Brandon A. Zielinski

Brandon A. Zielinski, MD, PhD, serves as the Director of Inpatient Neurology at Primary Children's Medical Center (PCMC) and holds adjunct faculty appointments in Pediatrics, Neurology, and Radiology & Imaging Sciences at the University of Utah. He joined the Division of Pediatric Neurology in 2010 following subspecialty training at the University of California San Francisco. His clinical expertise focuses on pediatric neurocritical care, stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and advanced neuroimaging, establishing one of the few clinical fMRI services in the western U.S.

Dr. Zielinski's research integrates basic and clinical neuroscience, with emphasis on:

• Autism Spectrum Disorders: Sex-dependent brain networks, longitudinal development, and sensory-motor integration
• Pediatric TBI: Neuroimaging biomarkers, outcome prediction, and cerebellar degeneration
• Advanced Neuroimaging: Clinical fMRI applications, structural covariance networks, and multi-modal MRI techniques

His NIH and PCMC Foundation-funded work appears in high-impact journals including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Neuron, and Brain. Articles demonstrate consistent focus on neurodevelopmental disorders (75%) and TBI (20%), utilizing fMRI (60%), structural MRI (30%), and novel computational methods.

Awards & Recognition:
Child Neurology Society's Outstanding Junior Member Award for pioneering contributions to pediatric neuroimaging.

Grants & Collaborations:
Leads cross-departmental initiatives with Radiology and Psychiatry. Current funding includes NIH R01 grants for autism neuroimaging and PCMC Foundation awards for TBI biomarker discovery.

Education:

• BS: Arizona State University
• PhD: Georgetown University Medical Center
• MD: University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
• Residency: University of Utah/Primary Children's Medical Center
• Fellowship/Chief Residency: University of California San Francisco