Researcher | Research Overview
Phillip L. Pearl, M.D. is Director of Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology at Boston Children’s Hospital and William G. Lennox Chair and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Pearl, originally from Baltimore, attended Johns Hopkins University and Peabody Conservatory of Music, and University of Maryland School of Medicine. He took his residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital.
He was Division Chief of Neurology at Children’s National Medical Center and Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics, and Music at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, DC, where he spent 23 years from 1990-2013, until relocating to Boston in January 2014. Dr. Pearl is Past President of the Child Neurology Society and the Professors of Child Neurology, and was a member of the Neurology Residency Review Committee of the ACGME. He is currently on the Boards of the International Child Neurology Association (ICNA) and the National Organization of Rare Disorders (NORD).
Dr. Pearl is the leader of the music and neuroscience curriculum for ICNA’s Neurology Through Art and Time (NTAT) series. Dr. Pearl has authored over 250 manuscripts and over 100 chapters, has written or edited five books in neurology, and is currently the co-editor in chief for the upcoming (seventh) edition of the classic textbook, Swaiman’s Pediatric Neurology. In 2025, there is anticipated release of a new book, The Neurobiology of Creativity, by Cambridge University Press.
Researcher | Research Background
Phillip L. Pearl, M.D. is Director of Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology at Boston Children’s Hospital and William G. Lennox Chair and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Pearl, originally from Baltimore, attended Johns Hopkins University and Peabody Conservatory of Music, and University of Maryland School of Medicine. He took his residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. He was Division Chief of Neurology at Children’s National Medical Center and Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics, and Music at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, DC, where he spent 23 years from 1990-2013, until relocating to Boston in January 2014. Dr. Pearl just recently completed his 2-year term as President of the Professors of Child Neurology and 6-year term as a member of the Neurology Residency Review Committee of the ACGME.
