Berge Minassian, M.D. Titles and Appointments Chief, Division of Pediatric Neurology Professor & Division Chief Endowed Title Jimmy Elizabeth Westcott Distinguished Chair in Pediatric Neurology Schools Medical School | Graduate School Departments Pediatrics | Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern | Neurology | Neuroscience Graduate Programs Genetics, Development and Disease, Neuroscience You have reached the Academic Profile. For more information on the doctor and patient care, please visit the clinical profile. Biography Download Curriculum Vitae Berge A. Minassian, M.D., is a Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics, Neurology and Neuroscience at UT Southwestern. He is the Division Chief of Child Neurology and serves on the faculty of the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern. Dr. Minassian is a pediatric neurologist whose clinical specialties are epilepsy, neurodegenerative diseases, and neurogenetic conditions. Two of his primary interests have been Lafora disease, for which his lab discovered the genes, and Gene Therapy for neurological diseases of children. He has published more than 120 scholarly articles and authored or contributed to 10 books, and his many professional honors include the Jacob's Ladder 2014 Norman Saunders International Research Prize for Outstanding Scientist, the American Academy of Neurology 2007 Dreifuss-Penry Epilepsy Award, the Canadian Paediatric Society 2008 Sanofi Pasteur Research Award, and the American Epilepsy Society 1996 Young Investigator Award. Dr. Minassian is a Fellow (Neurology) of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Dr. Minassian went to the American University of Beirut for his undergraduate studies. He then completed medical school at McGill University in Montreal. He first did a residency in Adult Neurology at UCLA and the West Los Angeles VA. During his residency, he realized that his chief interest is root causes of neurological disease, which in important part include genetics. Since genetic diseases present mostly in childhood, he switched orientation to pediatric neurology. He learned pediatric epileptology and neurogenetics at The Hospital for Sick Children, in Toronto, Canada. He then joined the faculty at that institution as a clinician-scientist. Over 20 years there he was involved in the discovery of more than 20 neurological disease genes. Meanwhile, gene replacement therapy was becoming increasingly possible. Dr. Minassian moved to UT Southwestern to lead the Pediatric Neurology division here, and build a premiere Gene Therapy program. This included recruitment of a leading Gene Therapy Scientist, Dr. Steven Gray and his team. Together, Drs. Minassian and Gray direct the UT Southwestern gene therapy program. While Dr. Gray and colleagues’ labs perfect gene therapy technologies, Dr. Minassian is organizing the Pediatric Neurology faculty and trainees to be equipped to conduct gene therapy clinical trials. The marriage of research and the clinic will serve to build the Future of Medicine in Pediatric Neurology, a large portion of which consists of numerous rare single gene defect disorders. It will also extend in subsequent steps to Adult Neurology and Psychiatry and their common diseases, including Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, Schizophrenia and others, which also are genetic in their root causes. Education Medical School McGill University Faculty of Medicine (1992) Internship University of Toronto Hospitals, Canada (1993), Internal Medicine Residency West Los Angeles VA Medical Center (1996), Neurology Fellowship University of Toronto, the Hospital for Sick Children (1997), Pediatric Neurology Fellowship University of Toronto, the Hospital for Sick Children (1998), Neurogenetics Research Interest Gene therapy for childhood neurological diseases Lafora Disease Publications Lafora disease gene therapy: EPM2A but not EPM2B overexpression results in Lafora body formation Alao EO, Sheibani M, Wu J, Marriam U, Evans D, Kasiri S, Verma M, Nitschke S, Nitschke F, Gray SJ, Mitra S, Minassian BA Neurotherapeutics 2026 Mar 23 CUL1 variants cause severe neurodevelopmental disorders: Insights from human genetics and a zebrafish model of microcephaly Xu H, Liu Z, Hamdan FF, Wu S, He M, Wang D, Pan H, Hu J, Chen Y, Michaud JL, Minassian BA, Duan J, Liao J, Su J, Hu S, Peng Y, Ye Q, Chen L Human Genetics and Genomics Advances 2026 Jan 7 First-in-human high dose AAV9 intrathecal gene therapy for paediatric CLN7 disease: a phase 1, open-label, single ascending dose, non-randomised clinical trial Greenberg BM, Minassian B, Messahel S, Edgar VB, Lowden A, Dahshi H, Nettesheim ER, Nguyen HH, Hughes S, Muthukumar AR, Srinivasan K, Iannaccone S, Varadarajan G, Gray SJ, Kayani SN EBioMedicine 2026 Jan 123 Neurofilament Light Chain as a Biomarker of Disease Progression in Lafora Disease Muccioli L, Ganceviciute B, Becker F, Minardi R, Tappatà M, Bachhuber F, Alkhatib M, Cirak S, Weishaupt J, Verma M, Tumani H, Wagner J, Messahel S, Nitschke F, Minassian BA, Bisulli F, Brenner D Neurology: Genetics 2025 Dec 11 e200319 The 9th annual Lafora science symposium: a rare epilepsy community makes progress towards clinical readiness Williams MI, Donohue KJ, Sanz P, Messahel S, Serratosa JM, Duran J, Michelucci R, Muccioli L, Delgado-Escueta A, Nguyen VH, Minassian BA, Gentry MS Epilepsy and Behavior 2025 Oct 171 Sleep architecture and qEEG patterns in PME type 1 diagnosis Pophal E, Taha M, Doll E, Nordli DR, Minassian B, Nordli DR Epileptic Disorders 2025 Oct 27 1032-1037 Autosomal Recessive Cerebellar Ataxias: Translating Genes to Therapies Fogel BL, Klopstock T, Lynch DR, Maltecca F, Verma M, Minassian BA, Platt FM, Gonçalves DF, Puccio H, Roos A, Synofzik M Annals of Neurology 2025 Sep 98 448-470 Targeting the trunk of multi-root common epilepsy with gene therapy Sheibani M, Minassian BA Molecular Therapy Methods and Clinical Development 2025 Jun 33 Lithium exacerbates Lafora body formation in the Epm2a-/- Lafora disease mouse model Wu J, Lynn TC, Nitschke S, Mitra S, Minassian BA Neuroscience letters 2025 May 856-858 Focused ultrasound widely broadens AAV-delivered Cas9 distribution and activity Gumusgoz E, Kasiri S, Youssef I, Verma M, Chopra R, Villarreal Acha D, Wu J, Marriam U, Alao E, Chen X, Guisso DR, Gray SJ, Shah BR, Minassian BA Gene Therapy 2025 May 32 237-245 Results 1-10 of 249 1 2 3 4 5 Next Last Books Featured Books The progressive myoclonus epilepsies. In Steinlein O, ed. Progress in Brain Research. Vol. 213. Minassian BA. (2014). Elsevier; 113-122. Imprinting and Angelman Syndrome. In Delgado-Escueta AV, Wilson WA, Olsen RW, Porter RJ, eds. Jasper's Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies. 3rd ed. Advances in Neurology, vol. 79. Lalande M, Minassian BA, DeLorey TM, Olsen RW. (1999). Raven Press; 421-429. Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsy of Lafora. In Noebels JL, Avoli M, Rogawski MA, Olsen RW, Delgado-Escueta AV, eds. Jasper's Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies. 4th ed. Serratosa JM, Minassian BA, Ganesh S. (2012). Oxford University Press; 874-877. Autosomal Recessive Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsy. In Avanzini G, Noebels J, eds. Genetics of Epilepsy and Genetic Epilepsies. Girard JM, Ramachandran N, Turnbull J, Minassian BA. (2009). John Libbey Eurotext; 229-246. Unverricht-Lundborg Disease. In Chapman K, Rho JM, eds. Pediatric Epilepsy Case Studies: From Infancy and Childhood through Adolescence. Andrade DM, Minassian BA. (2008). CRC Press; 251-256. On the Road to Tractability: The Current Biochemical Understanding of Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsies. In Blume WT, Carlen PL, Starrveld E, Wiebe S, Young GB, eds. Advances in Neurology. Vol. 97: Intractable Epilepsies. Lohi H, Chan EM, Scherer SW, Minassian BA. (2005). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 399-415. The history of progressive myoclonus epilepsies. In Minassian BA, Striano P, Avanzini G, eds. Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsies: State-of-the-Art. Genton P, Striano P, Minassian BA. (2017). Montrouge, France: John Libbey Eurotext; 1-10. Post-modern therapeutic approaches for progressive myoclonus epilepsy. In Minassian BA, Striano P, Avanzini G, eds. Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsies: State-of-the-Art. Minassian BA. (2017). Montrouge, France: John Libbey Eurotext; 199-204. Therapeutic Approaches to Inherited Metabolic Epilepsies. In Inherited Metabolic Epilepsies, 2nd ed, Pearl PL, ed. Verhalen B, Minassian BA (2018). New York, NY, Springer Publishing; 497-503 Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses. In Dulac O, Lassonde M, Sarnat HB, eds. Handbook of Clinical Neurology: Pediatric Neurology Part III. Vol. 113. Chabrol B, Caillaud C, Minassian BA. (2013). Elsevier; 1701-1706. Progressive myoclonus epilepsy. In Dulac O, Lassonde M, Sarnat HB, eds. Handbook of Clinical Neurology: Pediatric Neurology Part III. Vol. 113. Girard JM, Turnbull J, Ramachandran N, Minassian BA. (2013). Elsevier; 1731-1736. X-linked Myopathy with Excessive Autophagy. In Karpati D, ed. Structural and Molecular Basis of Skeletal Muscle Diseases. Minassian BA, Levy N. (2002). ISN Neuropath Press; 145-147. Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsies: State-of-the-Art. Minassian BA, Striano P, Avanzini G. (Ed.) (2017). Montrouge, France: John Libbey Eurotext. Lafora disease. In Minassian BA, Striano P, Avanzini G, eds. Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsies: State-of-the-Art. Turnbull J, Striano P, Genton P, Carpenter S, Ackerley CA, Minassian BA. (2017). Montrouge, France: John Libbey Eurotext; 49-78. Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsy with Polyglucosan Bodies - Lafora's Disease. In Fahn S, Frucht SJ, Hallett M, Truong DD, eds. Advances in Neurology. Vol. 89: Myoclonus and Paroxysmal Dyskinesias. Minassian BA. (2002). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 199-210. Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses. In Minassian BA, Striano P, Avanzini G, eds. Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsies: State-of-the-Art. Nita DA, Mole SE, Minassian BA. (2017). Montrouge, France: John Libbey Eurotext; 93-114. The history of progressive myoclonus epilepsies. In Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsies: State-of-the-Art Genton P, Striano P, Minassian BA (2017). Montrouge, France, John Libbey Eurotext Honors & Awards Jacob's Ladder International Research Prize for Outstanding ScientistNorman Saunders (2014) Leadership Award in E-InfrastructureOntario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION), in recognition of outstanding leadership in research and innovation in Ontario (2013) Benjamin Boshes Memorial Lectureship, Keynote SpeakerIsraeli Neurological Association Annual Meeting (2011) Canadian Paediatric Society Sanofi Pasteur Research AwardFor excellence in Canadian child health research (2008) Dreifuss-Penry Epilepsy AwardAmerican Academy of Neurology, for Independent contribution to epilepsy research (2007) Canada Research Chair in Pediatric Neurogenetics (2006) John Stobo Prichard AwardInternational Child Neurology Association (2006) Ted Hall Award, Best Biology PaperMicroscopy Society of America, Annual Meeting (2005) Certificate of AppreciationInternational Rett Syndrome Association (2004) Certificate of AppreciationBatten's Disease Research and Support Association (2002) Certificate of AppreciationCanadian Angelman Syndrome Society (2002-2004) Certificate of AppreciationAngelman Syndrome Foundation (1997) Young Investigator AwardAmerican Epilepsy Society (1996) Certificate of AppreciationCanadian Angleman Syndrome Society (1995-1998) Gertrude and Charles Clark Cancer Research FellowJewish General Hospital, McGill University (1987) Professional Associations/Affiliations American Academy of Neurology American Academy of Neurology, Neurogenetics Section - Founding Member Canadian Medical Association College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario Ontario Medical Association Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Canada
