Danielle Molinari Andrade, MD, MSc, FRCPC

Dr. Andrade is a Professor of Medicine (Neurology) at the University of Toronto. She is the Medical Director of the Epilepsy Program at the University Health Network. She is also the founder and Director of the Krembil Brain Institute Epilepsy Genetics Program. She is the Chair of the International League Against Epilepsy task force on the transition of patients with epilepsy from pediatric to adult care. Finally, she is an appointed board member of the ILAE-North American Chapter.

Dr. Andrade graduated in Medicine from Universidade Federal do Parana (Brazil) and completed her Neurology Residency at Hospital N.S. Gracas (Brazil). She then completed a Master of Sciences at The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, which was focused on “Protein Therapy for Unverricht-Lundborg Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsy”. Between 2004 and 2006 Dr. Andrade completed an Epilepsy and Clinical Electrophysiology Fellowship at Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto.

 

Dr. Andrade’s research interests are in the field of genetic epilepsies and their long-term outcome, or natural history. Her team identified the first gene associated with SUDEP (sudden, unexpected death in epilepsy) in patients with non-syndromic epilepsy. Her team also discovered the genes responsible for different epilepsies, including Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, Jeavon’s syndrome, teenage-onset neuronal ceroid lipofuccinosis and progressive myoclonus epilepsy. 

Dr. Andrade leads UHN's adult Dravet Syndrome program. Along with her collaborators, she has determined that the majority of adults with Dravet syndrome develop early onset parkinsonian features. Her work in this area is now focused on examining the natural history of adults with Dravet syndrome and other DEEs.

Dr. Andrade’s work on genotype/phenotype correlations in adults with genetic epilepsies has shown that patients with 22q11.2 have an overall lower seizure threshold, even in the absence of genetic generalized epilepsy or structural epilepsy. Her research has also shown that more than 15% of adults with pediatric-onset epilepsy and intellectual disability have a pathogenic copy number variation in their genomes.

Dr. Andrade continues to collaborate on national and international initiatives to discover new genes that are associated with common and rare epilepsies, and to identify how these genes affect patients’ response to therapy.

 

For a list of Dr. Andrade's publications, please visit PubMed or Scopus.


Professor of Medicine (Neurology), University of Toronto
Medical Director, Epilepsy Program, University Health Network
Director, Epilepsy Genetics Research Program, University Health Network
Chair, Transition in Care from Childhood to Adult Task Force, International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE)
Board Member, ILAE-North American Chapter