Kevin Shapiro, MD, PhD, a renowned expert in cognitive neuroscience, is Executive Director of Research and Therapeutic Technologies at Cortica. Dr. Shapiro uses his expertise to identify and address the underlying causes that may impact a child’s development.

Dr. Shapiro has dedicated his career to better understand brain development in children with neurodevelopmental differences. With subspecialty training in vascular neurology, Dr. Shapiro is one of only a handful of board-certified pediatric stroke neurologists in the United States.

An accomplished researcher, Dr. Shapiro’s interests are focused on understanding how learning and the structure of the brain are related to the development of speech and language. He also studies how early brain injuries affect development. His research has been published extensively in leading neuroscience journals and books.  

Dr. Shapiro had the pleasure of pursuing his lifelong passion for learning in Cambridge, Massachusetts, earning his Bachelor of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, and Doctor of Medicine degrees from Harvard University. He completed a residency in pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, and another in child neurology in the combined program of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Dr. Shapiro then headed to the West Coast for fellowship training in stroke and went on to serve on the faculty at the University of California in San Francisco, where he also directed the Pediatric Language Clinic.

In his free time, Dr. Shapiro volunteers at non-profit organizations dedicated to teaching medical professionals and providing medical care to patients in underserved areas around the world.

Dr. Shapiro is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the American Academy of Neurology, and the Child Neurology Society, among others. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and holds certification in both child neurology and vascular neurology.

List of Peer-Reviewed Publications:

1. Felling, R. J., Jordan, L. C., Mrakotsky, C., deVeber, G., Peterson, R. K., Mineyko, A., Feldman, S. J., Shapiro, K., Lo, W., & Beslow, L. A. (2023). Roadmap for the Assessment and Management of Outcomes in Pediatric Stroke. Pediatric Neurology, S0887899423000085. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2023.01.008

2. Mrakotsky, C., Williams, T. S., Shapiro, K. A., & Westmacott, R. (2022). Rehabilitation in Pediatric Stroke: Cognition and Behavior. Seminars in Pediatric Neurology, 100998. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spen.2022.100998

3. Castilla-Valmanya L, Selmer KK, Dimartino C, et al. Phenotypic spectrum and transcriptomic profile associated with germline variants in TRAF7. Genet Med 2020 Jul;22(7):1215-1226. PMID: 32376980

4. Felling RJ, Rafay MF, Bernard TJ, Carpenter JL, Dlamini N, Hassanein SMA, Jordan LC, Noetzel MJ, Rivkin MJ, Shapiro KA, Slim M, deVeber G. Predicting recovery and outcome after pediatric stroke: results from the International Pediatric Stroke Study. Ann Neurol 2020 Mar 25. PMID: 32215969

5. Rafay MF, Shapiro KA, Surmava AM, deVeber GA, Kirton A, Fullerton HJ, Amlie-Lefond C, Weschke B, Dlamini N, Carpenter JL, Mackay ML, Rivkin M, Linds A, Bernard TJ. Spectrum of cerebral arteriopathies in children with arterial ischemic stroke. Neurology 2020 Jun 9;94(23). PMID:32457211

6. Buranahirun C, Walsh KS, Mrakotsky C, Croteau SE, Rajpurkar M, Kearney S, Hannemann C, Wilkening GN, Shapiro KA, Cooper DL. Neuropsychological function in children with hemophilia: A review of the Hemophilia Growth and Development Study and introduction of the current eTHINK study. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2019 Oct 8:e28004. PMID: 31595670

7. Giudice C, Rogers EE, Johnson BC, Glass HC, Shapiro KA. Neuroanatomical correlates of sensory processing deficits in children with neonatal arterial ischemic stroke. Developmental Medicine Child Neurology 2019 Jun;61(6)667-671. PMID: 28924555

8. Johnston SC, Easton JD, Farrant M, et al. Clopidogrel and aspirin in acute ischemic stroke and high-risk TIA. N Engl J Med 2018 Jul 19;379(3):215-255. PMID: 29766750

9. Caverzasi E, Mandelli ML, Hoeft F, Watson C, Meyer M, Allen IE, Papinutto N, Wang C, Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott CAM, Marco EJ, Mukherjee P, Miller ZA, Miller BL, Hendren R, Shapiro KA, Gorno-Tempini ML. Abnormal age-related cortical folding and neurite morphology in children with developmental dyslexia. NeuroImage: Clinical 2018 Mar 14; 18:814-821. PMID: 29876267

10. Sturm VE, Datta S, Sible IJ, Holley SR, Watson C, Rah E, Meyer M, Pakvasa M, Mandelli ML, Caverzasi E, Miller ZA, Shapiro KA, Hoeft F, Hendren R, Miller BL, Gorno-Tempini ML. Enhanced visceromotor emotional reactivity in dyslexia and its relation to intrinsic salience network connectivity. Cortex 2021 Jan;134:278-295. PMID: 33316603.

11. Beber B, Mandelli ML, Santos MA, Binney R, Miller B, Chaves M, Gorno-Tempini ML, Shapiro K. A behavioral study of the nature of verb-noun dissociation in the nonfluent variant of primary progressive aphasia. Aphasiology 2019; 33(2):200-215.

12. Shapiro KA, Kim H, Mandelli ML, Rogers EE, Gano D, Ferriero DM, Barkovich AJ, Gorno-Tempini ML, Glass HC, Xu D. Early changes in brain structure predict language outcome in children with neonatal encephalopathy. NeuroImage: Clinical 2017 15:572-580. PMID: 28924555

13. Papinutto N, Galantucci S, Mandelli ML, Gesierich B, Jovicich J, Caverzasi E, Henry RG, Seeley WW, Miller BL, Shapiro KA, Gorno-Tempini ML. Structural connectivity of the human anterior temporal lobe: A diffusion magnetic resonance imaging study. Hum Brain Mapp. 2016 Jun; 37(6):2210-22. PMID: 26945805

14. Shapiro KA, McGuone D, Deshpande V, Sadow PM, Stemmer-Rachamimov A, Staley KJ. Failure to detect human papillomavirus in focal cortical dysplasia type IIb. Ann Neurol. 2015 Jul; 78(1):63-7. PMID: 25893423

15. Pisano T, Numis AL, Heavin SB, Weckhuysen S, Angriman M, Suls A, Podesta B, Thibert RL, Shapiro KA, Guerrini R, Scheffer IE, Marini C, Cilio MR. Early and effective treatment of KCNQ2 encephalopathy. Epilepsia. 2015 May; 56(5):685-91. PMID: 25880994

16. Shapiro KA, Bové RM, Volpicelli ER, Mallery RM, Stone JH. Relapsing course of immunoglobulin G4-related pachymeningitis. Neurology. 2012 Aug 7; 79(6):604-6. PMID: 22843267