Karen R. Gil, MD

Karen Ballaban-Gil, MD, is Director, Pediatric Epilepsy Center and Deputy Director, Division of Child Neurology at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Einstein, and Professor, Pediatrics and Neurology at our Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Ballaban-Gil has a large clinical practice in child neurology, including the evaluation and treatment of children with epilepsy, headaches, sleep disorders, autism and other developmental disabilities.

After receiving her Bachelor of Science at Union College in 1984, Dr. Ballaban-Gil earned her Doctor of Medicine in 1986 at the Albany Medical College. She began her postgraduate training at Johns Hopkins Hospital, completing two years as an intern and assistant resident in pediatrics before coming to Einstein, where she completed a residency in child neurology, followed by a fellowship in epilepsy and electrophysiology in 1991.

Dr. Ballaban-Gil’s research interests include the relationship between epilepsy and language regression in youngsters with Landau-Kleffner Syndrome, autism and other developmental disorders of higher cognitive functioning. Her publications include numerous papers on autism, epilepsy related language disorders and the Ketogenic Diet. She has shared her work through national and international meetings, and has been a peer reviewer for a variety of medical journals, including Epilepsia and Cephalgia.

Dr. Ballaban-Gil is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in Neurology with special competence in Child Neurology and with Certification in Epilepsy.