Yuma native will speak on child health issue
Yuma native Dr. Sydney Rice will be the guest speaker at a presentation put on by the Yuma Friends of Arizona Health Sciences.
Rice, who is a 1982 graduate of Yuma High, will speak about post-infectious autoimmune encephalopathy in children at 6 p.m. April 11 at the Lee Hotel, 380 S. Main St.
Children’s Postinfectious Autoimmune Encephalopathy, often referred to by its initials CPAE, is a group of neuropsychiatric disorders that are often misdiagnosed, underdiagnosed or undiagnosed in children. It can cause young children to develop obsessive compulsive disorder and tics after an infection.
This topic should be especially interesting to parents of young children who have behavior changes after an infection, Rice said in a news release from the Yuma Friends.
Bill Gresser noted that while registration is not required, those interested in attending are encouraged to arrive early, as seating is limited.
An associate professor of pediatrics in the University of Arizona Department of Pediatrics, Rice attended Stanford University for her undergraduate work and the UA for her medical degree. She also holds a degree from the University of Virginia, and is the medical director of Children’s Rehabilitative Services, and the co-director of the CPAE Center of Excellence at the UA Steele Center, developed in partnership with Banner-University Medicine and in cooperation with the National Institute of Health and the National Institute of Mental Health.
The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, send an email to UofAYumaFriends@roadrunner.com