Dr. Brunstrom is the Director of the Pediatric Neurology Cerebral Palsy Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital

Dr. Brunstrom has focused her research on the development of the cerebral cortex and its disorders. She and her colleagues are interested in the various neurotrophic and environmental factors that determine the development of the cortex in mammals. She has recently shown that certain developmental anomalies, including some migrational disorders,may be caused by disturbances in the trophic support for neurons in the early stage of migration.

Dr. Brunstrom's clinical interest is newborn neurology with an emphasis on the motor disorders (Cerebral Palsy) arising from injury to the developing brain, and other complications associated with premature birth. She and her colleagues established the Pediatric Neurology Cerebral Palsy Center in June of 1998. This rapidly growing center (over 400 patients) is dedicated to improving the quality of life for infants, children, adolescents and young adults with Cerebral Palsy. Dr. Brunstrom and her colleagues are presently investigating new methods of physical and drug therapy to improve motor function in patients with cerebral palsy. The Center is also collaborating with the department of Psychology at Washington University to study visual attention and working memory in these patients.

Activities for Kids and Adolescents with CP

Dr. Brunstrom is co-founder of several new programs for kids with CP, including a martial arts program (Cerebral Palsy self defense), a CP swim class, and a CP basketball camp.

Advocacy Work

Dr. Brunstrom was the keynote speaker at the National Institute of Health's Disability Awareness Day program. Read the article from the "NIH Record."

Selected Publications

Please click HERE for a current and compete publication list.

Brunstrom JE. Clinical considerations in cerebral palsy and spasticity. J Child Neurol. 2001 Jan;16(1):10-5.
Nadarajah B, Brunstrom JE, Grutzendler J, Wong RO, Pearlman AL. Two modes of radial migration in early development of the cerebral cortex. Nature Neuroscience 2001 Feb;4(2):143-50.

Brunstrom JE, Bastian AJ, Wong M, Mink JW. Motor benefit from levodopa in spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. Ann Neurol. 2000 May;47(5):662-5.

New directions for neuronal migration [Review article], Alan L Pearlman, Phyllis L Faust, Mary E Hatten, Janice E Brunstrom, Current Opinion in Neurobiology 1998, 8:45-54.

Brunstrom JE. Cerebral Palsy. In: Current Management in Child Neurology, Editor Bernard Maria, M.D (1998). Publisher B.C. Decker, pp. 163-168.