Vishnu Anand Cuddapah, MD, PhD

Dr. Cuddapah is a Child Neurologist and Neurogeneticist who cares for children with genetic neurological disorders, including epilepsy and rare neurodevelopmental conditions. The Cuddapah Lab studies how sleep and the body's internal clock shape seizure risk, using fruit fly genetics to uncover why seizures often cluster at certain times of day or worsen with sleep loss. The lab also partners with clinicians and families to characterize newly recognized genetic disorders and uses fruit fly models to identify existing medications that could be repurposed as new treatments. Through this work, the Cuddapah Lab aims to improve care for children affected by seizures, sleep disturbances, and developmental disorders.

Dr. Cuddapah holds appointments as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at Baylor College of Medicine and as an investigator at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital.

Personal Statement

I believe every child and family deserves both expert care and a clear understanding of their condition. For families of children with genetic neurological disorders, the path to a diagnosis can be long and uncertain, and I strive to be a partner through that journey by listening carefully, explaining findings in plain language, and working together on a plan tailored to their needs. As a physician-scientist, I see my clinical and research work as closely connected: the questions my patients and their families ask guide the work in my lab, and I am committed to turning those discoveries into better treatments for seizures, sleep problems, and developmental challenges.

Clinical Interests

Child neurology, neurogenetics, sleep, circadian rhythms, epilepsy

Education

Board Certifications

Honors and awards

2026

Young Physician-Scientist Award, The American Society for Clinical Investigation

2026

Nancy Chang, PhD Award for Research Excellence, Baylor College of Medicine

2025

Honored Alumnus Award, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Medical Scientist Training Program 

2024

McNair Scholar, McNair Medical Institute at the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation 

2023

Taking Flight Award, CURE Epilepsy 

2023

Alavi-Dabiri Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

2023

Neuroscience Research Training Scholarship, American Academy of Neurology

2020

Meg Olivia Barkman Clinical Care Award, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

2020

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Chief Resident, Child Neurology

* Texas Children’s Hospital physicians’ licenses and credentials are reviewed prior to practicing at any of our facilities. Sections titled From the Doctor, Professional Organizations and Publications were provided by the physician’s office and were not verified by Texas Children’s Hospital.

Research interests

Circadian regulation of seizure risk, mechanisms by which poor sleep worsens epilepsy, Drosophila models of genetic epilepsies and neurodevelopmental disorders, drug repurposing for rare pediatric neurological diseases

Mani H, Cuddapah VA. Emerging genetics of sleep and circadian disorders. Current Opinion in Pediatrics. 2026 Sep 9. doi: 10.1097/MOP.0000000000001619. PMID: 42750652

Cuddapah VA, Hsu CT, Valle Sirias F, Li Y, Shah HM, Saul C, Killiany S, Guevara C, Shon J, Yue Z, Gionet GL, Putt ME, Sehgal A. Sleep drive, not total sleep amount, increases seizure risk. Nature Communications. 2025 Jul 29;16(1):6967. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-62311-x. PMID: 40730814

Cuddapah VA, Chen D, Cho B, Moore R, Suri M, Safraou H, Tran-Mau-Them F, Wilson A, Odgis J, Rehman AU, Saunders C, Ganesan S, Jobanputra V, Scherer SW, Helbig I, Sehgal A. Rare variants in BMAL1 are associated with a neurodevelopmental syndrome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2025 Aug 5;122(31):e2427085122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2427085122. Epub 2025 Jul 28. PMID: 40720646

Parthasarathy S, Ruggiero SM, Gelot A, Soardi FC, Ribeiro BFR, Pires DEV, Ascher DB, Schmitt A, Rambaud C, Represa A, Xie HM, Lusk L, Wilmarth O, McDonnell PP, Juarez OA, Grace AN, Buratti J, Mignot C, Gras D, Nava C, Pierce SR, Keren B, Kennedy BC, Pena SDJ, Helbig I, Cuddapah VA. A recurrent de novo splice site variant involving DNM1 exon 10a causes developmental and epileptic encephalopathy through a dominant-negative mechanism. American Journal of Human Genetics. 2022 Dec 1;109(12):2253-2269. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.11.002. Epub 2022 Nov 21. PMID: 36413998

Cuddapah VA, Zhang SL, Sehgal A. Regulation of the Blood-Brain Barrier by Circadian Rhythms and Sleep. Trends in Neurosciences. 2019 Jul;42(7):500-510. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2019.05.001. PMID: 31253251

Cuddapah VA, Robel S, Watkins S, Sontheimer H. A neurocentric perspective on glioma invasion. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2014 Jul;15(7):455-65. doi: 10.1038/nrn3765. PMID: 24946761

Cuddapah VA, Pillai RB, Shekar KV, Lane JB, Motil KJ, Skinner SA, Tarquinio DC, Glaze DG, McGwin G, Kaufmann WE, Percy AK, Neul JL, Olsen ML. Methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2) mutation type is associated with disease severity in Rett syndrome. Journal of Medical Genetics. 2014 Mar;51(3):152-8. doi: 10.1136/jmedgenet-2013-102113. Epub 2014 Jan 7. PMID: 24399845

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