Pediatric Epileptologist Joins Cincinnati Children’s Faculty

Gewalin Aungaroon, MD, a fellowship-trained epileptologist, recently joined the faculty at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She specializes in the care of patients with epilepsy and has a strong interest in researching epilepsy surgery planning techniques, such as electrocortical stimulation for functional brain mapping.

Aungaroon sees epilepsy patients in the new-onset clinic and epilepsy referral clinic, and works with a team of specialists to provide epilepsy surgery evaluations for inpatients. “There are about 460,000 children with epilepsy in the United States, and I am concerned not only about the damage that seizures themselves can do, but about how seizures diminish these children’s quality of life. My passion as a doctor and as a human being is to help make their lives better.”

Aungaroon, a native of Thailand, earned her medical degree from Mahidol University, Ramathibodi Hospital, in Bangkok. She completed her residency in pediatrics at Ramathibodi Hospital, then moved to the United States to complete her neurology training. She did her residency in pediatric neurology and her fellowship in pediatric epilepsy at Cincinnati Children’s.

Her decision to remain at Cincinnati Children’s was driven partly by an appreciation for the epilepsy team and the hospital’s extensive resources for children with epilepsy. The institution’s commitment to clinical research was a factor as well. “The world of epilepsy research is very fast-paced and dynamic, and Cincinnati Children’s is part of that,” she says. “It is exciting to think how close we are to finding new ways of helping patients experience a better quality of life and even cure their disease.”