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Get to know Erika Pyzik, PAC from Neurology
Name: Erika L. Pyzik, PACPosition: Physician assistant
Department: Neurosciences Center
Experience: 15 years in specialized pediatric care, with a focus on neuromuscular disease
Expert care: Erika provides pediatric care for kids with muscular dystrophies, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, myasthenia gravis, spinal muscular atrophy and other neuromuscular diseases. She also helps manage a clinic for patients with hypotonia and motor developmental delays.
Erika L. Pyzik, PAC, serves the pediatric community at Children’s Wisconsin as a physician assistant (PA) on the neurology and neuromuscular teams. She is the lead advanced practice provider on a team of four PAs and five nurse practitioners. Each of these providers has a distinct role, but they are all involved in inpatient and outpatient services. The kind of care that Pyzik and her colleagues provide allows patients to receive the care they need in a timely manner, while building provider-patient relationships that support whole families.
“We know our patients well, we have our kids whom we follow routinely, and we’re really closely involved in their care,” Pyzik said, referring to Children’s team of advanced practice providers. “We understand the ins and outs of not just the patient’s medical needs, but also their social dynamics and those other factors that influence care.”
Background
Pyzik joined Children’s in 2006 and worked closely with physicians to develop her skill set and gain experience with diagnosis. Prior to this, she worked with a private practice pediatric neurologist, where she had one-on-one training and learned about the specialty in a community-based practice setting.
Pyzik now has more than 15 years of experience providing specialized pediatric care, allowing her to be one of the first providers to meet with new patients suspected of having a neuromuscular disease.
“I take care of kids from birth until they graduate to adult clinics,” she said. “The focus of my work has been with our muscular dystrophy patients.”
Noteworthy pursuits
Pyzik is the sub-investigator for several Children’s clinical research trials for patients with neuromuscular disorders. Some of these trials are investigating micro-dystrophin, exon skipping, and other gene-replacement and gene-modifying therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. During the trials, she handles patients’ visits for physicals and gene therapy infusions.
Outside of clinic, Pyzik sits on both the Faculty Clinical Committee and the Professional Enrichment Committee of the Medical College of Wisconsin. She also teaches a neurology section at Marquette University for the Physician Assistant Studies program.