Nicholas S. Abend, MD, MSCE is a core faculty member at Clinical Futures at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), a pediatric neurologist in the Division of Neurology, the Senior Medical Director for the Neuroscience Center, and the Medical Director of the Neurophysiology Lab at CHOP. He is a Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics, and Anesthesiology and Critical Care, as well as an Associate Scholar in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. (http://www.med.upenn.edu/) 

Dr. Abend’s research focuses on development and implementation of innovative strategies that mitigate secondary brain injury and improve long-term neurobehavioral outcomes in critically ill children and neonates. His work addresses electroencephalographic seizure (ES) identification and management in critically ill patients and continuous electroencephalographic monitoring (CEEG) as a real-time brain function monitor, collaboration with colleagues in is Critical Care Medicine and Anesthesia, Neonatology, Surgery, Quality Improvement, Statistics, and Neuro-Engineering. Overall, his work has shown ES are common in critically ill children and neonates but usually only detectable with CEEG, high ES burden is associated with unfavorable neurodevelopmental outcomes, and ES can often be safely and effectively managed with anti-seizure medications. This work has served as the foundation for clinical pathways and management guidelines. His work also focuses on quality improvement in pediatric neurology at CHOP and nationally, guided by large-scale electronic medical record derived data analytics and implemented through electronic medical record components to help optimize physician decision making and patient care. 

Dr. Abend received his MD degree and completed pediatrics residency at the University of Chicago. He completed his child neurology residency and pediatric epilepsy/electroencephalography fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Abend completed a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania, and he has additional training in healthcare leadership, quality improvement, and healthcare innovation.

Contact Dr. Abend at abend@chop.edu.