Dr. Shellhaas’ research focus is neonatal neurology and early-life epilepsy, including approaches to seizure detection, improved treatment paradigms and prediction of long-term outcomes for affected infants. She is also a leader in studies of sleep and sleep-disordered breathing and their impact on neurodevelopment in high-risk newborns, for which she was awarded the Sleep Science Award by the American Academy of Neurology.

She has published extensively and is a principal investigator for two active R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has served as associate editor of the journal Neurology, and continues on the editorial boards of the Journal of Child Neurology, Pediatric Neurology, and Annals of the Child Neurology Society. Earlier this summer, she was appointed president-elect of the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation.