Edwin Trevathan, MD, MPH

Amos Christie Chair in Global Health, Pediatrics
Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Global Health Research Interests: Clinical Trials, Community Health, Education and Training (Capacity Building), Epidemiology, Epilepsy, Global Health Diplomacy, Global Health Security and Surveillance, Global Health Systems/Delivery, Neurology, Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs), Public Health

Countries: China, Honduras, Mali, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda

As a pediatric neurologist and epidemiologist, Dr. Trevathan's research interests include neuroepidemiology, epidemiology of childhood neurological disorders, and clinical trials of treatments for neurological disorders. His research and practice have focused on global health, and recently, he has developed an interest in global health diplomacy and the intersection of global health and foreign policy.  His research currently includes NIH-funded projects in sub-Saharan Africa:

  • Bridging the Childhood Epilepsy Treatment Gap in Africa (BRIDGE), 
  • Childhood Status Epilepticus and Epilepsy Determinants of Outcome (SEED), 
  • Developing Future Leaders in Child Neurology and Epilepsy Research, and (d) The Sahel Epilepsy Epidemiology and Genomics Study  

While a member of the senior leadership team at the CDC, Dr. Trevathan was responsible for many of the CDC's activities in child health and development, neurological disorders, maternal and child health, genetics, blood disorders, congenital disabilities, and developmental disabilities. Under his leadership, the CDC engaged in several productive collaborations in China, Latin America and Africa. While at CDC,

Dr. Trevathan also served as the Strategic Lead for the pediatric response to the 2009 H1N1 flu worldwide epidemic. Trevathan has served on various U.S. national committees, such as the Federal Advisory Committee of the National Children's Study, the Autism Interagency Coordinating Committee, and various Institute of Medicine and the World Health Organization committees.  He recently served on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at NIH.

Before assuming his current appointment at Vanderbilt, Dr. Trevathan served in several leadership positions, including Professor (Neuroscience), Executive Vice President and Provost at Baylor University, Professor (Epidemiology, Neurology & Pediatrics), and Dean of the College for Public Health and Social Justice at Saint Louis University (SLU), former Director of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Professor and Director of the Division of Pediatric Neurology at Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Trevathan received his B.S. (Chemistry) from Lipscomb University and earned his MD and MPH from Emory University. He received residency training in pediatrics at Yale University School of Medicine and in neurology and child neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He was also a fellow in clinical neurophysiology at Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. Trevathan has authored or co-authored over 100 clinical and scientific publications. He serves on several editorial boards and lectures nationally and internationally.

Education

MD, Emory University
MPH, Emory University