Aynara C. Wulsin, MD, PhD

My clinical specialty is pediatric neurology. I was drawn to this area of practice soon after my firstborn developed hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. I saw first-hand the effectiveness of research-based protocols like cooling. This life experience inspired me to continue my quest to prevent, treat and improve neurological disorders in children.

I chose to train at Cincinnati Children’s for many reasons; in particular, it is an excellent institution with inspiring physician mentors and co-residents that are eager to teach and ensure that you become the best possible pediatric neurologist. In addition, the institution, together with the University of Cincinnati, has an amazing breadth of world-renown clinical and bench researchers in the neuroscience field.

It has been almost 10 years since my first interactions with Cincinnati Children’s and the University of Cincinnati. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to continue to learn and grow with the support of several mentors, who have dedicated their time to ensure I continue to grow and achieve my goals as a physician-scientist while also caring about my success in balancing having a family and enjoying life outside medicine.

My research area of interest is epilepsy. My goals are to formulate strategies and therapies that can help prevent the development of epilepsy and its related cognitive comorbidities.

I am honored to have received several awards during my career, including the Research Innovation in Support of Excellence Award from Cincinnati Children’s to support my research as a resident physician in 2020-2021. I also received the Pre-doctoral National Research Service Award F30 (F30NS095578-01) from the National Institute of Neurologic Disorders for my MD/PhD training in 2015-2019, and the Philanthropic Educational Organization International Peace Scholarship in 2018-2019, as support for my career in science.

During my free time, I enjoy training for CrossFit competitions. Together with my family, we love exploring nearby parks, going to the FC Cincinnati stadium, attending performances by the Cincinnati ballet and trying out new restaurants around the city.