Ghayda Mirzaa, MD

Ghayda Mirzaa, MD

Clinical Genetics, Epilepsy Program

On staff since September 2012

Academic Title: Associate Professor, Pediatrics and Medical Genetics, University of Washington School of Medicine

Research Title: Principal Investigator

Research Center: Center for Integrative Brain Research

"When I was growing up in the Middle East, I saw many children who were affected by disorders affecting early brain development, but didn't always have access to good quality medical care. These disorders were often devastating for them and their families, and I resolved to find a way to help. Now, as a physician and a researcher, my goal is to uncover the genes that cause these disorders, understand these conditions better, and to hopefully find better ways to treat and potentially cure them."

  • Biography

    Ghayda Mirzaa, MD, is a pediatrician and researcher who has dedicated her career to helping children and families with developmental brain disorders. As a pediatrician, she delivers the best available treatments, and helps children and families lead the healthiest possible lives. As a researcher, she investigates how genes contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders.

    Mirzaa is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medical Genetics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and principal investigator at the Seattle Childrens Research Institute. She is board-certified in pediatrics, medical genetics and molecular genetics. She received her MD from the Arabian Gulf University (Kingdom of Bahrain), did her residency in pediatrics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and completed fellowships in human genetics and molecular genetics at the University of Chicago and the University of Washington.

    • Related Resources

    • Related Pages

    • Mirzaa Lab

      Mirzaa Lab

      Dr. Ghayda Mirzaa is pinpointing the genes that contribute to many neurodevelopmental disorders. She helped discover many genes that cause focal cortical dysplasia, megalencephaly and microcephaly. This work is opening the door to new treatments that could modify or fix the errors in these genes, addressing the underly

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  • Awards and Honors

    Award Name Award Description Awarded By Award Date
    Neurobiology of Disease in Children Young Investigator Award 2015
    2013 John M Opitz Young Investigator Award for best publication in 2013 by a young investigator American Journal of Medical Genetics 2013
    Honorary Mention for significant contribution 34th David W. Smith Workshop on Malformations and Morphogenesis 2013
    The Peter Duncan Fellow Award 33rd David W. Smith Workshop on Malformations and Morphogeneisis 2012

  • Publications

    Manuscripts in Refereed Journals

    • Jansen LA, Mirzaa GM, Ishak GE, O'Roak BJ, Hiatt JB, Roden WH, Gunter S, Christian
      PI3K/AKT pathway mutations cause a spectrum of brain malformations from megalencephaly to focal cortical dysplasia
      Brain, 2015
    • Chen LP, Beck AE, Tsuchiya KD, Chow PM, Mirzaa GM, Wiester RT, Feldman KW
      Institutional Protocol to Manage Consanguinity Detected by Genetic Testing in Pregnancy in a Minor
      Pediatrics, 2015 : PMCID:25687148
    • Dubchak I, Balasubramanian S, Wang S, Meyden C, Sulakhe D, Poliakov A, Brnigen D
      An integrative computational approach for prioritization of genomic variants
      PLoS One, 2014 Dec 15 : 9(12) PMCID:25506935
    • Tokita MJ, Chow PM, Mirzaa GM, Dikow N, Maas B, Isidor B, Le Caignec C, Penney LS, Mazzotta G, Bernardini L, Filippi T, Battaglia A, Donti E, Earl D, Prontera P
      Five children with deletions of 1p34.3 encompassing AGO1 and AGO3
      Eur J Hum Genet., 2014 Oct. : PMCID:25271087
    • AT, Clark RD, Curry CJ, Link N, Schulze KL, Boerwinkle E, Dobyns WB, Allikmets R, Gibbs RA, Chen R, Lupski JR, Wangler MF, Bellen HJ
      A drosophila genetic resource of mutants to study mechanisms underlying human genetic diseases
      Cell, 2014 Sep 25 : 159(1)200-14 PMCID:25259927
    • Swarr DT, Khalek N, Treat J, Horton MA, Mirzaa GM, Riviere JB, Dobyns WB, Zackai EH
      Expanding the differential diagnosis of fetal hydrops: an unusual prenatal
      23754335 Prenatal Diagnosis., 2013 Oct. : 33(10)1010-2
    • Mirzaa GM, Paciorkowski AR, Marsh ED, Berry-Kravis EM, Medne Livija, Grix A, Wirrell EC, Powell BR, Nickels KC, Burton B, Paras A, Kim K, Chung W, Dobyns WB, Das S
      CDKL5 and ARX mutations in males with early-onset epilepsy
      23583054 Pediatric Neurology, 2013 May : 48(5)367-77

    Other Publications

    • Di Donato N, Rump A, Mirzaa GM, Alcantara D, Oliver A, Schrock E, Dobyns WB, O'Driscoll M
      Identification and Characterization of a Novel Constitutional PIK3CA Mutation in a Child Lacking the Typical Segmental Overgrowth of "PIK3CA-Related Overgrowth Spectrum".
      26593112 Human mutation, 2016 March : 37(3)242-5 PMCID:PMC4752430
    • Di Donato N, Rump A, Mirzaa GM, Alcantara D, Oliver A, Schrock E, Dobyns WB, O'Driscoll M
      Identification and Characterization of a Novel Constitutional PIK3CA Mutation in a Child Lacking the Typical Segmental Overgrowth of "PIK3CA-Related Overgrowth Spectrum".
      26593112 Human mutation, 2016 March : 37(3)242-5 PMCID:PMC4752430
    • Jansen LA, Mirzaa GM, Ishak GE, O'Roak BJ, Hiatt JB, Roden WH, Gunter SA, Christian SL, Collins S, Adams C, Rivière JB, St-Onge J, Ojemann JG, Shendure J, Hevner RF, Dobyns WB
      PI3K/AKT pathway mutations cause a spectrum of brain malformations from megalencephaly to focal cortical dysplasia.
      25722288 Brain : a journal of neurology, 2015 June : 138(Pt 6)1613-28 PMCID:PMC4614119
    • Mirzaa GM, Parry DA, Fry AE, Giamanco KA, Schwartzentruber J, Vanstone M, Logan CV, Roberts N, Johnson CA, Singh S, Kholmanskikh SS, Adams C, Hodge RD, Hevner RF, Bonthron DT, Braun KP, Faivre L, Rivière JB, St-Onge J, Gripp KW, Mancini GM, Pang K, Sweeney E, van Esch H, Verbeek N, Wieczorek D, Steinraths M, Majewski J, FORGE Canada Consortium, Boycott KM, Pilz DT, Ross ME, Dobyns WB, Sheridan EG
      De novo CCND2 mutations leading to stabilization of cyclin D2 cause megalencephaly-polymicrogyria-polydactyly-hydrocephalus syndrome.
      24705253 Nature genetics, 2014 May : 46(5)510-5 PMCID:PMC4004933
    • Dubchak I, Balasubramanian S, Wang S, Cem M, Sulakhe D, Poliakov A, Börnigen D, Xie B, Taylor A, Ma J, Paciorkowski AR, Mirzaa GM, Dave P, Agam G, Xu J, Al-Gazali L, Mason CE, Ross ME, Maltsev N, Gilliam TC
      An integrative computational approach for prioritization of genomic variants.
      25506935 PloS one, 2014 : 9(12)e114903 PMCID:PMC4266634
    • Mirzaa GM, Kuzniecky R, Guerrini R.
      Malformations of cortical development and epilepsy
      Wyllies treatment of epilepsy: principles and practice (6th edition), 2014
    • McDonell LM, Mirzaa GM, Alcantara D, Schwartzentruber J, Carter MT, Clericuzio CL, Graham JM, Morris-Rosendahl DJ, Polster T, Acsadi G, Townshend S11, Williams S, Halbert A, Isidor B, Smyser CD, Paciorkowski AR, Willing M, Beaulieu CL, Marcadier J, Geraghty MT, FORGE Canada Consortium, Majewski J, Bulman DE, Dobyns WB, ODriscoll M, Boycott KM
      A RASopathy caused by mutations in the deubiquitinating enzyme STAMBP.
      23542699 Nature Genetics., 2013 May : 45(5)556-62
    • Rivière JB, Mirzaa GM, O'Roak BJ, Beddaoui M, Alcantara D, Conway RL, St-Onge J, Schwartzentruber JA, Gripp KW, Nikkel SM, Worthylake T, Sullivan CT, Ward TR, Butler HE, Kramer NA, Albrecht B, Armour CM, Armstrong L, Caluseriu O, Cytrynbaum C, Drolet BA, Innes AM, Lauzon JL, Lin AE, Mancini GM, Meschino WS, Reggin JD, Saggar AK, Lerman-Sagie T, Uyanik G, Weksberg R, Zirn B, Beaulieu CL, Finding of Rare Disease Genes (FORGE) Canada Consortium, Majewski J, Bulman DE, O'Driscoll M, Shendure J, Graham JM Jr, Boycott KM, Dobyns WB
      De novo germline and postzygotic mutations in AKT3, PIK3R2 and PIK3CA cause a spectrum of related megalencephaly syndromes.
      22729224 Nature genetics, 2012 Jun 24 : 44(8)934-40 PMCID:PMC3408813
    • Mirzaa G, Conway R, Graham JM Jr, Dobyns WB, Pagon RA, Adam MP, Ardinger HH, Wallace SE, Amemiya A, Bean LJH, Bird TD, Fong CT, Mefford HC, Smith RJH, Stephens K
      PIK3CA-Related Segmental Overgrowth
      23946963 1993

  • Presentations

    Presentation Title Event Location Date
    Cardinal signs of selected syndrome: The microcephaly-chorioretinopathy-lymphedema syndrome The American College of Medical Genetics Meeting 2015
    Mutations of the phosphoinositide-3-kinase regulatory subunit PIK3R2 cause perisylvian polymicrogyria with or without megalencephaly: a paradigm for constitutional and mosaic mutations causing common malformations of cortical development 36th David W. Smith Workshops on Malformations and Morphogenesis 2015
    Brain growth pathways and early life epilepsies Child Neurology Society symposium 2014
    Megalencephaly-polymicrogyria-polydactyly-hydrocephalus syndrome (MPPH): 3 genes, evidence for mosaicism, familial recurrence and genotype-phenotype analysis 35th David W. Smith Workshops on Malformations and Morphogenesis 2014
    Molecular insights into mosaic megalencephaly syndromes 34th David W. Smith Workshops on Malformations and Morphogenesis 2013
    The extremes of brain size: megalencephaly (MEG) -- new genes, new pathways, overlapping phenotypes The Pacific Northwest Neurology Exchange 2013

Overview

Board Certification(s)

Pediatrics
Medical Genetics, Clinical Molecular Genetics

Medical/Professional School

Arabian Gulf University, Manama

Residency

University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL

Fellowship

University of Chicago School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
University of Washington, Seattle, WA