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Veronica Hood, PhD

Dr. Hood joined the DSF staff in 2020. She has an MS in Biology from East Tennessee State University and a PhD in Cell, Stem Cell, and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado. She spent 10 years in laboratory settings researching how small changes in genetic and molecular regulation contribute to complex neurological diseases. In 2007, Veronica had a son, Gabriel, who faced severe developmental challenges. Gabriel presented with initial seizure activity within his first two months of life, and his medical needs quickly became quite complex. Despite endless testing, a diagnosis remained elusive, and at the age of 8, Gabriel passed away. These experiences fueled Veronica’s passion to advance medical research and shaped her desire to support other families facing similar challenges. She hopes to apply her scientific knowledge and her understanding of the caregiver experience to support the Dravet community by facilitating Dravet-focused research and acting as a liaison between researchers, professionals, and families.

Veronica Hood PhD DSF Scientific Director
Satya Sahoo, PHD & Jeffrey Buchhalter, MD, PHD

Development of an AI-powered Dravet Syndrome Ontology

Research News, DSF Funded Research / By

Satya Sahoo, PhD – Case Western Reserve UniversityJeffrey Buchhalter, MD, PhD – University of Calgary School of MedicineDevelopment of an AI-powered Dravet Syndrome OntologySpecial Collaborative Research Project – 2 years, $240,000 Grant Summary: Dravet Syndrome (DS) is a childhood epilepsy associated with severe cognitive, behavioral and life-threatening consequences. Although a significant amount of experimental data in available […]

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DSF Supports the Development of an AI-powered Dravet Ontology

Decoding Dravet Blog / By

Dravet Syndrome Foundation (DSF) is excited to announce support and funding for a new special research project. DSF will support Dr. Satya Sahoo and Dr. Jeffrey Buchhalter to develop a Dravet Ontology. DSF is funding $240,000 over the next 2 years to support this effort. An ontology works as a framework to show connections and

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2022 American Epilepsy Society Meeting: A Dravet-focused Recap

Decoding Dravet Blog / By

The American Epilepsy Society 2022 Annual Meeting took place in Nashville, Tennessee on December 2-6. This meeting is packed with academic scientists, expert clinicians and health care providers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and advocates all gathering to share updates in the field of epilepsy and hold thought discussions regarding where we have come and what

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Genetic Therapy for Dravet Syndrome: 2022 State of the Field

Uncategorized, Decoding Dravet Blog / By

When the Dravet Syndrome Foundation was established in 2009, there were no specific treatments for patients with Dravet syndrome and limited guidelines on best treatment approaches. Despite the known genetic cause for the majority of cases, mutations in SCN1A, the idea of a genetic-based therapy seemed a distant possibility at that time. Things have changed

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Stiripentol (DIACOMIT): History and New Expanded Approval

Decoding Dravet Blog, Research News / By

In July of this year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the use of stiripentol (DIACOMIT) for patients with Dravet syndrome aged 6 months and older and taking clobazam (1). Previously, stiripentol was approved for patients aged 2 years and older in the US, which meant there could be a delay in access

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Preclinical Development of a Gene Therapy for Dravet Syndrome

Decoding Dravet Blog, Research News / By

A recent publication from Tanenhaus et al details the preclinical work by Encoded Therapeutics that has led to the development of a potential gene regulation therapy for Dravet syndrome. The study, published in the journal Human Gene Therapy in June, shows proof-of-concept that their approach, ETX101, can be delivered to the correct cells in the

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2022 DSF Family & Professional Conference Recap

Decoding Dravet Blog / By

The Dravet Syndrome Foundation (DSF) held a Family & Professional Conference in Fort Worth, Texas on June 23-25 of 2022 in collaboration with Dr. Scott Perry and Cook Children’s Medical Center. DSF generally holds these conferences every 2 years, although due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has not been an in-person conference since 2018. Needless

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Measuring quality of life building blocks

Article Recap: Quality of Life in Genetic DEEs

Decoding Dravet Blog / By

In today’s blog we are recapping a recent publication by Cohen et al that reported the results of a study aimed at better understanding the relationship between quality of life and other measures of health and well-being in individuals with severe genetic developmental epilepsies (called developmental and epileptic encephalopathies, or “DEEs”). The Dravet Syndrome Foundation

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girl reading research paper

How to Read a Scientific Paper; Part 3: Critical Assessment

Decoding Dravet Blog / By

Today’s blog post was created in collaboration with Tanya Brown, PhD the Science Director for TESS Research Foundation and was cross-posted to the Science Simplified Blog. In our last two blog posts in this series we covered the structure of a research article (Part 1) and tips for critically reading a research article (Part 2).

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