Report from the Chair, Professional Advisory Board

Gregory L. Barkley, Chair,

Epilepsy Foundation

Professional Advisory Board

2003-2005

As I close out my tenure as chair of the Epilepsy Foundation’s professional advisory board, I’m excited by how much progression I’ve been allowed to witness first hand since taking this position.

Epilepsy research has produced many groundbreaking results with the help of Epilepsy Foundation-provided grants. The Foundation’s advocacy efforts have greatly helped to improve the lives of millions living with the condition. And Foundation programs meant to educate the general public and the media about this widely misunderstood condition have generated a much-improved working knowledge.

The professional advisory board has continued to play a key role in these on-going successes. The board is comprised of leading experts in the epilepsy field, including physicians, nurses, social workers, researchers, psychologists and other professionals. Our responsibility is mainly to provide the Foundation advice regarding medical care, potential educational materials and research, including which proposed studies are best for the Foundation to award research grants and fellowships.

This year, my colleagues and I helped to approve the funding of 19 grants and 44 fellowships. Some of the most intriguing included a prospective study on whether cigarette smoking and caffeine intake increases the likelihood of seizure development, as well as a study looking into gene therapy being used to improve seizure-induced memory and behavioral deficits.

As invigorating as these studies may be, it might be beneficial to also think of them as reminders of how much work still lies ahead. There is still much we don’t know about this 3,000-year-old condition. Significant progress has been made in the past decade, but there are still undiscovered ways of treating – or even eliminating – epilepsy.

As a member of the professional community, I’d like to express my gratitude to the many people in the epilepsy community who have constantly worked hard to improve the lives of the 2.7 million people living with the condition. It’s with the utmost confidence I leave the professional advisory board in the hands of Bruce Hermann, Ph.D. I’ve been privileged to have him as my vice-chair these past two years, and I know he will continue to assist the Foundation in their efforts to help people with epilepsy and to provide hope for the future.

Gregory L. Barkley, M.D.
Chair, Professional Advisory Board