Ajay X. Thomas, MD, PhD

Scientific Committee

Pediatric Neurology & Neurocritical Care, Texas Children's Hospital / Baylor College of Medicine

Houston, TX, USA

About

Ajay is a physician-scientist whose work spans the bench and the bedside, from dissecting molecular mechanisms of epileptogenesis during his PhD with Amy Brooks-Kayal at the University of Colorado to managing complex neurocritical care cases at Texas Children's Hospital. He earned his MD/PhD from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, completed residency in the Basic Neuroscience Track, followed by a Clinical Neurophysiology fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's, and now serves on the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine at Texas Children's Hospital. His research bridges pediatric neurocritical care, neuromonitoring, clinical neurophysiology, status epilepticus, and spinal cord injury — always with the goal of improving outcomes for the sickest kids. As a member of the PedQuEST Scientific Committee, Ajay brings deep expertise in multimodal monitoring and a passion for building collaborative networks that push the field forward.

Research Interests

Neurocritical CareNeuromonitoringClinical NeurophysiologyPediatric EpilepsySpinal Cord InjuryECMO/ECLS

Publications(11)

Influenza-Associated Acute Necrotizing Encephalopathy in US Children

Silverman A, Walsh R, Santoro JD, Thomas K, Ballinger E, Fisher KS, Thomas AX, Appavu B, Kruer MC, Neilson D, Knoll J, Sharp AN, Edelman HE, Otallah S, Morgan A, Grzezulkowska A, Nguyen J, Rao LM, Hecht SM, Catalano L, Daigle H, Kronfol C, Wharton J, Adams D, Kalawi AZ, Kung M, Arellano JL, Smith L, Segal D, Feja K, Broomall E, Jayakar A, Arnold SR, Retallack H, Press CA, Gombolay G, McLaughlin MH, Kannan V, Thakkar K, Rezwan T, Hulfish E, Eid D, Meylor J, Peng D, Hurtado R, Nickerson T, Mandell I, Carbonell AU, Kerner-Rossi M, Jayaraman D, Davis M, Olivero R, Shah N, Osborne CM, Zhang B, Cortina C, Randolph AG, Rao S, LaRocca T, Van Haren KP, Wilson-Murphy M

JAMA (2025) · DOI → · PubMed

Neurocritical CareSeizuresBiomarkers

Focal Cerebral Injury in Pediatric Extracorporeal Life Support: Timing in Relation to Cannulation or Other Circuit Events in a Single-Center Retrospective Series, 2015-2023

Caffarelli M, Li Y, Amorim E, Finlay K, Guterman EL, Benedetti G, Press CA, Harrar D, Thomas AX, Steurer M, Sacks LD, Fox CK

Pediatr Crit Care Med (2025) · PubMed

ECMO/ECLSBrain InjuryNeurocritical Care

Rapid Increases in proBDNF after Pilocarpine-Induced Status Epilepticus in Mice Are Associated with Reduced proBDNF Cleavage Machinery

Thomas AX, Cruz Del Angel Y, Gonzalez MI, Carrel AJ, Carlsen J, Lam PM, Hempstead BL, Russek SJ, Brooks-Kayal AR

eNeuro (2016) · DOI → · PubMed

Status Epilepticus

Altered Protein Profiles During Epileptogenesis in the Pilocarpine Mouse Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Ahmed MM, Carrel AJ, Cruz Del Angel Y, Carlsen J, Thomas AX, González MI, Gardiner KJ, Brooks-Kayal A

Front Neurol (2021) · DOI → · PubMed

Status Epilepticus

A Virtual Community of Practice: An International Educational Series in Pediatric Neurocritical Care

Erklauer JC, Thomas AX, Hong SJ, Appavu BL, Carpenter JL, Chiriboga-Salazar NR, Ferrazzano PA, Goldstein Z, Griffith JL, Guilliams KP, Kirschen MP, Lidsky K, Lovett ME, McLaughlin B, Munoz Pareja JC, Murphy S, O'Donnell W, Riviello JJ, Schober ME, Topjian AA, Wainwright MS, Simon DW

Children (Basel) (2022) · DOI → · PubMed

Neurocritical CareEducation

Neurocritical care and neuromonitoring considerations in acute pediatric spinal cord injury

Thomas AX, Erklauer JC

Semin Pediatr Neurol (2024) · DOI → · PubMed

Neurocritical CareNeuromonitoringReviewBiomarkers

ANKLE2-related microcephaly: A variable microcephaly syndrome resembling Zika infection

Thomas AX, Link N, Robak LA, Demmler-Harrison G, Pao EC, Squire AE, Michels S, Cohen JS, Comi A, Prontera P, Verrotti di Pianella A, Di Cara G, Garavelli L, Caraffi SG, Fusco C, Zuntini R, Parks KC, Sherr EH, Hashem MO, Maddirevula S, Alkuraya FS, Contractar IAF, Neil JE, Walsh CA, Bellen HJ, Chao HT, Clark RD, Mirzaa GM

Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology (2022) · DOI → · PubMed

Neurocritical CareBiomarkers

Pharmacologic and Acute Management of Spinal Cord Injury in Adults and Children

Thomas AX, Riviello JJ, Davila-Williams D, Thomas SP, Erklauer JC, Bauer DF, Cokley JA

Current Treatment Options in Neurology (2022) · DOI → · PubMed

Neurocritical Care

Mutations in ANKLE2, a ZIKA Virus Target, Disrupt an Asymmetric Cell Division Pathway in Drosophila Neuroblasts to Cause Microcephaly

Link N, Chung H, Jolly A, Withers M, Tepe B, Arenkiel BR, Shah PS, Krogan NJ, Aydin H, Geckinli BB, Tos T, Isikay S, Tuysuz B, Mochida GH, Thomas AX, Clark RD, Mirzaa GM, Lupski JR, Bellen HJ

Developmental Cell (2019) · DOI → · PubMed

Biomarkers

Neurocritical care and neuromonitoring considerations in acute pediatric spinal cord injury

Thomas AX, Erklauer JC

Seminars in Pediatric Neurology (2024) · DOI → · PubMed

Neurocritical CareNeuromonitoring

A Virtual Community of Practice: An International Educational Series in Pediatric Neurocritical Care

Children (2022) · DOI → · PubMed

EducationNeurocritical Care

Conference Abstracts(3)

Development of a Multicenter EEG Research Consortium and Data Platform to Advance Pediatric Quantitative EEG Research

Press CA, Benedetti GM, Harrar DB, Farias-Moeller R, Tomko S, Jayakar A, Appavu B, Morgan LA, Castillo-Pinto C, Thomas AX, Rau S, Fulton F, Parikh D, Abend NS, Hahn C, Riviello J, Ganesan R, De Freitas D, Dare Y, Wagenaar J

American Epilepsy Society Annual Meeting (2025) · poster

EEGEpilepsyPedQuESTqEEG

Feasibility of Implementation of an Age-Based Guideline for PCPC Scoring

Nelliot A, Thomas AX, Farias-Moeller R, Tomko S, Jayakar A, Appavu B, Harrar DB, Morgan LA, Castillo-Pinto C, Rau S, Fulton M, Press CA, Benedetti GM

American Epilepsy Society Annual Meeting (2025) · poster

Epilepsy

Myoclonic Status Epilepticus Post Cardiac Arrest: Rethinking Our Framework

Press CA, Sansevere A, Thomas AX, Riviello JJ

Pediatric Neurocritical Care Educational Series (2025) · invited

Cardiac ArrestEducationEpilepsyNeurocritical CareStatus Epilepticus