The Encephalitis Podcast

In this episode, Prav - Senior Medical Writer for Encephalitis International - talks to Dr Stacy Clardy about clinical trials to to find out more about this important aspect of developing treatments for encephalitis. Doctor Clardy is both clinical and research faculty in the Division of Neuroimmunology and Autoimmune Neurology within the Department of Neurology at the University of Utah and the Sa...

In this episode Dr Ava Easton is joined by Dr Bhagteshwar Singh talking about improving the diagnosis and treatment of encephalitis in low to middle income countries. Dr Bhagteshwar Singh is back in the UK, having been based at Christian Medical College in Vallor, India, and Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi in the last year. He's also a clinical research fellow and specialty re...

In this episode, Emma Collins, Patient and Public Involvement Manager at Encephalitis International, talks to Dr Ava Easton, CEO at Encephalitis International and Chair of the PPI panel, about improving the work of patient and public involvement (PPI) driven by Encephalitis International in a study that looked at improving diagnosis and treatment of encephalitis in low-to-middle income countries....

In this community story episode of The Encephalitis Podcast, Prav, Senior Medical Writer, meets with Team Encephalitis Volunteer, Diane. Diane, 22, from London. is a final year Psychology with Cognitive Neuroscience undergraduate student, aspiring clinical neuropsychologist, speaker, social entrepreneur, encephalitis overcomer and volunteer. Diane had auto-immune encephalitis in 2018, when she was...

In this podcast, Prav Prathapan from Encephalitis International is joined by Dr Gareth Lipunga, from Malawi. They will be talking about the challenges that low to middle income countries (LMIC) face when it comes to encephalitis. Dr Lipunga is a medical doctor trained at the University of Malawi's College of Medicine with a postgraduate MSC in Integrated Immunology from the University of Oxford.  ...

In this World Encephalitis Day special, Dr Ava Easton is joined by Doctor Tarun Dua, head of the Brain Health Unit at the World Health Organization (WHO). In exciting news for World Encephalitis Day 2025, the World Health Organization are releasing a technical brief on encephalitis. Dr Dua is here to discuss this and a bit more on the work of the World Health Organization. Useful Link - the WHO In...

We are delighted to welcome Bethany Facer and Dr Brendan Sargent to The Encephalitis Podcast. Beth and Brendan talk to host Prav Prathapan about recent research on the neurological effects of Covid-19, including cognitive deficits and long-term effects, and the potential implications for other diseases. Beth and Brendan also discussed the Covid-19 Clinical Neuroscience Study – a £2.3 million resea...

Please note that this episode was recorded in November 2023. In this episode of The Encephalitis Podcast, Dr Ava Easton is joined by Dr James Sejvar for a discussion around climate change, and how it's affecting our risk for deadly infectious diseases, such as West Nile encephalitis or Japanese encephalitis. Dr Sejvar is a Neuroepidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh and, University of Pitt...

One of our Team Encephalitis volunteers, Nicole, talks to Senior Medical Writer, Praveen, about her lived experience of encephalitis. Nicole was diagnosed with Anti-DPPX receptor encephalitis when she was 20 years old while she was at University. This lead to her needing to abandon her studies to recover. Luckily, Nicole is recovering well and is about to start the final semester of her course jus...

In this episode, Dr Ava Easton (CEO of Encephalitis International) is joined by Professor Jonathan Evans - a distinguished expert in clinical neuropsychology at the university of Glasgow. Professor Jon Evans discusses the world of memory and its intersection with encephalitis including the difference between long term, short term memory and false memory, how it's referred to in the medical world a...

Dr Ava Easton, CEO of Encephalitis International interviews the director of the documentary Shot in the Arm, Scott Hamilton Kennedy . Talking about vaccine hesitancy and misinformation. Find more about the film here www.shotinthearm.com and for more information about vaccine preventable forms of encephalitis please visit www.encephalitis.info/vaccine-preventable-encephalitis .   If you have been a...

Dr Ava Easton was joined by Professor Michael Wilson from the Centre of Encephalitis and Meningitis at UCSF to talk about metagenomics and encephalitis. For more information about Professor Wilson's work please visit https://encephalitis.ucsf.edu/ If you have been affected by encephalitis and are in need of some support, please visit https://www.encephalitis.info/contact-our-helpline/ Our support...

TRIGGER WARNING: In this podcast episode, Dr Ava Easton CEO Encephalitis International, talks with Prof Arun Venkatesan about the difficult topic of death from encephalitis. This is something which will be sadly and unfortunately familiar to many families and friends who's loved ones have fallen ill from this condition. If you have been affected by encephalitis and are in need of some support, ple...

In our final episode of 2023, Dr Ava Easton, host of the Encephalitis Podcast, talks to Phillippa Chapman, Deputy Chief Executive of Encephalitis international, and Bella Bardswell, co-founder of Stellafai. The trio talk about the monumental decision to change the name of the Encephalitis Society to Encephalitis International, the reasons and thinking behind the strategic evolution, and what comes...

Dr Lance Turtle joins The Encephalitis Podcast to talk about the Japanese encephalitis virus and its impact on Australia over the past 12 months. Lance is a Reader and Honorary Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases at the University of Liverpool. As always, the questions are asked by our host, Dr Ava Easton, Chief Executive of the Encephalitis Society. The Encephalitis Podcast is available o...

Welcome to a special World Encephalitis Day edition of the Encephalitis Podcast. Dr Ava Easton, Chief Executive of the Encephalitis Society, is joined by Dr Thomas Pollak, from Kings College London, and Dr Jesus Ramirez-Bermudez, of the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery of Mexico, to talk about some two new important research papers around mental health and encephalitis. An importan...

Best-selling author Susannah Cahalan joins host Dr Ava Easton for a special World Encephalitis Day edition of The Encephalitis Podcast. Ten years ago, Susannah published Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, the award-winning memoir and New York Times bestseller, which quickly become a Bible for members of the encephalitis community and many more people around the world. Brain on Fire follows Susann...

In this episode, Dr Ava Easton talks to author and motivational speaker Jackie Stebbins. In 2017, the former trial lawyer from Bismarck, North Dakota, became ill with encephalitis and experienced a host of difficulties, such as insomnia, paranoia, hallucinations and memory loss. In the summer of 2018, after being voluntarily hospitalized in the psychiatric ward, she was finally diagnosed with sero...

In this edition of The Encephalitis Podcast, Dr Ava Easton is joined by Dr Greta Wood for a discussion around seizures and encephalitis. In this wide-ranging conversation, they discuss an important new research paper before answering some questions around seizures and encephalitis. Greta is an Academic Clinical Fellow in Infectious Diseases at the University of Liverpool and has a wide range of re...

We are delighted to welcome back Professor Benedict Michael to The Encephalitis Podcast. Ben talks to host Dr Ava Easton about the COVID-19 Clinical Neuroscience Study – a £2.3 million research study looking in the acute neurological and neuropsychiatric complications of COVID-19. He also shares his thoughts on being a front-line medic during the pandemic, the NHS in general and the upcoming Encep...

Suzie Miller - the author of Prima Facie - joins The Encephalitis Podcast to talk about her career, personal experiences of encephalitis which she contracted in her early 30s, becoming an Ambassador with the Encephalitis Podcast and much more. Born in Melbourne, Suzie is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter who has a background in law and science, working as a human rights lawyer and child...

Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Abi Morgan joins Dr Ava Easton in this edition of the Encephalitis Podcast. Abi, who is perhaps best known for the films Suffragette, The Iron Lady and Shame, is now an author, having recently published, This is Not a Pity Memoir. The book tells the story of her husband when he develops Anti-NMDAR encephalitis, the impact his illness had on their family, a...

In this episode of The Encephalitis Podcast, Dr Ava Easton talks to Dr Gavin Francis, a GP and author, about his book, Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence. This is a fascinating interview about how - and why - we get better, revealing the many shapes recovery takes, its shifting history and the frequent failure of our modern lives to make adequate space for it. For more about Gavin, his work a...

We decided to keep things in-house for this episode of The Encephalitis Podcast. Dr Ava Easton interviews Phillippa Chapman, Deputy CEO of the Encephalitis Society, for a cosy chat which covers her ten years with the Encephalitis Society, becoming a new mum during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what the future holds for us a charity. Sit back, pour yourself a cup of tea, and enjoy this cosy chat betwe...

In this special World Encephalitis Day edition of The Encephalitis Podcast, Dr Ava Easton talks to Dr Julia Granerod about our ground-breaking new report which looks at the global impact of encephalitis and could change millions of lives for the better. The report - Encephalitis: an in-depth review and gap analysis of key variables affecting global disease burden - has identified a range of diffic...