Dr. Randi Hagerman

Dr. Randi Hagerman is a developmental and behavioral pediatrician and the Medical Director of the MIND Institute at UC Davis.  She is internationally recognized as both a clinician and researcher in the fragile X field.  Dr. Hagerman received her M.D. from Stanford University where she also carried out her Pediatric residency.  She completed a Fellowship in Learning and Disabilities and Ambulatory Pediatrics at UC San Diego and, subsequently, spent the next 20 years from 1980 to 2000 at the University of Colorado where she headed Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.  She co-founded the National Fragile X Foundation in 1984 in Colorado and developed a world-renowned fragile X research and treatment center.  In 2000, Professor Hagerman moved to UC Davis to be the Medical Director of the MIND Institute.  Dr. Hagerman and her team discovered the Fragile X-associated Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome (FXTAS) which is a neurological disorder that affects older male and rare female carriers of fragile X.  Dr. Hagerman’s research involves genotype-phenotype correlations in fragile X and she carries out this research in collaboration with her husband, Paul Hagerman, M.D., Ph.D.  Professor Randi Hagerman has written over 200 peer-reviewed articles and numerous book chapters on neurodevelopmental disorders.  She has written several books on fragile X including a 3rd Edition of Fragile X Syndrome: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Research which was published in 2002 by Johns Hopkins University Press.  Dr. Hagerman has received numerous awards for her research in fragile X syndrome including the Jerrett Cole Award from the National Fragile X Foundation for unselfish dedication to work with fragile X children and adults, the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Award for Science including Medicine, the IASSID Distinguished Achievement Award for Scientific Literature, the 2005 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award from UC Davis, and the 2006 Dean’s Award for Outstanding Mentoring at UC Davis.  In 2004, to honor both Randi and Paul Hagerman in recognition of their work in FXTAS, the National Fragile X Foundation established the Hagerman Award.  This award recognizes research accomplishments in the field of FXTAS and is given at the bi-annual International Conference on Fragile X.  In 2008, the National Fragile X Foundation again honored Dr. Hagerman with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Hagerman has worked internationally to establish fragile X clinical programs and research programs throughout the world.  Dr Hagerman is currently carrying out multiple targeted treatment trials in FXS and in autism including a controlled trial of Arbaclofen, minocycline, ganaxolone, mGluR5 antagonists developed by Roche and another by Novartis, and sertraline. She is also the PI of a controlled trial of memantine in older fragile X premutation carriers with FXTAS.