Announcement: Dr. Susan Swedo’s Retirement

After 40 years of dedication to helping children, Dr. Susan Swedo has announced her retirement from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Dr. Swedo and her team at the NIMH were the first to identify the OCD subset of PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections) in the groundbreaking paper, Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated With Streptococcal Infections: Clinical Description of the First 50 Cases. She later paved the way to the formation of a research consortium and the establishment of the broader diagnosis of PANS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome).

Dr. Swedo inspired physicians and researchers to break down the barriers between physical and mental health and acknowledge that strep and other infections can trigger OCD and severe psychological distress in children. Her research into PANDAS/PANS led to novel therapies that provided countless children a greatly improved quality of life.

She has co-authored numerous papers and sits on the Scientific Advisory Board for many pediatric organizations. In addition to these accomplishments, Dr. Swedo was a member of the DSM5 task force and travels around the world educating the medical community about the immune mediated brain disorders, PANDAS/PANS.

PANDAS Physicians Network is deeply appreciative of her hard work, love for children, and the role she had in changing the course of mental illness. We look forward to continuing to work with her in the future.