, Palestine where he grew up until he was 18 years old. He attended a Catholic school in the Old City of Jerusalem. He is a middle child, and has an older and a younger brother. As a child he initially wanted to study outer space when he grew up, but later developed a stronger interest in biology and medicine. He moved to the United States as an international student and attended the University of California, San Diego majoring in Applied Science. He then went on to study medicine at the University of Chicago, followed by residency training in Neurology and Epilepsy at Washington University (St. Louis) and the University of California, San Francisco. His professional interests and expertise lie in the areas of clinical Neurology and Epilepsy. His current research interests include understanding how seizures stop and how the brain recovers from seizures. He is also interested in genetic factors that contribute to epilepsy, in particular those on Chromosome 18. He is married to Lama who is a Math instructional coach at a charter school and has 3 children ages 24, 21 and 18. In his spare time, he likes to play the piano and read about the history of languages and religions.
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Do you have questions about anything in this email? Contact Catherine McCarthy at the Clinical Research Center for more information.
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