Preface iv

Drs Radcliffe, Phillips and colleagues are integral members of the Mental Retardation Research Center within three collaborating institutions of the University of Pennsylvania Research Community: The Children’s Seashore House, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The function of this MRRC is to consolidate and enhance mental retardation and developmental disabilities research activities in the areas of etiology, pathogenesis and treatment. Its core facilities are primarily focused on neurosciences and include: Molecular Genetics, Biostatistics, Neuroimaging, Neuroscience, Neuropathology, and Neuropsychology and Behavior Analysis. Newly funded in 1990, this Center has zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA been involved in studies of developmental neurobiology, inborn errors of metabolism perinatal problems, infectious diseases and psychobiological processes. The latter has focused on the effects of acute brain injury and of brain tumors on subsequent cognitive function. The study of Radcliffe et al. exemplifies the type of interdisciplinary research performed in the MRRC, in this case including the neurosurgery, neurology, oncology and neuropsychology. Studies like these will hopefully lead to improved treatment that will optimize the neurodevelopmental outcome of children with brain tumors.