Jack M. Parent, MD, received the Research Recognition Award, Basic Science, from the American Epilepsy Society during the society's recent meeting in New Orleans. AES is a medical and scientific society with 4,400 members.
The American Epilepsy Society presents Research Recognition Awards to recognize scientists and clinicians whose distinguished research holds promise for improving our understanding and treatment of epilepsy. The awards include a $10,000 honorarium.
Dr. Parent's research focuses on epileptogenic mechanisms using stem cell biology and developmental neurobiology methods. He has pioneered the study of adult neurogenesis in experimental temporal lobe epilepsy, and the use of human-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) models of genetic epilepsies. Working with Lori Isom, he has applied mouse and iPSC models to understand mechanisms of seizures and sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) in genetic ion channel epilepsies, and he has recently applied in vivo rodent gene-editing techniques to advance understanding of non-ion channel genetic epilepsies.
Dr. Parent received an AB with distinction in Human Biology at Stanford University and his MD from Yale University School of Medicine. He completed neurology residency and clinical fellowship training in epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). At UCSF, Dr. Parent began his epilepsy basic research training under the mentorship of Daniel Lowenstein during a four-year postdoctoral fellowship. In 2000, he joined the Department of Neurology at the University of Michigan (UM), where he established the Neurodevelopment and Regeneration Laboratory, currently serves as co-director of the Epilepsy Division and directs the UM Human Stem Cell and Gene Editing Core.
Dr. Parent has received several awards for his research, including the Dreifuss-Penry Epilepsy Award from the American Academy of Neurology and the Grass Foundation Award in Neuroscience from the American Neurological Association, and he was inducted into the UM Medical School League of Research Excellence and as a Taubman Scholar.
Dr. Parent recently served as Secretary of the American Neurological Association and on the Board of the American Epilepsy Society. He currently co-chairs the scientific advisory board of the Dravet Syndrome Foundation. He is also chief editor of Epilepsy Currents and serves on the editorial boards of Brain Plasticity and the Journal of Experimental Medicine.