Untangling PANDAS & PANS: Conversations about Infection-Associated, Immune-Mediated Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Jaden O’Brien takes us inside the world of Olympic bobsled racing, beginning with the grind of multi-event track at Notre Dame to a three-week bobsled tryout in Lake Placid that  turned into a World Cup spot and a ticket to the 2026 Winter Olympics with Team USA. We talk through the unglamorous parts: learning an unnatural push technique, handling pressure when one race can decide your entire seas...

A sudden storm of obsessions, tics, rage, and cognitive chaos can follow a simple infection—and families are left searching for answers. We sit down with Dr. Omar Morales, a hematology‑trained clinician innovating at the intersection of  infections and immune engineering, to unpack how blood-based therapies can change the trajectory of Lyme and PANDAS/PANS.  Dr. Morales explains why he treats the...

What if sudden OCD, tics, and food restriction after an infection aren’t “all in the head,” but start with immune cells carrying a biochemical message to the brain? We sit down with Dr. Fulvio d'Acquisto—immunologist, psychotherapist, and founder of affective immunology—to trace the language between emotions, living conditions, and the immune system, and why that conversation can erupt into n...

The Manfulls open up about losing their daughter, Alex, to complications of PANDAS/PANS—and how that loss became a focused mission to change the way medicine recognizes and treats infection‑triggered neuroimmune disorders. From kitchen‑table grief to national and global collaborations, they map the work that turns confusion into clarity and hope into measurable progress. The Alex Manfull Fund (TAM...

A sore throat that ends in compulsions, tics, and a child who suddenly can’t sleep or attend school sounds improbable—until you hear a pediatric rheumatologist walk through the biology. Dr. J. Patrick Whelan of UCLA sits down with Dr. Susan Manfull, Executive Director of The Alex Manfull Fund, to unpack how infections and the immune system can collide with brain function, producing abrupt-onset OC...

What makes some people vulnerable to devastating chronic illness after infections that most recover from easily? Dr. Michal "Mikki" Tal, pioneering immunoengineer at MIT, is tackling this question through her groundbreaking Maestro study - the largest clinical research project currently underway at the prestigious institution. Personal tragedy fuels Dr. Tal's scientific mission. Aft...

Transitioning to college marks a significant milestone for any young adult, but for those with PANS/PANDAS, this journey demands unique preparation and understanding. In this illuminating conversation, Dr. Susan Manfull welcomes Sheila Gauch, Principal and Clinical Director of Dearborn Academy, who brings both professional expertise and profound personal experience to the table. Gauch, whose own c...

Dr. Andrew Baumel's story reveals how curiosity, compassion, and clinical observation can lead to breakthrough care for children suffering from immune-mediated neuropsychiatric disorders. After 18 years as a traditional pediatrician, Dr. Baumel's professional trajectory changed dramatically when a parent asked if he knew anything about PANDAS. Though initially somewhat skeptical, attendi...

How does a common strep infection become a brain disorder? Dr. Uğur Akcan's journey from Istanbul to the cutting edge of PANDAS research with Dr. Dritan Agalliu reveals the fascinating intersection of immune system and brain function that could transform how we understand and treat neuropsychiatric disorders. In this captivating conversation, Dr. Akcan shares his research path from studying c...

In this powerful episode of Untangling PANDAS and PANS , host Susan Manfull, PhD sits down with Jen, a resilient young woman whose health took a devastating and mysterious turn in her early twenties. From being taken out of work on a stretcher—twice—to struggling for answers amidst an array of debilitating physical and psychiatric symptoms, Jen shares a deeply personal account of navigating a frag...

In this illuminating conversation, Dr. Sarah O'Dor—Harvard instructor and Director of Research at Massachusetts General Hospital's PANDAS Clinic—reveals how strep infections and other triggers can cause sudden, dramatic psychiatric symptoms in children and young adults. Dr. O'Dor paints a vivid picture of PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Strepto...

This podcast episode features an interview with Dr. Brent Harris, the Director of Neuropathology at Georgetown University where he wears many hats, including overseeing the Georgetown Brain Bank. In 2020, he accepted the brain of Alex Manfull who had died from complications due to PANDAS and, eventually, with the help of The Alex Manfull Fund, established the POND Brain Bank for brains and brain t...

Dr Herb Lachman is a physician, behavioral geneticist, and professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.  In his 44 years on the faculty, he has studied the molecular basis of schizophrenia, autism, and the broad category of neurodevelopmental disorders. More recently, a serendipitous inquiry about a major DNA Damage Response Gene, PPMD1, prompted Dr. Lachman to shift his...

Juliette C. Madan, MD, MS wears many hats. Dr. Madan is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Epidemiology, and Quantitative Biomedical Data Science at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. She is the Clinical Director of the Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center within Geisel and Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. She is widely recognized for her re...

Dr. Warris Bokhari, CEO and co-founder of the insurance appeals platform Claimable, discusses how the product is helping patients with PANDAS and PANS diagnoses fight denied healthcare claims.  He explains the process of using Claimable to submit comprehensive appeals that cite medical research and leverage State laws, resulting in an 85% success rate on average.  Dr. Mark Pasternack, Chief of Ped...

Pawel Kiela, DVM, PhD currently holds the rank of Professor and has a PANDA endowed chair in Autoimmune Disease Research in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arizona Medical School in Tucson. Dr. Kiela is an integral part of the Steele Children’s Research Center which has four integrated branches: basic science, clinical research, clinical care, and teaching to address a range of n...

Susan Manfull, PhD crossed the pond to speak with Dr. Tim Ubhi, consultant paediatrician and fellow of the United Kingdom’s Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.  Dr. Tim, as his patients call him, has dedicated his life to children’s health, beginning with conducting research on using botulinum toxin to help children with cerebral palsy, work for which he was awarded the prestigious Mich...

In this episode of Untangling PANDAS & PANS , Susan Manfull, PhD talks with April Ronay, founder of California Coalition for PANS/PANDAS (aka, Cal-Coalition), and Shari Strulson, one of the founding members of Cal-Coalition. Both are teachers, by profession, both have a family member with PANS, and both are tirelessly working to pass legislation in California to require insurance companies to...

Earl Harley, MD, FACS, FAAPS is a highly regarded pediatric otolaryngologist (Ears, Nose, and Throat doctor or ENT) at Georgetown University Medical Center and a beloved assistant professor at the Medical School. Dr. Harley is widely respected for his expertise in working with patients who have been diagnosed with PANDAS and PANS. Families travel from across the country (and well beyond) for consu...

M. Elizabeth “Beth” Latimer, MD is a pioneer in the field of autoimmune encephalitis and is known across the country and in Europe for her expertise in treating PANDAS and PANS. She received her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. She completed her residencies in Pediatrics and Neurology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC with special...

In Part 3, the discussion with Dr. Shannon Delaney continues on her soon-to-be-released study in Frontiers in Psychiatry Journal about the prevalence of Bartonella in patients diagnosed with Bartonella. Recorded May 13, 2024 Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent. Cr...

In Part 2, the discussion with Dr. Shannon Delaney continues with a focus on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. Recorded May 13, 2024 Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent. Credits: Music by Kingsley Durant from his "Convertible&...

Dr. Shannon Delaney, a psychiatrist with expertise in PANDAS/PANS, Lyme, and other vector-borne diseases, talks with Susan Manfull about how these complex disorders present in children and adults. Much of what she came to learn about Lyme came from her work with Dr. Brian Fallon at Columbia University.  After her residency at Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Program,  she moved to  New York-P...

In episode two, Susan Manfull interviews Dr. Kyle Williams, Director of the Pediatric Neuropsychiatry and Immunology Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Andrew about the potential link between strep, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Andrew shares his personal experience of how his psoriasis and OCD symptoms improved after being treated with the bi...

It seemed our conversation from Episode 2 was left dangling so we continued talking. If you would like to hear a wee bit more, listen to this bonus content which captures most of that conversation, mostly musings about navigating the medical system and whether the division between psychiatry and neurology is artificial (another dangling conversation to be continued in another episode). Disclaimer:...