Neuropsychologie de l’épilepsie du cortex insulaire. Rôle de l’insula dans le fonctionnement neuropsychologique (études de lésion, EEG intracrânien, neuroimagerie). Apport des tests cognitifs dans la prédiction de la localisation du foyer épileptogène. Impacts de la neurochirurgie de l’épilepsie sur les fonctions neuropsychologiques.

En plus d’être chercheuse au Centre de recherche du CHU Sainte-Justine, la Dre Anne Gallagher est professeure titulaire au Département de psychologie de l’Université de Montréal. Ses intérêts de recherche sont axés sur le développement cognitif et langagier de l’enfant. Plus spécifiquement, son programme de recherche se divise en deux volets: 1) Développement langagier typique au cours de la petite enfance ; 2) Les effets cognitifs et cérébraux de différentes maladies et syndromes pédiatriques, tels que l’épilepsie, les anomalies cardiaques congénitales et la prématurité. Au sein de son laboratoire, le Laboratoire d'Imagerie Optique en Neurodéveloppement (LIONlab), son équipe utilise l’évaluation neuropsychologique et l’imagerie cérébrale, notamment la spectroscopie proche infrarouge fonctionnelle (fNIRS) et l’électroencéphalographie (EEG), afin de mieux comprendre ces pathologies et leurs effets sur le développement du cerveau, identifier des marqueurs prédictifs du pronostic neurodéveloppemental et développer des techniques d’évaluation pré-chirurgicales pouvant être utilisées auprès de ces populations.

Sarah Lippé, Ph.D. Neuropsychologist

Full Professor, Psychology Department, University of Montreal
Director, Neuroscience of Early Development Lab (NED)
FRQ-S Senior Scientist, Sainte-Justine Hospital

“What happens at key moments in child development when pathologies sometimes occur that harm cerebral, cognitive, and emotional development?” Dr. Sarah Lippé Ph.D, neuropsychologist, Full Professor of Psychology at the University of Montreal and FRQ-S Senior Scientist at Sainte-Justine Hospital, is determined to find answers. As Director of the multidisciplinary Neuroscience of Early Development Lab (NED) she studies the cerebral mechanisms involved in learning processes in infants and children. 

Sarah Lippé, completed a Master’s degree in neuropsychology and a Ph.D. in clinical and research neuropsychology at the University of Montreal. She was trained as a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at the Atomic Energy Commission (France) and at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care (Toronto). She is member of several research groups and Network (BRAMS, CerebrUM, GRIP, TACC, KBHN). Her research focuses on brain development, sensory processing and sensitivity and learning in healthy infants and children. Further, she investigates neurodevelopmental disorders risk factors. She particularly wants to understand the prenatal and genetic risk factors leading to neurodevelopmental disorders, and their consequences on brain development, sensory processing and sensitivity and learning capacities. Her investigation methods are non-invasive and enables her to develop early screening methods and treatment efficacy assessments. 

Among her current initiatives, she co-leads a multidisciplinary translational research program to mechanistically understand neurodevelopmental disorders. She also leads the first inter-generational genetic-neuropsychology-EEG cohort of children with genetic risk factors, in which more than 400 families are tested using EEG and neuropsychology (Brain Canada, Quebec 1000 projects (Q1K)). Moreover, ongoing contributions include the development of treatment options for neurodevelopmental disorders. Her lab is among the very first to propose EEG as an outcome measure in international and national clinical trials. Her team is driving the EEG investigation of the potential benefits of Metformin in FXS (Azrieli funded). She leads the neuropsychology and EEG investigation aspect of Canada-USA-European clinical trials for children presenting with autism. She is also involved in several national and international initiatives on infant EEG, aiming at creating a normative database to understand EEG signals maturation and to create a clinical tool for infants’ brain signal assessments. Her laboratory “Neuroscience of Early Development lab” is multidisciplinary and includes students and HQP at all levels of training. She is also on board of directors of several initiatives including Kids Brain Health Network and Fragile X Research Foundation of Canada aiming at supporting research and families.