Matthew S. Goldfinger, DO, MSc

As a pediatric neurologist, I see children, teenagers, and young adults with a wide range of neurological concerns, including headaches and migraine, seizures and epilepsy, tics, movement problems, concussion, unexplained spells, and developmental or behavioral questions. Some have clear answers. Others take real detective work, and I'll admit those are the ones I find most interesting.

I also direct our Functional Neurologic Disorder (FND) Clinic. FND is a real neurological disorder, far more common than most people realize, and still widely misunderstood. It's a disorder of brain connectivity: the networks that make predictions, direct attention, and interpret signals from the body settle into abnormal patterns, producing symptoms like seizures, weakness, or trouble walking. Those patterns can become locked in place. Fortunately, brain connectivity can change, and the heart of our work is helping a child's brain find its way back to healthier, more flexible ways of working.

Treatment for FND usually starts with understanding. Children and families who genuinely understand what's happening in the brain are in a much better position to change it, so I take time with that conversation and meet each family where they are. From there, I work alongside incredible colleagues in physical and occupational therapy, psychology, and speech therapy, as well as teachers and school staff, to help kids get back to the things they care about.

My path to neurology started with a fascination with how the brain gives rise to our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. I studied psychology and neuroscience in college, then spent several years in a brain-mapping lab, recording directly from the human brain. One of my favorite studies looked at how the brain fills in what we see during the split second of every blink, a gap we never notice because the brain covers it so smoothly. What stayed with me is how much of our experience is the brain's best guess about the world and about our own bodies. That idea still shapes how I think about symptoms and about how people get better. It's also a big part of why I love working with kids. Their brains are remarkably adaptable, and they're refreshingly direct. If an explanation doesn't make sense, a six-year-old will let you know, usually right away.

Alongside medicine, I've spent a lot of my life designing experiences: fan engagement for live concerts, alternate reality games, theme park rides, escape rooms, magic tricks for professional illusionists, and viral marketing events, including a pop-up motel and the "world's largest pizza party." Increasingly, that work has found its way back into medicine. I've been invited to create neurology-themed puzzle challenges for several national conferences, and I've developed immersive curricula on how to navigate hard conversations, explain tricky diagnoses, and work more effectively with patients and families.

All of it comes down to attention: recognizing and preempting what people expect to happen next, shifting their perspective, and keeping focus where it needs to be, ideally while people have a great time or, in harder moments, feel cared for. That turns out to matter a lot in FND, where attention plays a central role in how symptoms show up and how they ease. Helping a child learn to move the spotlight of their attention is one of the most useful things I can offer. A brain that's curious, engaged, and exploring can learn, adapt, and get past a lot, and I try to bring that spirit into my teaching and my clinic.