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about CHASA

The Children's Hemiplegia and Stroke Association, CHASA, is volunteer-based nonprofit  organization founded by parents of children with hemiplegia in 1999 to provide assistance, information and counseling to families of children who have hemiplegia, hemiparesis, or hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Often, these conditions are caused by stroke in an infant.

Administrative costs are kept to a minimum, so that money raised can go directly towards education, information, support and research that will benefit families of children who have hemiplegia.

CHASA provides a 500+ page website, an e-mail support group with over 1200 members, plans and hosts an annual retreat and medical conference for families of children who have hemiplegia,  supports local family events, funds pilot research studies, provides family retreat scholarships, and provides college scholarships for young adults who have hemiplegia.  CHASA leaders founded Childhood Stroke Awareness Day, the first Saturday in May.

Board of Directors

Joni Stasiak, President
Heidi Jameson, Vice President
Nancy Atwood, Treasurer and Founder
Kevin Dyer, Assistant Secretary

Officers

Diane Kolpin
Jackie Haley
Janet Hinson

Medical Advisors

John Kylan Lynch, DO is currently a Senior Staff Fellow in the Neuroepidemiology Branch and a  co-investigator on a pilot study of strokes in children at the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. 

Gabrielle deVeber MD FRCP(C), MHSc  Dr. deVeber has been a staff neurologist in the Division of Neurology, as part-time consultant since 1995 and joined the full time staff in 1998. She is the Director of the Children’s Stroke Program at HSC. Dr. deVeber holds a Scientist appointment with the Research Institute’s Population Health Sciences Program and is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. Dr. deVeber holds several grants from the following agencies: Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Canadian Institute for Health Research; she also holds several institutional grants and one funded by a private children’s research foundation. Associate Professor, Dept. of Pediatrics, University of Toronto
Scientist, Population Health Sciences, Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Director, Children's Stroke Program, Division of Neurology,
The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.  

Donna Ferriero, M.D. is Chief of Child Neurology at UCSF Children's Hospital, and a Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco.  She is a recognized expert in the care of newborns and children with neurological disabilities and director of the Neonatal Brain Disorders Center at UCSF, funded by the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke to study the mechanisms of ischemic, or blood flow, injury in the neonatal brain.

Rebecca Ichord, M.D. is an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  Dr. Ichord has a special interest in Neonatal Brain Injury and Stroke.  She is board certified in Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Neurology, with expertise in Child Neurology.

Ruth Nass, M.D. is a pediatric neurologist at New York University Medical Center and has a long term research interest in the cognitive outcome of hemiplegic cerebral palsy.

Van Miller, PhD, M.D. is Board-Certified in Pediatrics and Board-Certified in Neurology with Special Qualification in Child Neurology. He is in private practice at Texas Child Neurology in Plano, Texas.

Robert Bunata, M.D. is Board Certified in Orthopedic Surgery and has an interest in upper extremity surgery in children who have hemiplegia.  He is in private practice and serves patients at Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas.

Steven R. Stasiak, M.D., Dr. Stasiak is a board certified family physician in Canton, Ohio and has a son who had a stroke at birth.

Joni Stasiak, M.D., Dr. Stasiak is a board certified family physician in Canton, Ohio and has a son who had a stroke at birth.

Donna Witten, MS, PT. Ms. Witten is a Physical Therapist in Dallas, Texas.

Membership:  The CHASA bylaws state that the organization has no members.

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The information contained in this Children's Hemiplegia and Stroke Association (CHASA) Web site is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment, and CHASA recommends consultation with your doctor or health care professional.