With Drs. Craig Erickson and Elizabeth Berry-Kravis
Our distinguished presenters discuss currently available supportive medications for treating anxiety and irritable, agitated, and aggressive behaviors in Fragile X syndrome. Medication classes and specific medications within each class are discussed, including SSRIs, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotics. Also discussed is the mechanism of action of different medications, dosing strategies, and potential benefits and side effects seen in different medications.
about
Elizabeth Berry-Kravis, MD, PhD
Dr. Berry-Kravis is a professor of pediatrics, neurological sciences, and biochemistry at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. She established the Fragile X Clinic and Research Program in 1991, providing care to over 700 patients with Fragile X syndrome since that time. Her research has included studies of medical issues, epilepsy and psychopharmacology in FXS, neurological problems in FXTAS, and in particular, translational work in FXS including outcome measures and biomarkers, natural history, newborn screening, and clinical trials of new targeted treatments in FXS.
Dr. Berry-Kravis’s laboratory studies the relationship between FMRP and clinical function and methods for optimizing genetic testing in Fragile X-related disorders (FXD). In the past 18 years, she’s been the site or national principal investigator on 24 clinical trials in FXS and numerous NIH- and CDC-funded projects on FXS. She is on the NFXF Scientific and Clinical Advisory Committee and is chair of the Clinical Committee of the FXCRC. She received the Jarrett Cole Award for clinical work in FXS in 2002, the Hagerman Award for excellence in FXTAS research in 2004, the FRAXA Champion Award in 2011, the NFXF William and Enid Rosen Research Award in 2014, the March of Dimes Jonas Salk Research Award in 2015, the American Academy of Neurology Sidney Carter Award in Child Neurology in 2016, and the John Merck Fund Sparkplug Award in 2016, all for work in FXS.
about
Craig Erickson, MD
Dr. Erickson is a noted Fragile X expert and the medical director of the Fragile X Syndrome Research and Treatment Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a friend of the NFXF and shares his knowledge on Fragile X and medical advice on a regular basis.
Dr. Erickson has worked to obtain continuous federal, foundation, internal, and industry funding to support his and his collaborators’ research over the last 10+ years of his career. He is the inventor or co-inventor of many patents focused on translational treatment development in neurodevelopment disorders held at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and previously at Indiana University School of Medicine. He is considered an international expert in the clinical treatment of Fragile X syndrome and has similar expertise in Fragile X-specific clinical trial development. Additionally, Dr. Erickson is an avid teacher of future generations of child psychiatrists and has received several teaching awards for his work.