Biographies

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Program 1: A Transdermal Methylphenidate Delivery System

Robert L. Findling, M.D.

Dr. Findling is the Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at University Hospitals of Cleveland. He is also a Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Findling earned his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University and went to medical school at the Medical College of Virginia. Dr. Findling did a joint residency-training program in Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. He is board certified in all three specialties.

Dr. Findling’s research endeavors have focused on pediatric psychopharmacology and psychotic disorders in the young. He has extensive experience in pharmacokinetic studies of psychotropic agents in pediatric patients. Dr. Findling has been honored with numerous awards and has received international recognition as a clinical investigator.

Dr. Findling’s research is also supported in part by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the St. Luke’s Foundation of Cleveland, Ohio and the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, Dr. Findling is a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s (AACAP) Work Group on Research.

Frank A. Lopez, M.D.

Dr. Lopez is a Neuro-developmental Pediatrician in private practice at Children’s Developmental Center in Maitland, Florida. Dr. Lopez received his medical degree from the Universidad CETEC Escuela de Medicina, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He completed a 2-year pathology residency at Wayne State University and a pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, Michigan. He also completed a 2-year fellowship in adult and pediatric neurology at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia. Dr. Lopez also served as a former Assistant Director of Medical Education for pediatrics at the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Women in Orlando, Florida.

Dr. Lopez’s research interests are attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), childhood anxiety, and depression, and his practice site is actively involved in numerous clinical trials.

Dr. Lopez is an active member of the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Neurology. He often translates ADHD-related slide kits and other educational materials into Spanish to better educate underserved communities.

Sharon B. Wigal, PhD

Dr Wigal is Clinical Professor and Director of Clinical Trials at the Child Development Center in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), where she has taught since 1988. She received her doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin and completed her postdoctoral training at Fairview Development Center in the California State Development Research Institutes and at UCI’s Child Development Center.

Dr Wigal won the David A. Zeaman Travel Award for research in mental retardation in 1989 and the New Investigator Award for the 1997 New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit (NCDEU). In addition, she is the recipient of a K-23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, which provides 5 years of funding. Dr Wigal has received more than $10 million dollars in grants for the study of attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She has been published extensively on ADHD and has authored and co-authored numerous scientific articles that have been published in peer-reviewed journals, including Archives of General Psychiatry, Pediatric Research, Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Journal of Applied Research, and Pediatrics.