Paediatric neurologist
Dr Didu (Sandi) Kariyawasam, is a paediatric neurologist and is currently in the third year of her PhD candidature. Her PhD studies are investigating novel strategies employed in the prevention, early diagnosis and management of paediatric neuromuscular disease. Her studies include assessing the implementation of the first state wide new-born screening (NBS) program for SMA in Australia. In addition, her PhD utilises novel neurophysiological assessment tools to provide an evaluation of disease activity and treatment responsiveness to yield sensitive and meaningful outcome measures in SMA. The main body of her work has been published in high impact factor journals including Genetics in Medicine, JNNP and Lancet EClinical Medicine. Her most recent work revealed wide acceptance from parents and healthcare professionals for SMA screening and was featured in the UNSW newsletter: Australian pilot program for spinal muscular atrophy screening in new-borns garners overwhelming support | Medicine - UNSW Sydney