Peter Tzu-Shin Tsai, MD
Pediatric Neurologist
Associate Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Languages Spoken:
- English
Biography
Peter Tsai, M.D., is director of the Cerebellar Neurodevelopmental Disorders Clinic at Children’s Health℠. He specializes in autism, cerebellar disorders and neurodevelopmental disorders. He is an Associate Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Dr. Tsai earned his medical degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He completed a residency in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School/Boston Children’s Hospital as well as a residency in pediatric neurology and fellowship in behavioral neurology at Children’s Hospital – Boston.
Dr. Tsai’s research and clinical interests include the development of mechanism-based therapeutics for the treatment of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
I have a special desire to help develop and provide treatments for children with neurologic disorders.
Dr. Tsai has won numerous research awards, including the Child Neurology Society's Philip R. Dodge Young Investigator Award, the Child Neurology Shields Research Grant award, UT Southwestern's Disease-Oriented Clinical Scholars award, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke K08 – Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Developmental Award and the American Academy of Neurology's Neurology Research Training Scholar award.
Dr. Tsai decided to go into medicine because he has a passion for working with amazing people and caring for children and their families.
"I enjoy the children and their spirit and the families who love and support them," Dr. Tsai says. "I have a special desire to help develop and provide treatments for children with neurologic disorders."
In his free time, Dr. Tsai enjoys being with family and friends, being outdoors, cooking and eating.
Education and Training
- Medical School
- UCLA School of Medicine (2005)
- Residency
- Boston Children's Hospital (2010), Pediatric Neurology
Boston Children's Hospital (2007), Pediatrics - Fellowship
- Boston Children's Hospital (2011), Behavioral Medicine
- Board Certification
- American Board of Psy&Neurology/Child Neurology
Departments and Programs
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Research Interests
- Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Cerebellar contribution to cognition and behavior
- Neuronal circuits underlying behavioral disorders
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Publications
- Consensus Paper: Cerebellum and Reward. Manto M, Adamaszek M, Apps R, Carlson E, Guarque-Chabrera J, Heleven E, Kakei S, Khodakhah K, Kuo SH, Lin CY, Joshua M, Miquel M, Mitoma H, Larry N, Péron JA, Pickford J, Schutter DJ, Singh MK, Tan T, Tanaka H, Tsai P, Van Overwalle F, Yamashiro K Cerebellum 2024
- Cerebellar contribution to autism-relevant behaviors in fragile X syndrome models. Gibson JM, Vazquez AH, Yamashiro K, Jakkamsetti V, Ren C, Lei K, Dentel B, Pascual JM, Tsai PT Cell Reports 2023 Dec 42
- Electroencephalographic (EEG) Biomarkers in Genetic Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Goodspeed K, Armstrong D, Dolce A, Evans P, Said R, Tsai P, Sirsi D Journal of child neurology 2023 May 38 466-477
- Synaptic BMAL1 phosphorylation controls circadian hippocampal plasticity. Barone I, Gilette NM, Hawks-Mayer H, Handy J, Zhang KJ, Chifamba FF, Mostafa E, Johnson-Venkatesh EM, Sun Y, Gibson JM, Rotenberg A, Umemori H, Tsai PT, Lipton JO Science Advances 2023 9
- Increased glycine contributes to synaptic dysfunction and early mortality in Nprl2 seizure model. Dentel B, Angeles-Perez L, Ren C, Jakkamsetti V, Holley AJ, Caballero D, Oh E, - Gibson J, Pascual JM, Huber KM, Tu BP, Tsai PT iScience 2022 May 25
- A Critical Period for Development of Cerebellar-Mediated Autism-Relevant Social BehaviorGibson JM, Howland CP, Ren C, Howland C, Vernino A, Tsai PT Journal of Neuroscience 2022 Mar 42 2804-2823. Adaptive Prediction for Social Contexts: The Cerebellar Contribution to Typical and Atypical Social Behaviors
- Stoodley CJ, Tsai PT Annual Review of Neuroscience 2021 Jul 44 475-493. Cerebellar Dysfunction in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Deriving Mechanistic Insights from an Internal Model Framework, Kelly E, Escamilla CO, Tsai PT Neuroscience 2021 May 462 274-287
- Regulation of autism-relevant behaviors by cerebellar–prefrontal cortical circuits, Kelly E, Meng F, Fujita H, Morgado F, Kazemi Y, Rice LC, Ren C, Escamilla CO, Gibson JM, Sajadi S, Pendry RJ, Tan T, Ellegood J, Albert Basson M, Blakely RD, Dindot SV, Golzio C, Hahn MK, Katsanis N, Robins DM, Silverman JL, Singh KK, Wevrick R, Taylor MJ, Hammill C, Anagnostou E, Pfeiffer BE, Stoodley CJ, Lerch JP, du Lac S, Tsai PT Nature neuroscience 2020 Sep 23 1102-1110
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Awards and Honors
- Child Neurology Society's Philip R. Dodge Young Investigator Award
- Child Neurology Shields Research Grant award
- UT Southwestern's Disease-Oriented Clinical Scholars award
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke K08 – Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Developmental Award
- American Academy of Neurology's Neurology Research Training Scholar award
Virtual Visit
This provider may offer virtual appointments. Please review our Virtual Visit Specialty Clinics page for instructions on setting up a visit.
