The textbook Child Neurology: Its Origins, Founders, Growth and Evolution states that Tilton is "one of the most globally visible leaders within child neurology."[1] Tilton has been very involved in international professional organizations. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, serving for many years as chair of the Meeting Management Committee,[2] in 2011 as chair of the Child Neurology Section,[3] and formerly as vice chair of the society.
Tilton was elected Councillor from the South of the Child Neurology Society in 1997, served as Secretary-Treasurer 2002–2004, and became president in 2005 - the second female president of the society, after Mary Anne Guggenheim in 1981.[4]
Tilton has also been very active in the American Academy of Pediatrics, serving from 2002 to 2009 on the National Council for Children with Developmental Disabilities.
In the 1990s, Tilton began discussing the use of botulinum toxin for spasticity with colleagues in orthopedics. Her early work with the toxin, which relaxes hypertonic muscles and can improve movement after damage to the central nervous system in conditions like cerebral palsy, led to the development of the research protocol that led to the approval of botulinum toxin by the Food and Drug Administration for spasticity in children.[7] Tilton has published many articles and book chapters on the use of botulinum toxin in children. She was involved in published consensus guidelines[8] and practice parameters[9] for treatment of pediatric spasticity.
