2027 Pediatric SEEG Course

Dr. Kheder is an epileptologist with extensive experience in epilepsy surgery and SEEG. His work focuses on advancing diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for epilepsy. His research interests include seizure semiology, functional neuroanatomy, cognitive neuroscience, and brain mapping and connectivity. Driven by a passion for understanding the complexities of the brain, Dr. Kheder is committed to integrating cutting-edge research into clinical practice to improve patient outcomes.

Dr. Ammar Shaikhouni is a pediatric neurosurgeon and the Surgical Director of Epilepsy Surgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He completed his neurosurgery residency at The Ohio State University, a stereotactic and functional neurosurgery fellowship at The Ohio State University, and a pediatric neurosurgery fellowship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His clinical focus includes epilepsy surgery and  neuromodulation techniques to treat epilepsy and movement disorders. Dr. Shaikhouni received a PhD in neuroscience from Brown University where his research focused on brain-computer interfaces and cognitive physiology. He now integrates that expertise with his clinical practice to advance surgical care for children with neurological disorders.

Dr. Mathilde Chipaux-Raffo is a senior pediatric epileptologist and neurophysiologist at Rothschild Hospital-Foundation in Paris, with a joint appointment at the Paris Brain Institute. She leads both the Pediatric Neurophysiology Unit and Pediatric Clinical Research at Rothschild.

Trained in presurgical epilepsy evaluation and invasive EEG monitoring since 2010, she founded the EPIFOR network in 2020 to improve access to pediatric epilepsy surgery nationally and internationally. The network has supported over 400 children and facilitated more than 250 advanced surgical procedures, including SEEG, RF thermocoagulation, LITT, and neuromodulation (VNS, DBS).

She co-directs the annual French epilepsy surgery meeting hosted by Rothschild since 2013 and serves on the LFCE administrative board, the French chapter of the ILAE.

Her research focuses on focal cortical dysplasia genetics, sEEG thermolesions, surgical outcomes, pediatric neurophysiology, and innovations in epilepsy surgery. She has collaborated with the Paris Brain Institute since her PhD in 2009 and has led pediatric clinical research at Rothschild since 2017.

Dr Sarah Ferrand-Sorbets is a Pediatric Neurosurgeon and Head of Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery in the Rothschild Foundation Hospital, Paris, France (CCMR Epilepsies Rares, member of the EPICARE European Reference Network and Centre de Référence et de compétence des épilepsies rares CRéER).

Graduated in 2008, she then received pediatric epilepsy surgery training with Olivier DELALANDE & Georg DORFMULLER at the Rothschild Foundation Hospital, including a residency at the Great Osmond Street Hosiptal, London, in 2018. She is member of the ILAE Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery -Task Force of the Surgery Commission (2021-2025) and Faculty member of the International Epilepsy Surgery Society (IESS).

Her clinical and research interests include all the fields of the pediatric epilepsy surgery : presurgical evaluation with invasive : grids and sEEG, robotic frameless stereotactic procedures, radiofrequency thermocoagulation, resective-disconnective procedures, MRI-guided procedures, LITT, and neuromodulation : VNS and DBS. She leads the development of MRI guided neurosurgery and its various applications : Laser thermoablation, gene therapy and DBS.