Our Team

Dr. Soroush Baghdadi is an Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Director of the Center for Cerebral Palsy. He specializes in pediatric orthopaedic surgery, with a particular focus on neuromuscular conditions, hip preservation, and sports injuries in young athletes.

Dr. Oppenheim is a board-certified pediatric orthopaedist and past president of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine.

Dr. Fowler directs the research and education programs at the Center. The Center’s research examines the underlying causes of movement and function disorders and cerebral palsy and assesses the effectiveness of various treatment interventions on these disorders. Dr. Fowler served as president of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine for the 2015 – 2016 term.

Dr. Maya Newman specializes in the non-surgical treatment of children, adolescents, and adults who have injuries or malformations to the brain, muscles or nerves that affect their functional mobility, activities of daily living or speech. Dr. Newman helps her patients maximize their functional abilities and independence through the management of abnormal tone and movement disorders, as well as providing adaptive equipment and referrals to other specialists, such as physical therapy.

Dr. Stearns-Reider’s research is focused on the development of therapeutic strategies to address muscle contractures and improve patient function in cerebral palsy and other musculoskeletal disorders. She received her MS in Physical Therapy from the University of California, San Francisco, and her PhD in Biokinesiology from the University of Southern California.

Ms. Staudt has been working for many years with infants and young children in the UCLA Intervention program. As a research physical therapist, she participates in all phases of the Center’s projects. She also evaluates patients in the Center’s inter-disciplinary lifespan clinic.

Lindsay is a Doctor of Physical Therapy with extensive experience in the evaluation and treatment of infants and children with cerebral palsy. She supports the UCLA/OIC Cerebral Palsy Clinic and conducts instrumented gait analyses at the Kameron Gait and Motion Analysis laboratory in both a clinical and research capacity. Her research interests include the early detection and treatment of CP, and post-operative outcomes in CP.