HydroAssist® Development Team

Meet the members of the development team for HydroAssist®. In addition to the inventors below, the app was tested by a focus group consisting of individuals living with hydrocephalus, parents, caregivers, medical professionals, and the staff of the Hydrocephalus Association, allowing for feedback and enhancements at each stage of development. We are grateful for the community’s involvement in the development of the app and look forward to continuing to enhance the app with your feedback.

Abhay Rajeshwar Moghekar, MBBS

Director of the Adult Hydrocephalus and CSF Disorders Program, Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Associate Professor of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Abhay Moghekar leads the Adult Hydrocephalus and Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Disorders Program and has expertise in Alzheimer’s Disease, Dementia, Intracranial Hypertension, Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, Pseudotumor Cerebri, and Venous Sinus Stenosis. While caring for his patients with hydrocephalus and pseudotumor cerebri, he realized the lack of an easy system to track the shunt settings and surgeries his patients underwent. In an effort to assist both medical practitioners and patients alike, he decided to team up with his colleagues and the Hydrocephalus Association to develop a smartphone app.

Dr. Moghekar is on the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is board certified in Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology and has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals. His research focuses on understanding biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid in patients with hydrocephalus and Alzheimer’s disease.

Jesse M. Skoch, MD

Pediatric Neurosurgeon, Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Dr. Skoch is a board certified pediatric neurosurgeon specializing in treatment of hydrocephalus, craniosynostosis, and epilepsy. He is co-director of the Craniosynostosis and Cranial-Vault Reconstruction Center (CCRC) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He performs clinical research toward improving shunt surgery and patient quality of life.  He also runs a basic science lab dedicated to improving the detection of seizure foci with optical imaging techniques.

Dr. Skoch believes that patients with accurate and up to date data regarding their shunt history are more likely to get proper medical care, but that tracking of this information is cumbersome.  While it can be managed well by a single physician, there are not good systems in place for allowing different care providers to synchronize care.  He believes that by empowering patients to become managers of their own medical histories with a little help from their physicians and technology, better care can be achieved even for patients that are not able to see the same provider every time.  Shunt systems continue to become more complex, and he has been working with HA to develop a solution that can help patients and providers remain knowledgeable about individual differences in hydrocephalus treatments.

Dr. Skoch has published more than 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals, authored book chapters, and garnered several awards for his scientific research. He is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

Amanda Garzon, MA

Chief Operations Officer, Hydrocephalus Association

As the Chief Operations Officer, Amanda is responsible for developing and implementing operations strategies that allow the Hydrocephalus Association (HA) to meet its strategic goals and vision. She works in partnership with the CEO and management team to find innovative ways to grow revenue that support the diverse research and patient-focused programs of the association. She oversees the development and oversight of education and advocacy initiatives, patient-centered support services as well as the management and implementation of an aggressive communications and marketing strategy. Amanda’s passion for enhancing education and support programming, and building greater awareness of the challenges of hydrocephalus and the work of the organization stem from a personal connection to the condition as the mother of an adult daughter with hydrocephalus.

Serving as the staff representative on the development team for HydroAssist®, Amanda was able to bring a parent and patient perspective to the group, with a keen interest in the use of technology to allow teens and adults to manage their own care and, particularly in the case of teens, move toward greater independence. To assure the app meets the needs of the wide breadth of patients who use the app, Amanda oversees the patient focus group that provides design input and testing feedback at all stages of development of HydroAssist®.