Dana Douglas Cummings, MD, PhD

Administrative Assistant: Melissa White

As a pediatric neurology educator with a long-term commitment to global health,  Cummings worked with a non-governmental organization in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in the former Soviet Union, where he had the opportunity to introduce modern concepts of clinical neuroscience and the role of multidisciplinary care across the lifespan in countries with extremely high mortality and disability-adjust life years burden related to neurologic disorders including stroke and neurodevelopmental disabilities. As a faculty member in pediatrics and the Pediatric Stroke Program Director at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh,  Cummings has set care standards and provided education to students, residents, fellows and faculty in evaluation and management of pediatric stroke. He served as site investigator for NIH funded Thrombolysis in Pediatric Stroke (TIPS) study (RO1 NS065818).

In 2018 He became a site investigator for the ongoing Vascular Effects of Infection in Pediatric Stroke Study (VIPS-II, R56NS06282). He continues to serve as the member of research advisory committee of the NINDS Stroke Trials Network Coordinating Center at UPSOM (NIH 127927). Based on special brain attack procedures including brain attack MRI protocols developed in collaboration with radiology and emergency medicine faculty for the TIPS study,  Cummings has been able to expedite multidisciplinary care leading to life-changing procedures including mechanical thrombectomy in arterial ischemic stroke. His involvement in the care of patients with pediatric brain attack and stroke has also allowed him to collaborate with and mentor other faculty and trainees in the development of case reports of clinical innovations and unusual presentations on pediatric brain attack. In 2020 He was appointed as associate director for clinical research in the Division of Child Neurology. In 2021, he was appointed to the editorial board of Pediatric Neurology(www.pedneuro.com). He was also appointed as a faculty facilitator for Pediatrics Writing Group, Dept of Pediatrics University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Cummings’ current research interests include utilization of advanced imaging methods to stroke time of onset to predict the risk of hemorrhagic transformation of arterial ischemic stroke. He also works on risk stratification for long-term hemorrhage in asymptomatic patients with intracranial cavernous malformations

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

• American Academy of Neurology, 2000- Present
• World Federation of Neurology, 2000-Present
• International Child Neurology Association, 2014-Present
• Internatiional Pediatric Stroke Organization, 2019-Present