Maria Escolar is a tenured Professor of Pediatrics and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities at the University of Pittsburgh. She graduated with a Master of Science in Nutrition from Columbia University and completed her residency and fellowship at Cornell University Medical Center. Dr. Escolar began her research on rare neurodegenerative disorders in 2000, when she established the Program for the Study of Neurodevelopment in Rare Disorders (NDRD). Since then, she has published over 70 original research papers in peer-reviewed journals, including two influential publications in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Escolar is interested in the interactions of genes, brain, and behavior. She explores the use of biomarkers, as well as how neurobehavioral, neuroradiological, and neurodevelopmental outcome measures can be used to determine the extent of disease progression in patients suffering from rare diseases. More specifically, her research is focused on studying the natural course of rare genetic neurodegenerative diseases through neuroradiological testing, behavioral phenotype, genetic mutations, and the investigation of biomarkers, made possible through the NDRD’s longitudinal tissue