Shawn Walls, MA

Walls

 

MEG Coordinator

Phone: (412) 648-6425

e-mail: wallss@upmc.edu

 

Specialized Areas of Interest

1) Clinical use of magnetoencephalography (MEG) with epilepsy localization and pre-surgical mapping; 2) Developing MEG as a diagnostic tool for concussion.

 

Biography

Shawn Walls, MA, is the MEG coordinator for the UPMC Brain Mapping Center in Pittsburgh. Shawn’s primary responsibility in this role is to perform epilepsy localization and pre-surgical mapping of brain functions (somatosensory, motor, auditory, visual and language) for patients prior to epilepsy and tumor resection surgery.

 

Shawn started working with MEG in 2012 as the lab manager for Avniel Ghuman, PhD, the director of MEG research at the University of Pittsburgh. Shawn assumed the role of MEG coordinator in October of 2013 and continues to work with Dr. Ghuman and other research groups on various projects that utilize the MEG. Shawn’s primary research interest is in mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or concussion. For this endeavor, Shawn is working with Ajay Niranjan, MD, MBA, the director of operations for the UPMC Brain Mapping Center, with the ultimate goal of developing the MEG as a diagnostic tool for concussion.

 

Shawn received his master’s degree in psychology from the University of Maine. His graduate work consisted of testing the hypothesis that there are gender differences in alcohol withdrawal using rats as the animal research model. This work was heavily based in neuroscience and required many specialized laboratory techniques for visualizing data including immunohistochemistry and slice culture. Shawn also has a background in health care, having served in the Air National Guard for eight years in health care administration.

© 2011-15 UPMC Brain Mapping Center