Dr. John Crawford, Medical Director, Neurology, Co-Medical Director, CHOC Neuroscience Institute

Dr. John Crawford is board-certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in neurology with special qualifications in child neurology and by the United Council for Neurology Subspecialties in neuro-oncology. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry and a master’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology. Dr. Crawford attended medical school at the University of Massachusetts at Worcester. Following medical school, he completed his pediatrics training at Los Angeles County/University of California and child neurology and neuro-oncology training at Children’s National Medical Center. Prior to his arrival at CHOC, Dr. Crawford was professor of clinical neurosciences and pediatrics at University of California San Diego and director of neuro-oncology at Rady Children’s Hospital. As prior director of the Child Neurology Fellowship Program and Neuro-Oncology Fellowship Program at UCSD, Dr. Crawford has mentored dozens of neurology and oncology trainees throughout his career.

Dr. Crawford’s research interests are in translational pediatric neuro-oncology including molecular-guided approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric central nervous system tumors.

Peer Reviewed Publications

Kung MS, Crawford JR. Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis after Measles Infection. N Engl J Med. 2026 Feb 21. doi: 10.1056/NEJMicm2504828. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41728896.

Berry JV, Tran BM, Wu G, Tan Z, Mendoza E, Kim M, Arat Z, Lin PSH, Valenzuela L, Holmes TC, Virovka A, Thaxton M, Nguyen M, Stein S, Sigaroudi VR, De La Rosa A, Gawronski B, Silva J, Gonzalez L, Wright S, Wood K, Hui GK, Anousaya D, Gangeddula VR, Gama N, Gama J, Gross T, Bunney B, Stein R, Sequeira PA, Mamdani F, Cartagena P, Bunney WE, Lou J, Park HL, Wilson A, Mark Brooks H, Allhusen V, Crawford J, Knight JM, Ren B, Ecker J, Margarita Behrens M, Dirk Keene C, Stark C, Head E, Yong W, Monuki E, Xu X. UC Irvine’s Brain Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN) Brain Procurement Program for the Center for Multiomic Human Brain Cell Atlas Project. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 Dec 26:2025.12.23.696304. doi: 10.64898/2025.12.23.696304. PMID: 41509448; PMCID: PMC12776169.

Gora A, Crawford JR. Neuroimaging features of 12q24.31-q24.33 duplication and Cri–du–Chat syndrome in an infant. BMJ Case Rep. 2026 Feb 19;19(2):e270458. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2025-270458. PMID: 41713888.

Levy DM, Owen MJ, Patel VA, Brandel MG, Nation J, Plonsker J, Crawford JR*, Levy ML*. Clinical outcomes and delayed proton therapy following endoscopic endonasal resection of large and giant pediatric craniopharyngiomas. Neurosurg Focus. 2026 Jun 1;60(6):E4. doi: 10.3171/2026.2.FOCUS251137. PMID: 42224719.* co-senior authors

Calvo Fernández E, Tomassoni L, Zhang X, Wang J, Obradovic A, Laise P, Griffin AT, Vlahos L, Minns HE, Morales DV, Simmons C, Gallitto M, Wei HJ, Martins TJ, Becker PS, Crawford JR, Tzaridis T, Wechsler-Reya RJ, Garvin J, Gartrell RD, Szalontay L, Zacharoulis S, Wu CC, Zhang Z, Califano A, Pavisic J. Systematic design of combination therapy by targeting master regulators of coexisting diffuse midline glioma cell states. Nat Genet. 2026 Apr 22. doi: 10.1038/s41588-026-02550-w. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42020604.

Hsia B, Dongre R, Erquizi A, Guerra-Navarro PV, Bitar G, Alshaka SA, Kim JD, Valencia-Sanchez BA, Brandel MG, Sato M, Crawford JR, Levy ML, Patel VA, Polster SP. Molecular Profiling of Olfactory Neuroblastoma Using the AACR Project GENIE Database. J Neurol Surg B Skull Base. 2025 Jun 27;87(3):330-336. doi: 10.1055/a-2639-5690. PMID: 42095028; PMCID: PMC13143387.

Kieu Q, Chavan R, Le C, Crawford J Acute encephalopathy from Central Nervous System Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (CNS HLH) in X‑linked lymphoproliferative disease type 1 (XLP-1). J Child Neurol 2026 (accepted)

N. D. Shah, A. Z. Kalawi, R. Pearson, A. Nael, and J. R. Crawford, “Mesenchymal Chondrosarcoma Presenting as Atypical Brown–Sequard Syndrome,” Annals of the Child Neurology Society (2026): 1-3, https://doi.org/10.1002/cns3.70079.

Owen MJ, Yang JH, Montenegro MA, Harvey H, Coufal NG, Levy ML, Crawford JR Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome in Pediatric Brain Tumor Patients – A Distinct Entity Neuro-Oncol Pediatr. 2026 (accepted minor revisions)

Valencia BA, Cheng MZ, Kim JD, Brandel MG, Crawford JR, Plonsker J, Patel VA, Levy ML Endoscopic Endonasal Management of Giant Pediatric Craniopharyngioma Neurosurg. Focus 2026 (accepted minor revisions)