Dr Rosemary Burgess is a paediatric neurologist based in Melbourne, working from 245 Burgundy St, VIC 3084.
She looks after kids with brain and nerve conditions that affect how they move, learn, and sleep. A big part of her work is childhood epilepsy, including seizure disorders linked with genes. Some children she sees have fevers that can trigger seizures, and others have seizure types that start in infancy or school age.
In many cases, families also come in for help with developmental and brain growth concerns. This can include conditions like cortical dysplasia, lissencephaly, and periventricular heterotopia. She also supports children with rare epilepsy syndromes such as West syndrome, Aicardi syndrome, and hypothalamic hamartomas. At times, there are extra worries alongside seizures, like spasticity and changes in movement.
Her experience covers a wide range of seizure presentations. That might mean myoclonic seizures, partial seizures, or generalised tonic-clonic seizures. She also sees children with infant epilepsy with migrant focal crisis and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. Some families are navigating complex epilepsy linked with genetic changes, including GEFS+ and other inherited patterns such as mosaicism.
Dr Burgess works closely with parents and carers to make sense of what is happening and what to do next. She focuses on practical plans for day-to-day life, while also helping families understand the likely causes. She keeps up with current research in paediatric epilepsy care, including new ways clinicians think about genes and long-term management.
Clinical trials can be an option for some families, depending on the child’s situation. If relevant, she can help explain what trials involve and whether anything may fit. For children needing ongoing care, the goal stays the same: steady support, clear communication, and treatment that matches the child.