A PARENT & PHYSICIAN DREAM TEAM
When Kate shared the idea of the book with Charlotte's physician, she was introduced to Dr. Christina Briscoe Abath (Chris) and Dr. Christopher Yuskaitis. Both doctors instantly saw the immense value such a resource could offer countless families. Recognizing the book's potential, Chris connected the CBKD team with Dr. Juan Francisco Cabello and Dr. Aris Hadjinicolaou, who expanded its reach by translating it into Spanish and French. Together, they've combined personal experiences with medical expertise, crafting a message of hope for families worldwide.
Co-Authors & Translators
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Christina Briscoe Abath, MD
PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGIST
Christina completed her undergraduate education at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and graduated from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in 2017. During her residency at Boston Children’s Hospital, Christina acted as Chief Resident from 2021 to 2022 in Child Neurology and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities.
In 2022-2023, Christina is completing a Masters in Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education with the Zuckerman Fellowship program as well as a fellowship in Pediatric Epilepsy at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Christina is originally from Virginia, loves all outdoor things from hiking to biking, doing capoeira, and traveling. But most of all, she loves working with families to take care of kids with epilepsy!
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Christopher Yuskaitis, MD
PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGIST
Dr. Yuskaitis is former Assistant Professor of Neurology at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and a neurologist in the Brain and Developmental Genetics Clinic and Epilepsy Genetics Program. His previous clinical research focused on predictors of outcomes in children with infantile spasms. His laboratory research focused on how alterations to nutrient sensing genes (e.g. DEPDC5, NPRL2, NPRL3) leads to epilepsy and brain malformations, and targeting this pathway for therapeutic intervention.
As former co-director of the Infantile Spasms Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, his self-described passion in child neurology is “caring for patients with infantile spasms, neurogenetic conditions, and studying the underlying molecular basis for neurologic disorders.”
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Juan Fransico Cabello, MD
TRANSLATOR (SPANISH)
Juan Francisco Cabello is a pediatric neurologist from Chile. He did his residency training at the Hospital Carlos Van Buren, University of Valparaiso. He works at the same hospital and at the INTA, a national referral center for metabolic diseases. He works in his home country with patient associations advocating for rare diseases and was excited to help make the book available for Spanish speakers!
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Aris Hadjinicolaou, MD
TRANSLATOR (FRENCH)
Dr. Hadjinicolaou is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Université de Montréal, and a neurologist and epileptologist at CHU Sainte-Justine (Montreal, QC, Canada). His clinical research focuses on predictors of outcomes in children following epilepsy surgery, with a particular interest in infantile spasms.
He is thrilled to be part of this incredible initiative to help raise awareness on pediatric epilepsy and infantile spasms!
“The “story” about Char Bear was initially written as a note in my phone…
…with the hope to explain, at a basic level, what was going on to Charlotte’s teachers and classmates. As I connected with families, mostly moms of other IS kids through various social media platforms, it was clear that accurate and positive materials available were greatly lacking. There was little information on pediatric epilepsy, but even less on Infantile Spasms. The more I continued to learn and the more families I connected with, the more this idea grew.”