{"id":439250,"date":"2026-09-17T22:02:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/439250\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T22:02:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:02:30","slug":"academic-medicine-raises-the-bar-for-pediatric-neuroscience-care-in-austin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/439250\/","title":{"rendered":"Academic Medicine Raises the Bar for Pediatric Neuroscience Care in Austin\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By the time Charlotte \u201cCharli\u201d Hilz\u2019s family drove from Dallas to Austin, they had tried nearly everything they had been offered to control her seizures: Seven medications, dietary changes and steroids had failed. Some treatments helped briefly, while others brought difficult side effects. All the while, two-year-old Charli was losing abilities she had already developed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her parents knew the situation was worsening. What they did not have was a clear path forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy trust began to waver,\u201d says Charli\u2019s father, Trevor Hilz. \u201cBut I also didn\u2019t know where to go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A family connection led them to Dave Clarke<\/a>, M.D., chief of the Comprehensive Pediatric Epilepsy Program within the neurology clinic at Dell Children\u2019s, a clinical partnership with Dell Medical School that is now ranked No. 21 in the country. Within a week, they had made the trip to Austin and begun a new evaluation \u2014 one designed not simply to try another medication, but to understand why the treatments had failed and whether a more definitive option was possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur program is designed to engage closely with families and across our disciplines to get to the root of the problem,\u201d says Clarke, professor of pediatrics and neurology at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin. \u201cHighly trained epileptologists, neurosurgeons who are able to take on high-risk procedures if needed, neuropsychologists, social workers, advanced practice providers and nurses \u2014 we all collaborate with the child and family at the center. That\u2019s what makes the difference here: We are both capable and willing to go the extra mile for each child.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

National recognition for Austin pediatric programs\u00a0<\/p>\n

Charli\u2019s journey points to a larger shift in the Central Texas medical landscape. For years, families in Austin routinely traveled to Dallas, Houston and elsewhere for highly specialized pediatric care. Charli\u2019s family came in the opposite direction, seeking capabilities that an emerging academic pediatric neuroscience program had assembled here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Created in 2019, the program brought pediatric neurology, neurosurgery, neuropsychology, neuro-ophthalmology, rehabilitation and related specialties into a more integrated model. It earned its first national recognition from U.S. News & World Report three years later. By 2025, the program had reached No. 25 in the country for pediatric neurology and neurosurgery. Today, it is tied for No. 21, one of a handful of programs<\/a> led by Dell Med faculty now climbing in national recognition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe power of academic medicine is that patient care, research and education continually strengthen one another,\u201d says Claudia Lucchinetti<\/a>, M.D., senior vice president for medical affairs and dean of Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin. \u201cThe needs of patients shape research, new discoveries create better outcomes, and education prepares more physicians to deliver the most advanced care. At Dell Children\u2019s, Dell Med faculty bring that model together with outstanding clinical teams and the broader capabilities of UT to take on complex cases and find a path forward when standard answers fall short.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese rankings reflect what matters for children and families: deeper expertise, more options, and access to nationally recognized care here in Central Texas.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Charli\u2019s journey from uncertainty to recovery\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other leading pediatric epilepsy centers around the country have access to many of the same advanced tools. But what Charli and her family needed \u2014 and had not yet found \u2014 was a team of advanced specialists prepared to put them together around her particular case.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen advanced specialists come together, we can look at complex cases from every angle,\u201d says Adam Messer, president of Dell Children\u2019s Medical Center. \u201cThis collaboration helps us understand each child\u2019s unique needs so we can provide comprehensive care that supports the entire family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Charli\u2019s epilepsy began in one area of the brain but spread so rapidly that it could resemble a different type of seizure disorder. At the same time, abnormal electrical activity was disrupting more than half of her sleep, interfering with her brain\u2019s ability to rest, learn and develop. She was having as many as 20 seizures a day, struggling to walk and speak clearly, and losing the use of her left hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Dell Children\u2019s, the team began again with inpatient monitoring, capturing Charli\u2019s seizures and studying the electrical activity in her brain. Advanced imaging helped narrow the suspected source. Epileptologists, neurosurgeons and neuropsychologists then used stereo-EEG, placing small electrodes in and around the target area to determine precisely where her seizures began and how closely that area bordered functions that needed to be preserved.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The evaluation located a small area of atypical cells near Charli\u2019s sensory cortex. The target was so tightly surrounded by functional tissue that conventional surgical removal could have caused harm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, the team guided a needle-sized probe between two folds of her brain and used laser energy to deactivate the cells driving the seizures while protecting the surrounding tissue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, Charli is six years old and remains seizure-free. Her overnight epileptic episodes have largely disappeared. She is using both sides of her body more fully, taking fewer medications and rapidly regaining function her family once feared had been permanently lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time, we felt heard,\u201d says Charli\u2019s mother, Mackenzie Hilz. \u201cDr. Clarke believed us. He looked at her and us and said, \u2018I have a plan.\u2019 We hadn\u2019t heard that from anyone before. We took the leap, and it saved her life.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By the time Charlotte \u201cCharli\u201d Hilz\u2019s family drove from Dallas to Austin, they had tried nearly everything they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-439250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}