Cristina Brea, MD

About Me

Cristina Brea, MD is an attending physician in Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She completed her Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation residency at the University of Miami / Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she served as Chief Resident. She then completed her Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine fellowship at Gillette Children's Hospital where she specialized in the care of infants, children, and adolescents with childhood onset conditions.

Dr. Brea is dedicated to providing families with holistic care focused on shared decision-making to optimize their child's function, quality of life, and development. She is passionate about helping patients with different abilities find fun, meaningful ways to re-integrate into their communities. While Dr. Brea sees patients with a variety of diagnoses, her specific clinical interests include early detection of cerebral palsy, gait disorders, and spasticity management (including botulinum toxin/phenol injections and selective dorsal rhizotomy monitoring). She is also a rotating attending on the inpatient rehabilitation unit at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and performs inpatient consultations at multiple children's hospitals.

She is fluent in English and Spanish.