EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE:
Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019
8:45 a.m. EST
BALTIMORE - Amy R. Brooks-Kayal, M.D., FAES, FANA, FAAN was presented with the 2019 Founders Award during the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES), a medical and scientific society whose members are dedicated to advancing research and
education for preventing, treating and curing epilepsy.
Dr. Brooks-Kayal is a professor of pediatrics, neurology and pharmaceutical sciences, codirector of the Translational Epilepsy Research Program, and chief and Ponzio family chair of pediatric
neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Children’s Hospital Colorado.
She trained at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, the University of Pennsylvania
in Philadelphia, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She joined the University of Colorado in 2008 after 13 years on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and CHOP. Her area of clinical focus is pediatric epilepsy, and her
research focuses on regulation of gene expression during epilepsy and epileptogenesis, with particular emphasis on GABA receptor expression, transcriptional regulation by brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and the JAK/STAT signaling pathway,
as well as targeting identified molecular changes to develop disease modifying therapy.
Dr. Brooks-Kayal is an AES past President and chair of the AES Development Council, a member of the Commission on North American Affairs of the International League
Against Epilepsy (ILAE), a director of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and a past member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Advisory Council and CURE Scientific
Advisory Board. She is a co-director of the Child Neurology Career Development K12 program and is an active member of the Child Neurology Society, American Neurological Association, Society for Neuroscience, and American Academy of Neurology.
This
award, formerly titled the Lennox Award, was established in 1966 and recognizes AES members who have a record of lifetime contributions and accomplishments related to epilepsy. The award is funded by the Lennox and Lombroso Trust Fund, which was established
in 1962 to advance and disseminate knowledge concerning epilepsy in all of its aspects— biological, clinical and social—and to promote better care and treatment for persons with epilepsy. The award includes a $10,000 honorarium.