Matt McLaughlin is a Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine physician and Clinical Pharmacologist. His primary research centers on identifying genetic causes of cerebral palsy and optimizing “the right medication for the right patient at the right time to improve outcomes.” He completed the MD/BA 6-year program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City prior to starting his fellowship at the University of Missouri-Columbia. After graduation from residency, he pursued a clinical Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine fellowship at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. During this time, he obtained his Master’s Degree in Medical Bioinformatics to help with clinical research design and database management. Upon graduation, he was named a Vice Chancellors Honors Recipient for obtaining a 4.0 GPA while also positively contributing to the Kansas City community. He received advanced training in Clinical Pharmacology by participating in an NICHD T32 Fellowship in Pediatric Clinical and Developmental Pharmacology prior to starting his K12 funding.

Dr. McLaughlin’s primary research work has centered around precision medicine in pediatric patients with cerebral palsy (CP). He enjoys collaborating with genomic researchers to help identify causes of CP. Clinically, he remains passionate about how to employ the pharmacogenetics associated with alterations in medication absorption, distribution, elimination and metabolism with improving clinical outcomes. He employs aspects of pharmacokinetic modeling, pharmacogenomics and clinical trial design in his studies. His work earned him the Best Original Research Article by a Young Physician by the PM&R Journal in 2018, the Presidential Trainee Award in 2020, and the Early Career Investigator Award from Children’s Mercy in 2021. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s Mercy – Kansas City.