Colin A Ellis, MD
Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Assistant Professor of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania,
Department of Neurology
Department: Neurology
Contact information
University of Pennsylvania
Department of Neurology
3 West Gates Building
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Department of Neurology
3 West Gates Building
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 215-349-5166
Fax: 215-349-5733
Fax: 215-349-5733
Publications
Education:
ScB (Neuroscience)
Brown University, 2005.
MD (Medicine)
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 2012.
ScB (Neuroscience)
Brown University, 2005.
MD (Medicine)
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 2012.
Post-Graduate Training
Intern in Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2012-2013.
Resident in Epilepsy, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2013-2016.
Fellow in Epilepsy, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2016-2017.
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, 2017-2019.
Fellow, Epilepsy & Genetics, University of Melbourne and Austin Health Melbourne, Australia, 2017-2018.
Intern in Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2012-2013.
Resident in Epilepsy, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2013-2016.
Fellow in Epilepsy, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2016-2017.
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, 2017-2019.
Fellow, Epilepsy & Genetics, University of Melbourne and Austin Health Melbourne, Australia, 2017-2018.
Certifications
Diplomat - American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology , 2016.
Epilepsy Certification, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, 2017.
Permanent linkDiplomat - American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology , 2016.
Epilepsy Certification, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, 2017.
Description of Clinical Expertise
Dr. Ellis is a neurologist with expertise in the management of seizures and epilepsy. This includes expertise in EEG, anti-seizure medications, surgical treatment of epilepsy, neurostimulation, and implantable devices. Dr. Ellis also has clinical expertise in genetics and the genetic causes of epilepsy. He sees patients with epilepsy for genetic evaluations at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.Description of Research Expertise
Dr. Ellis's research is focused on the genetic basis of epilepsy. He is particularly interested in the discovery of genes that cause epilepsy; the heritability of epilepsy within families; and the use of genetics to improve the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. An additional research focus in the mining of electronic health records using natural language processing.Selected Publications
Zhou DJ, Jaskir M, Gal J, Fonkeu Y, Davatzikos C, Nasrallah MP, Garcia J, Xing R, Bagley SJ, Desai A, Phillips RE, Tobochnik S, Ellis CA, Gugger JJ, Sinha N, Stein JM, Davis KA.: Spatial and Volumetric Characteristics of Glioblastoma: Associations With Clinical Presentation and Survival. Ann Clin Transl Neurol May 2026.Chang E, Xie K, Zhou DJ, Korzun J, Conrad EC, Roth D, Litt B, Ellis CA.: Automated epilepsy and seizure type phenotyping with pre-trained language models. medRxiv Feb 2026.
Erfanian Omidvar M, Murrell JR, Prentice AJ, Helbig I, Lerche H, May P; Epi25 Collaborative.: USP25 in genetic generalized epilepsy: a gene under scrutiny. Brain 149: e16-e18, Feb 2026.
Nix KC, Ghosn NJ, Xie K, Ojemann W, Ellis CA, Waldman GJ, Cornblath E, Conrad E, Ma D, Litt B.: Optimizing Antiseizure Medication Taper in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. Neurol Clin Pract 2026.
Chang E, Xie K, Ellis CA.: Transformer Language Models for Neurology Research with Electronic Health Records: Current State of the Science. Semin Neurol 2026.
Shaik NF, Denison L, Venezia GMA, Ljungberg L, Lebrón-Cruz A, Resnick D, Peachey C, Ziemba C, Buckley M, Karamardian M, Liu PZ, Napole A, Hong J, Zeng R, Yu C, Chan A, Bae C, Stein L, Ellis CA, Xu DJ.: Improving sleep on the inpatient general, non-stroke neurology service: A quasi-experimental interventional trial. J Hosp Med 2026.
Ellis CA, Copeland J, Velez I, Oliver KL, Shalaby H, Baldwin A, Armstrong C, Back A, Berlin B, Cohen S, Cuddapah VA, deCampo D, Dubbs H, Ginn N, Harrison AG, Lewin N, Lusk L, Marsh ED, Massey SL, McDonnell PP, McKee JL, Ortiz-Gonzalez X, Prentice AJ, Sullivan KR, Ruggiero SM, Fitzgerald MP, Goldberg EM, Helbig I.: Genetic testing for familial epilepsies: Diagnostic yield and genetic findings. Epilepsia 2026.
Boada CM, Xie K, Fonkeu Y, Ganguly TM, Ellis CA.: Disparities in epilepsy care: The role of provider decision-making. Epilepsy Behav 2026.
Cook JT, Prasad S, Ozudogru S, Ellis CA.: Pearls & Oy-sters: Attacks of Hemiplegic Migraine and Encephalopathy in SLC4A4 Pathogenic Variants. Neurology 105: e214231, Nov 2025.
Xie K, Korzun J, Zhou DJ, Chang E, Ghosn NJ, Lavelle S, Oganisian A, Acton EK, Gelfand MA, Roth D, Litt B, Ellis CA.: Comparative effectiveness of anti-seizure medications in emulated trials using medical informatics. Brain 148: 4288-4298, Jul 2025.