Hackensack Meridian Children’s Health Pediatric Neurologist Serves as Investigator in Two Brain Injury Studies

One Study Seeks Better Understanding of Concussion Recovery in Children

Pediatric neurologist Felicia Gliksman, D.O., MPH, FAAN, director of the Pediatric and Adult Concussion Center at Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center, and vice chair of the Department of Neurology at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, is serving as co-investigator for two studies related to recovery from brain injury.

The first study is funded by a two-year, $180,000 grant from the New Jersey Commission on Brain Injury Research. In this study, titled, “Speech Indicators of Dysfunction and Recovery following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury,” Dr. Gliksman and Sona Patel, Ph.D., Department of Neurology, at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, are studying changes in brain function.

It is hypothesized that changes in speech characteristics will correspond with changes in behavioral, cognitive, neurological, physical, psychological, and sleep-related symptoms, and that these symptoms will recover to baseline function with time. Age and the severity of injury will determine the pace of recovery.

The second study is titled “Speech as an Indicator of Concussion Severity and Recovery in Pediatrics.” This study will use speech technology to determine whether changes in speech characteristics correspond with changes in behavioral, cognitive, neurological, physical, psychological and sleep-related concussion symptoms in children. The goal of the study is to understand how speech in children may be impacted after a concussion and develop ways to detect injury and monitor recovery.

This study, which opened in April 2022, will also analyze speech and recovery patterns in older children compared to younger children, as well as children who sustained a severe injury compared to children who sustained a mild injury.

Dr. Glicksman was recently recognized as a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. The AAN fellow designation recognizes special achievement in the neurosciences. Applicants must be certified in neurology, or neurology with special qualification in Child Neurology, by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology or the American Osteopathic Board of Neurology and Psychiatry, or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

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