BAR HARBOR, MAINE – While most view stroke as a disease of older adults, children can have strokes too. In fact, stroke is among the top 10 causes of death in children, with newborn babies constituting the second largest age group to suffer stroke after older adults.

Dr. Michael Rivkin, a pediatrician and a child neurologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, will discuss the risk factors for stroke in children at the next MDI Science Café, to be held at 5 p.m. on Monday, July 11, at the Kinne Library at the MDI Biological Laboratory. His presentation is entitled “Stroke Occurs in Children, Too: An Under-Recognized and Important Pediatric Disorder.”

In his talk, Rivkin will address the risk factors for stroke in infants and children, which are very different from those in adults; what the lasting consequences of such an injury are; and how children can adapt and compensate afterward. The presentation will also address how the responses of a child’s brain to stroke expose important facets of human brain development and adaptability to injury.

Although the prevalence of stroke in children in general is much less than in adults, stroke in children occurs in what Rivkin has called a “biphasic” pattern. In the first 30 days of life, stroke occurs with a “surprisingly high frequency” – an incidence of 1 in 4,000; after that, the incidence drops dramatically – to between six and 13 per 100,000, depending on the study.

Rivkin is an associate in neurology, director of the Intensive Neurology Care Service and founder and director of the Cerebrovascular Center at Boston Children’s Hospital and an associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School. His work has contributed to the understanding of the brain’s development, as well as how best to improve the lives of children undergoing cerebrovascular events.

He received his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and completed his internship and residency in pediatrics at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. He completed a second residency in pediatric neurology at New England Medical Center in Boston, followed by a fellowship at Children’s Hospital, also in Boston.

MDI Science Cafés are offered through the MDI Biological Laboratory in fulfillment of its mission to promote scientific literacy and increase public engagement with science. The popular events offer a chance to hear directly from scientists about their latest research. Short presentations delivered in everyday language are followed by lively, informal discussion.

The cafés are sponsored by Bar Harbor Bank & Trust and Cross Insurance. The science cafés will alternate with Art Meets Science Cafés at the MDI Biological Laboratory every Monday evening from June 20 to Sept. 19, with the exception of July Fourth and Labor Day. The cafés will take place at 5 p.m. at the Kinne Library.

The MDI Biological Laboratory’s 2016 Art Meets Science exhibit will also be on view prior to the MDI Science Cafés and Art Meets Science Cafés starting at 4:15 p.m. For more information on these events, please visit our events listing.

The MDI Biological Laboratory, located in Bar Harbor, Maine, is an independent, non-profit biomedical research institution focused on increasing healthy lifespan and increasing our natural ability to repair and regenerate tissues damaged by injury or disease. The institution develops solutions to complex human health problems through research, education and ventures that transform discoveries into cures. For more information, please visit mdibl.org.