GretchenLanoBirbeckMDMPH, DTMH

Summary

• Since 1994, I have served as a physician, medical educator and researcher in sub-Saharan Africa. My overarching professional goal is to elucidate the mechanisms of common neurology disorders in the region and identify risk factors for the secondary medical and social morbidities resulting from these conditions so that feasible, affordable, evidence-based interventions aimed at preventing or ameliorating neurologic illness/injury can be evaluated and, if warranted, broadly implemented. My research priorities are directly informed by my experience as a clinician and educator in Zambia and Malawi. Having originally trained as an adult neurologist in the US, my postdoctoral studies in health services research, epidemiology, pediatric epilepsy, and tropical medicine were all selected based upon the skills needed to pursue my overarching professional goals. As an epileptologist and neuroepidemiologist with continuous NIH-funding since 2002, I have served as the Principal Investigator for observational epidemiological studies and clinical trials of common neurological problems in southern Africa including cerebral malaria, neuro-HIV and epilepsy. Neuroimaging has been an important aspect of much of my work. I mentor a broad range of post-doctoral trainees from both the US and Africa. My trainees are particularly diverse since my Africa-based research program engages several African Americans who are children of the African diaspora.
  1.    Birbeck GL. Zika virus: What the neurologist wants to know. Neurology. 2016 Apr 5;86(14):1272-4. PubMed PMID: 26896047.
  2.    Birbeck GL. Careers in global neurology. Ann Neurol. 2014 Jun;75(6):805-9. PubMed PMID: 24942697; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4116612.
  3.    Butcher J. Gretchen Birbeck: a Zambian experience. Lancet Neurol. 2007 Jan;6(1):24. PubMed PMID: 17166798.
  4.    Birbeck GL. A neurologist in Zambia. Lancet Neurol. 2002 May;1(1):58-61. PubMed PMID: 12849546.