Susan L. Benedict, MD, MS

Languages Spoken: English

Dr. Benedict completed her medical degree at Creighton University School of Medicine. She then completed her residency in Pediatrics at Creighton-Nebraska Universities and her Pediatric Neurology subspecialty fellowship training at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She is currently Associate Professor in Pediatrics and Pediatric Neurology at University of Utah.

Besides being a general child neurologist with expertise in the neurodevelopmental evaluation of children, Dr. Benedict’s primary clinical interest is in the care and better understanding and treatment of cerebrovascular diseases and stroke in the young. Dr. Benedict is an active member of the International Pediatric Stroke Study Group. She is the local principal investigator for the Pediatric Stroke Database and she is and has been the local leader in several NIH sponsored clinical trials and studies dealing with pediatric stroke. She is active in quality improvement projects related to the evaluation and management of children with suspected or proven cerebrovascular disease.

Dr. Benedict sees pediatric patients with a broad range of neurological problems. She is particularly versed in the evaluation of children with developmental disabilities. She participates in the New-Onset Seizure Clinic, and she directs the Pediatric Stroke Clinic at the University of Utah/Clinical Neuroscience Center.

Susan Benedict, M.D. is the Director of the Intermountain Regional Pediatric Stroke Program and Director of the Pediatric Stroke Clinic at the University of Utah and Primary Children’s Medical Center. She is the leader for pediatric stroke care and research at these institutions. As an appointed member of the International Pediatric Stroke Study Group (IPSSG) and the Data Use and Publication Policy and Review Committee for this international organization, Dr. Benedict plays an important role in the study of pediatric cerebrovascular disease locally and nationally. She is the local principal investigator for a number of NIH sponsored clinical research studies dealing with pediatric stroke including the first multicenter clinical trial investigating the use of Tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA) in acute pediatric stroke. She is involved in quality improvement projects related to the care of children with suspected or proven stoke in the Intermountain West. She is an appointed member of the Institutional Review Board at the University of Utah.

Dr. Benedict received her undergraduate education at the University of Puget Sound and initially worked for several years as an occupational therapist obtaining a Masters of Science degree in Occupational Therapy from Boston University. She then received her M.D. from Creighton University Medical School. After completing postgraduate training in pediatrics at Creighton-Nebraska Universities and in Neurology with specialization in Child Neurology at the University of Utah, she joined the faculty at the University of Utah developing her expertise in pediatric cerebrovascular disease working with Dr. James F. Bale, Jr.. She now provides leadership in the care of children with cerebrovascular disease in the Division of Pediatric Neurology at University of Utah and Primary Children’s Medical Center. Her scholarly publications focus primarily on clinical issues regarding cerebrovascular disease in children.