Dr. Lalitha Sivaswamy has been appointed as Chief of the Children's Hospital of Michigan's nationally recognized Division of Pediatric Neurology effective immediately.

According to Luanne Thomas-Ewald, CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, the appointment of Dr. Sivaswamy underlines the Children’s Hospital of Michigan’s “strong commitment” to relying on both “outstanding research and powerfully effective clinical teaching skills” in the continuing quest for improved patient care and outcomes.  

“She’s an outstanding clinician as well as a passionately dedicated teacher and researcher. And of course, her patients and their families greatly value her expertise, commitment and compassion. We’re lucky to have her taking up this new leadership role.”

Dr. Sivaswamy, who has served for the past eleven years as both a treating physician at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan and also as an assistant/associate professor at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, is a widely published pioneering researcher in pediatric headache disorders and therapy.

A board-certified neurologist who’s also licensed in the sub-specialty of Headache Medicine, Dr. Sivaswamy has served for the past year as Interim Division Chief of Pediatric Neurology at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

The recent winner of two Children’s Hospital of Michigan “Teacher of the Year” awards (2014 and 2015), she has also gained local and national recognition as the Medical Director of the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Headache Clinic during the past seven years.

During that period, she also distinguished herself as a clinical researcher who has published frequently on migraine therapy and persistent headaches in children . . . and her work has led to breakthrough findings documented in such authoritative medical journals as Pediatric Neurology, the Journal of Pediatrics and Pediatric Annals.

Dr. Sivaswamy has also given generously of her time and energy while serving as both an associate editor of the Journal of Pediatric Neurology and as a member of the Wayne State University School of Medicine Resident Education Committee for the Department of Pediatrics, in which she helped shape curriculum and course development.

A graduate of Madras Medical College in Madras, India, Dr. Sivaswamy completed her residency in pediatric neurology at Henry Ford Hospital and a fellowship in that specialty at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

“I’m honored to have been selected for this new responsibility,” said Dr. Sivaswamy after learning of her selection as Chief of Pediatric Neurology. “The Children’s Hospital of Michigan and the Division of Neurology are both near and dear to my heart, after eleven years of service here.

“My number-one goal, of course, will be to do my best to help us continue to provide the best-quality patient care that we’re capable of at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan. And I’m also passionately interested in continuing my research in chronic headaches, training pediatric neurology residents and pursuing cutting edge technologies in the treatment of pediatric epilepsy.

“This is a wonderfully exciting time to be working in pediatric neurology, and I’m going to do my best to provide effective leadership for all of our hard-working clinicians, teachers and researchers in our specialty at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan!”