Michael Dowling, M.D., Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Professor Schools Medical School Departments Pediatrics | Neurology You have reached the Academic Profile. For more information on the doctor and patient care, please visit the clinical profile. Biography Michael Dowling, M.D., Ph.D. is a Pediatric Neurologist who specializes in pediatric stroke and neurovascular disorders as well as the neurologic complications of sickle cell disease. He came to UT Southwestern to complete his Pediatric and Pediatric Neurology fellowship training after completing his A.B. at Harvard College (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, cum laude), and completing his M.D. and Ph.D. (Biochemistry) at Columbia University where he had the remarkable experience of completing graduate courses with two subsequent Nobel Laureates, Martin Chalfie and Eric Kandel and completing his doctoral dissertation with subsequent Nobel Laureates Richard Axel and Linda Buck, cloning and characterizing olfactory receptors. He gained additional training in clinical research as NIH/NHLBI-funded Sickle Cell Scholar and then as a member of the UTSW Clinical Scholars (K12/KL2) program, obtaining a Master’s of Science in Clinical Sciences, with distinction, from UTSW in 2009. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology and Neurotherapeutics in 2012. Dr. Dowling has created one of the largest and most productive clinical and research programs for pediatric stroke in the country. He established a Pediatric Stroke clinic in 2003, the Pediatric Acute Stroke team in 2004, and co-authored clinical guidelines for the evaluation and management of children with stroke in for Children’s Medical Center and subsequent revisions and established an ACGME-accredited post graduate fellowship program in Pediatric stroke. Dr. Dowling is also a founding member of the Center for Cerebrovascular Disorders in Children (CCDC) at Children’s Health (in 2016) a collaborative group of neurologists, neurosurgeons, hematologists and neuroradiologists formed to improve the clinical care to children with stroke and other cerebrovascular disorders and includes a monthly clinical pediatric neurovascular conference for case review and education. His research focuses on stroke in children and the neurologic complications of sickle cell disease. He is an active member and lead enroller in the International Pediatric Stroke Study, with over 450 patients of the >5000 total enrolled at 65 centers around the world. Dr. Dowling was first author of one of the primary analyses of the dataset, cardiac causes of stroke. He currently serves on the IPSS Publication Committee and participates in many other multicenter studies. He also has a long-standing interest in ethical issues in neurology. He is a member of the Children’s Ethics Committee (since 2006) and served on the Ethics Committee of the Child Neurology Society from 2012-2016 and served as Topic Chair for the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting Sessions on Ethics in 2008-2011. In an ongoing educational innovation with students and residents, since 2007, he has actively engaged over 600 medical students on service in the clinic. This included a reading assignment of the play, Joe Egg, by Peter Nichols, which explores the difficulties encountered by parents caring for a child with a severe brain injury and intractable epilepsy. He has developed and presented Ethics CME lectures at multiple venues on separate topics of ethical concerns in pediatric gene therapy, brain death, and the care of neurologically devastated children. Education Other Post Graduate Training Columbia University in the City of New York (1989) Graduate School Columbia University in the City of New York (1989) Other Post Graduate Training Columbia University in the City of New York (1993) Graduate School Columbia University in the City of New York (1993) Medical School Columbia University (1995) Internship Children's Medical Center Dallas (1996), Pediatrics Residency Children's Medical Center Dallas (1997), Pediatrics Residency UT Southwestern Medical Center (2000), Pediatric Neurology Other Post Graduate Training UT Southwestern Medical Center (2009) Graduate School UT Southwestern Medical Center (2009) Research Interest Alternative etiologies for stroke in sickle cell disease Cerebrovascular disease Neurologic complications of sickle cell disease Neurologic injury in children with acute anemia Pediatric stroke Sturge-Weber syndrome Publications The International Pediatric Stroke Study: Insight into Childhood Stroke from a Developmental Perspective Rivkin MJ, Linds A, Slim M, Surmava AM, Beslow LA, Dowling MM, Mackay M, Kirton A, Jordan LC, Fox CK, Felling R, Dlamini N, Bernard T, Amlie-Lefond C, deVeber G Journal of Pediatrics 2026 May 292 Infection in Childhood Arterial Ischemic Stroke: Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing Results of the VIPS II Study Author Collaboration VI, Karalius MC, Ramachandran PS, Wapniarski A, Wang M, Zia M, Hills NK, Wintermark M, Grose C, Dowling MM, Wilson JL, Lee S, Chung M, Barry M, Xu H, Derisi JL, Wilson MR, Fullerton HJ, Dowling M, Fox C, Dlamini N, Deveber G, Torres M, Wilson J, Lee S, Cummings D, Lo W, Chung M, Jordan L, Bernard T, Barry M, Ichord R, Beslow L, Sharma M, Carpenter S, Amlie-Lefond C, Friedman N, Taylor JM, Rivkin M, Lehman L, Pergami P, Pardo A, Ridley-Pryor T, Felling R, Sun L, Mackay M, Kirton A Stroke 2025 Aug 56 2110-2121 Advances in Stroke in Children 2025 Fullerton HJ, Dowling MM Stroke 2025 Aug 56 2324-2326 Changing Management of Focal Cerebral Arteriopathy of Childhood From 2010 to 2022 Author Collaboration TV, Fullerton HJ, Hills NK, Chen H, Dlamini N, Stence NV, Wintermark M, Dowling M, Fox C, Deveber G, Torres M, Wilson J, Lee S, Cummings D, Lo W, Chung M, Jordan L, Bernard T, Barry M, Ichord R, Beslow L, Sharma M, Carpenter S, Amlie-Lefond C, Friedman N, Taylor JM, Rivkin M, Lehman L, Pergami P, Pardo A, Ridley-Pryor T, Felling R, Sun L, Mackay M, Kirton A Stroke 2025 Jun 56 1460-1468 Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Childhood Arterial Ischemic Stroke: An Unanticipated Natural Experiment Author Collaboration TV, Fullerton HJ, Hills NK, Wintermark M, Dlamini N, Fox CK, Cummings DD, Bernard TJ, Beslow LA, Sun LR, Grose C, Norris PJ, Di Germanio C, Dowling M, Fox C, DeVeber G, Torres M, Wilson J, Lee S, Cummings D, Lo W, Chung M, Jordan L, Bernard T, Barry M, Ichord R, Beslow L, Sharma M, Carpenter S, Amlie-Lefond C, Friedman N, Taylor JM, Rivkin M, Lehman L, Pergami P, Pardo A, Ridley-Pryor T, Felling R, Sun L, Mackay M, Kirton A Stroke 2025 May 56 1200-1209 Evidence of Varicella Zoster Virus Reactivation in Children With Arterial Ischemic Stroke: Results of the VIPS II Study Fullerton HJ, Hills NK, Wintermark M, Dlamini N, Amlie-Lefond C, Dowling MM, Jordan LC, Friedman NR, Elkind MS, Grose C, Fox C, Deveber G, Torres M, Wilson J, Lee S, Cummings D, Lo W, Chung M, Bernard T, Barry M, Ichord R, Beslow L, Sharma M, Carpenter S, Taylor JM, Rivkin M, Lehman L, Pergami P, Pardo A, Ridley-Pryor T, Felling R, Sun L, Mackay M, Kirton A Journal of the American Heart Association 2025 Mar 14 Pediatric Moyamoya Revascularization Perioperative Care: A Modified Delphi Study Sun LR, Jordan LC, Smith ER, Aldana PR, Kirschen MP, Guilliams K, Gupta N, Steinberg GK, Fox C, Harrar DB, Lee S, Chung MG, Dirks P, Dlamini N, Maher CO, Lehman LL, Hong SJ, Strahle JM, Pineda JA, Beslow LA, Rasmussen L, Mailo J, Piatt J, Lang SS, Adelson PD, Dewan MC, Mineyko A, McClugage S, Vadivelu S, Dowling MM, Hersh DS Neurocritical Care 2024 Apr 40 587-602 Cerebral vasculopathies Bonnet W, Dowling MM, Felling RJ 2024 Jan 2 689-708 COL4A1/COL4A2 variants in 16 new pediatric patients: A Case Series of Stroke, Porencephaly, Schizencephaly and Other Findings Ozlu C, Laheji F, Bonnet WV, Muncy Thomas J, Singh S, Dowling MM, Machie M Pediatric Stroke 2024 9 29-75 The development of the pediatric stroke neuroimaging platform (PEDSNIP) Domi T, Robertson A, Lee W, Wintle RF, Stence N, Bernard T, Kirton A, Carlson H, Andrade A, Rafay MF, Bjornson B, Kim D, Dowling M, Bonnett W, Rivkin M, Krishnan P, Shroff M, Ertl-Wagner B, Strother S, Arnott S, Wintermark M, Kassner A, deVeber G, Dlamini N NeuroImage: Clinical 2023 Jan 39 Results 1-10 of 85 1 2 3 4 5 Next Last Books Featured Books Cerebral Vasculopathies. In Rosenberg RN, Pascual JN, eds. Rosenberg's Molecular and Genetic Basis of Neurological and Psychiatric Disease. 6th ed. Dowling MM, Felling RJ. (2020). Elsevier; 1211-1219. Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (Osler-Weber-Rendu). In Roach ES, Miller VS, eds. Neurocutaneous Disorders. Dowling MM. (2004). Cambridge University Press; 159-165. Autism. In Curatolo P, ed. Tuberous Sclerosis Complex: From Basic Science to Clinical Phenotypes. 1st ed. Dowling M, Curatolo P. (2003). London: Mac Keith Press; 91-108. Honors & Awards Pediatric Neurology Resident Teaching Award "Golden Boots" (2018) Texas Super DoctorsTexas Monthly Magazine (2017) Best Pediatric Specialists/Doctors in DallasD Magazine (2010-2013) (2015-2018) Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society Award (2014) Trephined Cranium Award for Outstanding TeachingUT Southwestern Medical Center (2014) 8th Annual Excellence in Teaching AwardUT Southwestern Medical Center (2012) Core Clerkship Teaching AwardUT Southwestern Medical Center (2009) Innovations in Clinical Research AwardDoris Duke Charitable Foundation (2009) Professional Associations/Affiliations American Academy of Neurology (2001) American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (2007) Child Neurology Society (2002) Fellow, American Academy of Neurology
