Researcher

Title

• 2018, Child Neurologist, CHU Sainte Justine
• 2018, Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Neurosciences and Department of Pediatrics (affiliation), Université de Montréal

Laboratory

MOPED; understanding Movement disorders in the pediatric population

• 2015-2017, Fellowship in Movement Disorders, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, NY
• 2015, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada board certification in Child Neurology
• 2010-2015, Residency in Child Neurology, CHU Sainte Justine, Montreal University
• 2006-2010, M.D., Montreal University
• 2000-2006, Ph.D. Biology, McGill University        
• 1996-2000, B.Sc. Biology, Honours program, McGill University

As one of the few pediatric movement disorder trained specialists in Canada, Dr. Meijer combines her knowledge in genetics and pediatric movement disorders to diagnose, treat and study rare forms of pediatric movement disorders with a focus on dystonia, tremor and Tourette syndrome. She leads the only multidisciplinary Tourette syndrome clinic in the province of Quebec, where she is developing a research program which focusses on following a prospective cohort to understand the environmental and genetics factors influencing tic fluctuation and severity. She also studies a cohort of pediatric dystonia and tremor patients to better characterize the phenomenology and identify novel genetic causes in children. Ultimately, her research will contribute to improving diagnosis and care for children with movement disorders.

• Clinical characterization of pediatric movement disorders
• Physiopathology of pediatric dystonia
• Improving care and treatment strategies in Tourette syndrome
• Genetic investigations of rare pediatric diseases
• Understanding the phenomenology of pediatric tremor

Career Summary

Dr. Meijer joined the pediatric neurology team and the research centre at CHU Sainte Justine, University of Montreal, as a clinician researcher and assistant clinical professor specialized in pediatric movement disorders in 2018. She first developed an interest in human genetics during her B.Sc. in Biology at McGill University. She pursued this interest by completing a Ph.D. in neurogenetics in the laboratory of Dr. G.A. Rouleau, Director of the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University. Her thesis focused on the genetics of Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia and Hereditary Spastic Ataxia. Following her PhD, Inge obtained a medical degree and specialized in Child Neurology at Montreal University – CHU Sainte Justine, to better understand the clinical aspects of neuro-genetic diseases. She chose to further specialize by completing a Movement Disorders Fellowship at Mount Sinai Beth Israel with Dr. R. Saunders-Pullman and Dr. S. Bressman. She was awarded a Clinical research Fellowship from the American Academy of Neurology/ American Brain Foundation to study the underlying genetic causes of childhood onset dystonia.  She is one of the few pediatric movement disorder trained specialists in Canada, where she combines her knowledge in genetics and pediatric movement disorders to diagnose, treat and study rare forms of pediatric movement disorders with a focus on dystonia and Tourette syndrome. 

Awards and Distinctions

• 2018, Minority Research Scholar program, Chicago, Child Neurologist Career Development Program, Child Neurology Society
• 2016-2017, Training grant CHU Sainte Justine, department of pediatrics
• 2016, Dystonia Coalition Annual meeting Travel stipend
• 2015, Prix Claude Roy : excellence en recherche, CHU Sainte Justine
• 2015, Dean' s honours list, Montreal University    
• 2015-2017, AAN Clinical Research Training Fellowship
• 2015-2016, Irma Levasseur fellowship award

Financings

• Start up funding 2018
• AAN funded fellowship $65,000 for two years; 2015-2017      

Presentations

1. Meijer IA, Non pharmacological approach in ADHD, JFI, Québec November 2019
2. Meijer IA. Annual conference of the Quebec Tourette association (AQST), June 2019
3. Meijer IA. Genetics of dystonia, CHUM neurology grand rounds, 2019
4. Meijer IA. Recent developments in the treatment of Tourette syndrome. Tourette conference entitled :  Quoi de Neuf avec le syndrome Gilles de la Tourette, CHU Sainte Justine, Montreal 2017.
5. Meijer IA. Clinical spectrum of genetic hyperkinetic disorders. CNSF Victoria 2017.

Publications

• Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Genomic Relationships, Novel Loci, and Pleiotropic Mechanisms across Eight Psychiatric Disorders. Cell. 2019;179(7):1469-82 e11. PMID: 31835028
• Lüthy K, Mei D, Fischer B, De Fusco M, Swerts J, Paesmans J, Parrini E, Lubarr N, Meijer IA, Mackenzie KM, Lee WT, Cittaro D, Aridon P, Schoovaerts N, Versées W, Verstreken P, Casari G, Guerrini R. TBC1D24-TLDc-related epilepsy exercise-induced dystonia: rescue by antioxidants in a disease model.  Brain. 2019 Aug 1;142(8):2319-2335.
• Meijer IA, Valdmanis PN, Rouleau GA. Spastic Paraplegia 8. GeneReviews® 2008 Aug 13 [updated 2020 May 21].
• Meijer IA. VPS13D Movement Disorder. GeneReviews® 2019 Feb 21.
• Meijer IA and Pearson T, The Twists of Pediatric Dystonia: Phenomenology, Classification, and Genetics, Seminars in Pediatric Neurology 2018, Apr;25:65-74.
• Gauthier J, Meijer IA Lessel D, Mencacci NE, Hempel M, Tsiakas K, Prokisch H, Rossignol E, Helm MH, Rodan LH, Carecchio M, Lubbe SJ, Telegrafi A, Henderson LB, Lorenzo K, Wallace SE, Glass IA, Hamdan FF, Michaud JL, Rouleau GA, Campeau PM. Recessive mutations in VPS13D cause childhood-onset movement disorders. Ann Neurol. 2018 Jun;83(6):1089-1095
• Meijer IA, Miravite J, Kopell BH, Lubarr N. Deep Brain Stimulation in an additional patient with  ADCY5-related movement disorder. J Child Neurol. 2017 Mar;32(4):438-439.
• Meijer IA, Sasarman F, Maftei C, Vanasse M, Major P, Michaud J, Rossignol E, Mitchell G, Brunel-Guitton C. LPIN1 deficiency with severe recurrent rhabdomyolysis and persistent elevation of creatine kinase levels due to chromosome 2 maternal isodisomy, Molecular Genetics and Metabolism Reports, 2015 Dec; 5: 85-88.
• Michaud JL, Lachance M, Hamdan FF, Cossette P, Carmant L, Lortie A, Diadori P, Major P, Meijer IA, Lemyre E, Rouleau GA, Rossignol E. The genetic landscape of infantile spasms. Hum Mol Genet. 2014 Sep 15;23(18):4846-58.
• Meijer IA, Robitaille Y, Vanasse M, Rossignol E. An atypical case of mutated SCN9A with global motor delay and erythromelagia. Muscle Nerve. 2014 Jan;49(1):134-8.