Wearables for Neurological Disorders

John is a child & adolescent psychiatrist currently seeing patients and supervising trainees primarily in Stanford’s general clinic for ADHD and disruptive behavior disorders. His clinical practice is currently a mix that includes individual therapy, medication management, and parenting/family work. John’s research interests include identifying clinical profiles that integrate information across different modalities in order to individualize treatment for youth with ADHD and/or anxiety; digital health interventions; and efforts to understand the impact of individuals’ different points of view on clinical encounters.

In an uncontrolled, unblinded pilot study we observed clinical improvement in youth with ADHD using a novel movement tracking app.

Dr. David Krucik is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Comparative Medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine studying domoic acid toxicosis in California sea lions as a comparative and translational model for human temporal lobe epilepsy. He got his start working with marine mammals at The Marine Mammal Center as a high schooler before studying marine biology at UC Santa Cruz. He went on to obtain both a master of science in conservation medicine and doctorate in veterinary medicine at Tufts University. After completing his postdoctoral studies he hopes to build a career balancing his interests in clinical veterinary medicine and research here in the bay area.

Domoic acid (DA) toxicosis is a well-documented and growing concern affecting California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), humans, and other marine species. California sea lions exposed to a high enough dose of DA experience acute toxicosis. Sea lions that survive acute toxicosis can develop chronic DA toxicosis characterized by behavioral changes, hippocampal atrophy, and periodic seizures; analogous to mesial temporal lobe epilepsy in humans. Antemortem diagnosis of both acute and chronic DA toxicosis is fraught with challenges. This study tests the validity of non-tethered electroencephalography (EEG) for use as a diagnostic and monitoring tool for CSLs suffering from DA toxicosis. By improving the ability to monitor and quantify seizures the research aims to develop a new tool to aid in diagnosis and prognostication of DA toxicosis in CSLs. Because chronic DA toxicosis in sea lions has been shown to be a naturally occurring large animal model of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy in humans this tool could objectively compare outcomes to novel treatments to treat or prevent mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.