Epilepsy Sparks Insights

Today we are talking to Dr. Sukhvir Wright who through scientific research is trying to improve the developmental outcomes of children affected by immune-mediated neurological disease; mostly immune-mediated seizures and epilepsy/encephalitis. Sukhvir is a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Career Development Fellow at the Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment at Aston University and an honorary...

Today we talk to Aswin Chari, an academic neurosurgical trainee; Ph. D. student at Great Ormond Street Hospital and UCL. When Aswin grows up, he wants to be an academic neurosurgeon (!); where he balances looking after patients and doing research into improving outcomes for children with epilepsy.  Aswin is also the Clinical Fellow on the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) gu...

Meet Caroline Scott, a Clinical Scientist and the Video Telemetry Service Lead at Birmingham Children's hospital. We shall be hearing about how she helps prepare children affected by refractory epilepsy for surgery and the massive positive differences that her care and both regular and intracranial EEGs offer. **CONNECT WITH CAROLINE** • https://bwc.nhs.uk/caroline-scott **READ ABOUT CAROLINE’S WO...

Today; Torie is talking to  Elena Muñoz & José Aibar from the Dravet Syndrome Foundation EU about (as you can probably guess from the name) the rare genetic epilepsy Dravet Syndrome. They chat about the work that they put into finding an effective treatment for Dravet through scientific research and how they educate clinicians and families from around the world. A bold statement of theirs is:...

Meet Dr Rhys Thomas, a Consultant Neurologist, Epilepsy Neuroscientist,and Intermediate Clinical Fellow at Newcastle University, whose interests include the genetic causes and consequences of the epilepsies. Rhys is a wonderful example of an epilepsy specialist who communicates equally wonderfully with colleagues as well as families and patients.  **CONNECT WITH RHYS** • Twitter: https://twitter.c...

Do you/someone you care for experience tonic/tonic-clonic seizures? We want to improve seizure detection devices, so have your say (it’s confidential) about your experience with the device(s) by taking part in the easy, short epilepsy seizure detection device study! https://bit.ly/3u6kmv8 It only takes 5/6mins! The study is open to People With Epilepsy, Carers who have insight, and clinicians. Ava...

Meet Dr Colin Dunkley; a consultant paediatrician based at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust who specialises in helping children affected by the epilepsies. Colin is the clinical lead of Epilepsy12 - the aim of which is to help epilepsy services to measure and improve care for children and young people affected by the epilepsies across England and Wales. **CHECK OUT THE VIDEO INTERVIE...

Meet Christin Godale, a neuroscience Ph. D. candidate and epilepsy researcher at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio; who also happens to have refractory epilepsy. Other facts: Christin is a Board member of the Future of Research and also used to be a model! Get ready to hear about when: Christin had a tonic-clonic seizure in a public place... and those around her thought that she was doing yoga… *...

Meet Javier Peña Ceballos, an “Advanced Nursing Practitioner in Epilepsy” candidate at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. Javier and Torie talk about how important specialist epilepsy nurses are, why people affected by epilepsy so need them, and how they work with neurologists, neurophysiologists, neurosurgeons; all to provide the best care for each patient! **CONNECT WITH JAV...

Rohit Shankar, MBE; is a professor and consultant in developmental neuropsychiatry for adults with Intellectual Disabilities - many of whom also have epilepsy. Rohit and Torie talk about his work with people affected, their carers, families, SUDEP, psychiatric comorbidities, and what we need to do to provide people affected with an improved quality of life. Rohit is a professor in Neuropsychiatry...

Meet Mona Heiland, a final year Ph. D. student from RCSI, Ireland who under the supervision of Prof David Henshall is studying the effects ofcannabidiol (CBD) on microRNA expressions in epilepsy. CBD has shown its potential as an Anti-Seizure Medication; especially for drug-refractory genetic types of epilepsy, however, the underlying molecular mechanisms of CBD’s anti-seizure activities are still...

Meet Dr. Janine Winterbottom, an Advanced Nurse Specialist in Epilepsy and Independent Nurse Prescriber from The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool, UK. Janine is doing research into how best to care for and empower women affected by epilepsy when it comes to planning children (or planning not to have children!). Janine strongly encourages Patient Involvement! Watch/listen to learn mo...

Meet Prof. Gavin Woodhall, a neuropharmacologist, epilepsy researcher, and director for the Institute for Health and Neurodevelopment at Aston University, Birmingham, UK. Or, as Gavin would say “Mostly, I just run a lab!”. Gavin is particularly interested in severe epilepsy syndromes. A key question of his is “What makes a brain develop epilepsy (epileptogenesis)?” **CONNECT WITH GAVIN** • LinkedI...

Meet Professor Ley Sander, a consultant neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, with a special interest in epilepsy. Ley is Head of the Department of Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy at UCL Queen Square and works across the continents to empower those in LMICs (Low-Middle Income Countries) regarding epilepsy prevention, treatment, and seizure control. Ley als...

Meet Professor Simon Keller, an imaging neuroscientist from the University of Liverpool. Simon tells us about his neuroimaging work, his passion for helping those affected by epilepsy, and his cool images!   **CONNECT WITH SIMON** Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrainImagingUoL   **READ ABOUT SIMON’S WORK** ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Simon-Keller-2   **The Liverpool BRAIN lab...

Professor Sándor Beniczky from AARHUS University and The Epilepsy Hospital, Denmark, talks with Torie about his role as a neurologist, neurophysiologist, epileptologist, researcher, and lecturer, and how the research taking place today will change the world of PWE (People with Epilepsy) in the future, for the better. **CONNECT WITH SÁNDOR** • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/s%C3%A1ndor-benic...

Meet Asst. Prof. Gabriele Lignani: the Principal Investigator, Senior Research Fellow, & Biotechnologist at the University for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, and recent winner of the Harinarayan Young Neuroscientist Award 2021 for his research into Activity-dependent Gene Therapy for Intractable Epilepsy! Gabriele speaks with Torie about researching gene therapy for epilepsy...

Meet Dr. Gareth Morris, a neuroscientist at FutureNeuro, honorary lecturer at RCSI, and Editor of Epilepsy In English. We talk about his research into temporal lobe epilepsy, how he first got into and what attracted him to epilepsy research, and how much it means to him to hear from people with epilepsy! You’ll also hear a bit about his cool website and blog. **CONNECT WITH GARETH MORRIS** • Linke...

Neuroscientist and genetic epilepsy researcher Dr. Omar Mamad tells us how he got into his work, his speciality - from Morocco to Ireland - via France, and how he is changing the world for those affected by the rare epilepsy CDKL5; step by step. **CONNECT WITH OMAR** • Website: https://www.omarmamad.com  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/MamadOmar5  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omar-mamad ...

FutureNeuro & the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland talk about epilepsy, epilepsy tech, patient empowerment, and their PiSCES Epilepsy Patient Portal work! We hear from a carer, researcher, nurse, and investigator who are all working towards bettering the lives of people affected by epilepsy. FEATURING:  • Dr. Kevin Power, post-doc researcher at FutureNeuro Find Kevin on Twitter: https://tw...

Meet cannabis scientist, educator, and campaigner Dr. Callie Seaman - who also has epilepsy. Talking diagnosis, stripping during seizures, and treatments - including those derived from cannabis plants. Callie has a UK-licensed medical cannabis cultivation research facility and completed her Ph. D. focussing on Fertiliser Chemistry. **CONNECT WITH CALLIE** • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr...

Meet Learning Disabilities Nurse (with a specialisation in epilepsy) & CEO of Pretola Global Health Consulting, Tolu Olanyan. Torie and Tolu talk about how Tolu got into her profession and what she wants to achieve when it comes to epilepsy in LMIC. **CONNECT WITH TOLU OLANYAN** • Website: https://www.pretolaghc.net • Twitter: https://twitter.com/Precious1Tolu • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin....

Meet Dr. Jim Morrow, a former Neurologist from Northern Ireland, with whom we are talking about Sodium Valproate, aka Epilim, its feature in the UK Government's "Cumberlege Review", and why it has been called a "public health scandal" by some. Sodium Valproate is a medicine commonly used to treat epilepsy (and bipolar actually) and has been around since the 1960s. You'll find it referred to mainly...

Learn about what it's like to be a highly specialised paediatric clinical physiologist (often known as a neurophysiologist) - that person who does EEGs for children  - and more! I interviewed the really cool Dr. Stuart Smith from Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, London! Stuart talks about how he makes children more relaxed and how parents can help their children chil...

Meet Sammy Ashby and Jennifer Thorpe from SUDEP Action, learn how to minimise your risk of SUDEP, and better your life/that of the person you care about. We mention brilliant leaders in the field including Dr. Rohit Shankar (MBE), Dr. Rhys Thomas, and Assistant Professor Arjune Sen! **CONNECT WITH SAMMY & JENNIFER** • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammyashby, https://www.linkedin.com/i...