Success Stories
What has been accomplished through AES grants?
1. The number of publications from former AES grant recipients—600+--is impressive and has led to the dissemination of new education, research, and patient care information.
2. Improvements in patient care have led to new understandings of the disease, increased patient safety and comfort, and have aided psychosocial adjustments for epilepsy patients.
- Mental health and epilepsy:
- Better understanding of FDG-PET data in patients with both epilepsy and depression
- Streamlining screening and assessment of behavioral and emotional difficulties of children with epilepsy leading to further research in psychosocial adjustment to pediatric epilepsy
- Development of a biophysical approach in research of inherited forms of epilepsy
- Elimination of repeated Wada tests, questioning this test as the gold standard for memory lateralization, and facilitation of research on less invasive techniques
- The discovery that anticonvulsant lactams and succinimides inhibit the neuronal nictonic acetylcholine receptor
- Identification of a new molecular mechanistic basis for epileptogenesis
- Investigation into the mechanisms of seizure initiation and termination
3. New equipment has been developed, and some has been made more widely available.
- Development of a new EEG system with carbon wire electrodes for increased patient comfort and safety.
- Development of new software for analyzing fMRI timecourse from epileptic patients
- Provided a first video/EEG unit for long-term monitoring and the first PET machine for diagnosing patients for a hospital in Croatia
4. Career development is a major goal of AES grants. It is significant to note that a recent survey showed that 96.7% of those grant recipients surveyed have remained in the field of epilepsy as caregivers, researchers, and teachers. Our funding “has had a tremendous positive impact on developing new generations of epilepsy researchers and improving patient care.” (survey taskforce report) AES grants have also helped to promote careers in the following ways:
- Our grants have led to an additional 78 grants to continue the work of the AES grants.
- Some of our award recipients have received further recognition in the field of science.
- We have provided a base of support for clinicians and researchers to interact to allow for better education and understanding of epilepsy and of neuroscience in general.
- Our grants have been helpful in allowing recipients to get jobs and promotions.
- Our grants provide encouragement, support, and the personal interaction which can help newly independent and junior investigators to thrive and to keep them in the field of epilepsy research and care.
