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 (Cog. Neuroscience)
Brown University, 2005.
MD (Medicine)
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 2012.
ScB (Cog. 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
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 Jul 2025.
Zhou DJ, Ellis CA, Xie K, Sinha N, Xie SX, Davis KA, Stein JM, Jennings T, Bagley SJ, Desai A, Wen PY, Reardon DA, Tobochnik S.: Seizure characteristics and outcomes in patients with pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma. Neurooncol Adv 7: vdaf134, Jun 2025.
Guzman SG, Ruggiero SM, Ganesan S, Ellis CA, Harrison AG, Sullivan KR, Stark Z, Brown NJ, Kana SL, Tuttle A, Tenorio J, Lapunzina P, Nevado J, McDonald MT, Jensen C, Wheeler PG, Stange L, Morrison J, Keren B, Heide S, Keating MW, Butler KM, Lyons MA, Jain S, Yeganeh M, Thompson ML, Schroeder M, Nguyen H, Granadillo J, Johnston KM, Murali CN, Bosanko K, Burrow TA; CHOP Birth Defects Biorepository; Penn Medicine BioBank; Morgan S, Watson DJ, Hakonarson H, Helbig I.: Variants in BSN, encoding the presynaptic protein Bassoon, result in a distinct neurodevelopmental disorder with a broad phenotypic range. Am J Hum Genet 112: 1415-1429, Jun 2025.
Ojemann WKS, Xie K, Liu K, Chang E, Roth D, Litt B, Ellis CA.: Zero-Shot Extraction of Seizure Outcomes from Clinical Notes Using Generative Pretrained Transformers. J Healthc Inform Res 9: 380-400, Apr 2025.
McClelland AC, Ellis CA, Kuo E, Ye KQ, Balu R, Mohan S.: Atypical Edema in Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome: Clinical Associations and Outcome. J Neuroimaging 2025.
Ellis CA, Ottman R, Epstein MP; Epi4K Consortium; Berkovic SF, Oliver KL.: Phenotypic heterogeneity in familial epilepsies is influenced by polygenic risk for generalized and focal epilepsies. Epilepsia 2025.
Aguila CA, Lucas A, Lavelle S, Pattnaik AR, Kim J, Ojemann WKS, Ma D, Josyula M, Petillo N, LaRocque JJ, Sinha SR, Ellis CA, Parashos A, Gleichgerrcht E, Davis KA, Litt B, Conrad EC.: Mesial-to-lateral gradients of epileptiform activity to localize mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsia 2025.
Brooker SM, Novelli M, Coukos R, Prakash N, Kamel WA, Amengual-Gual M, Anheim M, Barcia G, Bardakjian T, Baur F, Berweck S, Bölsterli BK, Brugger M, Cassini T, Chatron N, Corner B, Dafsari HS, de Sainte Agathe JM, Ellis CA, Ezell KM, Foucard C, Frucht SJ, Garcia MC, Gill D, Guimier A, Hamid R, Heine-Suñer D, Herkenrath P, Hully M, Isaias IU, Januel L, Laurencin C, Laut T, Lavillaureix A, Lesca G, Lesieur-Sebellin M, Magistrelli L, Marelli C, Mefford HC, Mendelsohn BA, Mercimek-Andrews S, Miller C, Mohammad SS, Morgante F, Nandipati S, Opladen T, Padmanaban M, Pauni M, Pezzoli G, Piton A, Ramond F, Riboldi GM, Rougeot-Jung C, Santos-Simarro F, Scheffer IE, Serari N, Stahl CM, Kung AS, Tarongí Sanchez S, Thauvin-Robinet C, Till M, Tranchant C, Troedson C, Tropea TF, Vanakker O, Vega P, Wiese ML, Wieshmann U, Williams LJ, Wirth T, Zech M, Zempel H, Roze E, Leuzzi V, Galosi S, Fung VSC, Carvill G, Krainc D, Gerard E, Mencacci NE.: The Spectrum of Neurologic Phenotypes Associated With NUS1 Pathogenic Variants: A Comprehensive Case Series. Ann Neurol 2025.
Ellis CA, Liu PZ, Napole A, Denison L, Shaik NF, Venezia GA, Ljungberg L, Karamardian MA, Peachey C, Buckley M, Bae CJ, Stein L, Xu DJ.: Promoting Sleep for Neurology Inpatients: The Value of Routine Overnight Vital Signs. Neurol Clin Pract 2025.