(Philadelphia,
PA) -- Thornton B. Alexander Mason II, MD, PhD,
has accepted the position of Assistant Professor in
both the Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics at
the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
After earning his medical degree from Medical College
of Virginia, he took his first residency in Pediatrics
at Tulane University Medical Center and then went on
to Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center for a residency
in Pediatric Neurology. In 2000, he completed his PhD
in Neurobiology at Columbia University, and became a
fellow in Sleep Medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
In addition, he received a National Research Service
Award Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Penn, providing him
the opportunity to further his research. Mason is currently
an attending neurologist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Prior to coming to Penn, Mason was Assistant Professor
of Clinical Neurology and Clinical Pediatrics at the
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.
He is board certified in Pediatrics and Neurology with
Special Qualification in Child Neurology.
Mason's clinical research interests focus on pediatric
sleep disorders. He was recently awarded a mentored
research career development grant from NIH to study
periodic limb movements in sleep (PLMS) in children
with Williams Syndrome (WS). Mason will investigate
to see if the PLMS is determined by WS. The research
will also serve to provide new insights into WS as a
model for PLMS in the general population, and possibly
identify a specific gene(s) implicated in the origin
of the movements.
Mason has co-authored a number of original research
studies in peer-reviewed journals, as well as abstracts
and book chapters. He is a member of several national
professional and scientific organizations, including
the American Medical Association, the American Academy
of Neurology, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the
Child Neurology Society, the Society of Neuroscience
and the Sleep Research Society.
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