Lalitha Sivaswamy, M.D., has been appointed chief of the Children's Hospital of Michigan's nationally recognized Division of Pediatric Neurology.
An associate professor, clinician educator in the Wayne State University Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Dr. Sivaswamy joined the WSU School of Medicine faculty in 2005.
Luanne Thomas Ewald, chief executive officer of Children's Hospital of Michigan, said Dr. Sivaswamy's appointment underlines the hospital "strong commitment" to relying on both "outstanding research and powerfully effective clinical teaching skills" in the continuing quest for improved patient care and outcomes. "She's an outstanding clinician as well as a passionately dedicated teacher and researcher. And of course, her patients and their families greatly value her expertise, commitment and compassion. We're lucky to have her taking up this new leadership role."
Dr. Sivaswamy is a widely published pioneering researcher in pediatric headache disorders and therapy. A board-certified neurologist who is also licensed in the sub-specialty of Headache Medicine, she has served for the past year as interim division chief of Pediatric Neurology for Children's Hospital of Michigan.
The recent winner of two Children's Hospital of Michigan "Teacher of the Year" awards (2014 and 2015), she has also gained local and national recognition as the medical director of the hospital's Michigan Headache Clinic during the past seven years. During that period, she also distinguished herself as a clinical researcher who published frequently on migraine therapy and persistent headaches in children. Her work has led to breakthrough findings documented in such authoritative medical journals as Pediatric Neurology, the Journal of Pediatrics and Pediatric Annals.
Dr. Sivaswamy has also given generously of her time and energy while serving as associate editor of the Journal of Pediatric Neurology and as a member of the Wayne State University School of Medicine Resident Education Committee for the Department of Pediatrics, in which she helped shape curriculum and course development.
A graduate of Madras Medical College in Madras, India, Dr. Sivaswamy completed her residency in pediatric neurology at Henry Ford Hospital and a fellowship in that specialty at Children's Hospital of Michigan.
"I'm honored to have been selected for this new responsibility," Dr. Sivaswamy said. "The Children's Hospital of Michigan and the Division of Neurology are both near and dear to my heart after 11 years of service here.
"My number one goal, of course, will be to do my best to help us continue to provide the best-quality patient care that we're capable of at the Children's Hospital of Michigan. And I'm also passionately interested in continuing my research in chronic headaches, training pediatric neurology residents and pursuing cutting-edge technologies in the treatment of pediatric epilepsy. This is a wonderfully exciting time to be working in pediatric neurology, and I'm going to do my best to provide effective leadership for all of our hard-working clinicians, teachers and researchers in our specialty at the Children's Hospital of Michigan."