Youssef Ayoub Adly Kousa, MS, D.O., Ph.D. Neonatal neurologist; founder and director, Zika Genetics Consortium
Youssef A. Kousa, MS, D.O., Ph.D., is a physician-scientist specializing in neonatal neurology at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. During his pediatric internship, Dr. Kousa founded an international, trans-disciplinary research team, the Zika Genetics Consortium, to study the 2015 Zika virus pandemic and to model human genetic modifiers in neuroinfectious diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders. The Consortium’s goal is disease prevention by integrating and leveraging team science, systems biology and genomics. Dr. Kousa is the Principal Investigator of the Consortium, which now includes 19 co-investigators representing 13 institutions. Partnering with the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Consortium
brings together mother-infant dyad cohorts with 12,000 participants throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Dr. Kousa completed a combined pediatrics and child neurology residency at Children’s National and the D.O.-Ph.D. Physician Scientist Training Program at Michigan State University. Through graduate and postgraduate research training, he has focused on human genetics, genetic engineering, developmental biology, immunology and virology. Dr. Kousa’s accomplishments include creation of an adenovirus-based malaria vaccine, discovery of a conserved gene regulatory network in craniofacial and neural tube development, 30 peer-reviewed publications, and multiple national and international invited research presentations. His awards and honors span academic, research, service and leadership roles, including the highest honors possible at Michigan State University for a graduate and medical student. Dr. Kousa directs the Perinatal Neuroinfections Clinic at Children’s National and is an instructor in Neurology, Pediatrics, Genomics and Precision Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences in Washington, D.C.
Address: 111 Michigan Ave. NW; Washington, D.C., 20010
Email: [email protected]
Department: MRI Lab
Recent publications
2023 | September
Horvat DE, Eye PG, Whitehead MT, Bharucha-Goebel D, Roth E, Anwar T, Tsuchida T, Kousa YA. Neonatal Botulism: A Case Series Suggesting Varied Presentations. Pediatr Neurol. 2023 Sep;146:40-43. doi: 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2023.06.004. Epub 2023 Jun 14. PMID: 37429225; PMCID: PMC10527512
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37429225/