2020 Early Career Grants

Learn more about our past grantees by clicking here.

(June 2020) The American Epilepsy Society is proud to announce support of 25 early career scientists with $1.1 million in research grants and fellowships. Congratulations to the 2020 Early Career Awardees!

“As one of the largest non-governmental funders for those starting careers in epilepsy research, AES is committed to developing the next generation of epilepsy investigators. The collective talent and accomplishment represented by this year’s impressive awardees—combined with that of grantees from previous years—promises to fuel advances in epilepsy prevention, diagnosis, and treatment for years to come.”

William D. Gaillard, MD
President
American Epilepsy Society

AES research dollars support trainees, fellows, and newly independent investigators working across the full spectrum of epilepsy research, from basic science through translational and clinical research for all types of epilepsy, seizures, and related conditions.

Grants are supported in part by philanthropic gifts and bequests to the Lennox and Lombroso Fund for Research and Training and the Susan S. Spencer Fund for Clinical Research and Education. In addition, several nonprofit organizations and industry supporters provide full or partial funding of specific grants.

AES would like to thank the following organizations and companies for their support of epilepsy research:

- Epilepsy Foundation
- Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation
- Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy
- Wishes for Elliott
- Epilepsy Study Consortium
- American Brain Foundation, in collaboration with the American Academy of Neurology
- LivaNova

Junior Investigator Awards

$50,000 for newly-independent investigators to support the direct costs of research, along with one year of AES membership.

Ukpong Eyo, PhD
Targeting microglial P2Y12R to ameliorate febrile status epilepticus
University of Virginia

Emily Johnson, MD
Late-onset epilepsy, cognition, and biomarkers
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Vaishnav Krishnan, MD, PhD
Neurodevelopmental Consequences of Fetal Anticonvulsant Exposure
Baylor College of Medicine

Elliot Smith, PhD
Interictally derived probabilistic maps of seizure onset location
University of Utah

Fraser Sparks, PhD
Adult-born granule cell microcircuit reorganization in epilepsy
Columbia University Medical Center

AES/EF Junior Investigator Awards, Funded in Full by the Epilepsy Foundation

Leah Blank, MD
Determinants of guideline adherent therapy in newly diagnosed epilepsy
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

David Klorig, PhD
Evaluating Gene Therapy Strategies to Treat Epilepsy Using a Novel Method
Wake Forest University

Research Training Fellowship for Clinicians

Mentored support for clinical fellows or junior clinical faculty with up to $50,000 for stipend and travel support, along with one year of AES membership.

Claire Jacobs, MD, PhD
Functional evaluation of STXBP1 variants in STXBP1-encephalopathy
Massachusetts General Hospital
Mentor: Stephen Haggarty, PhD

Jennifer Shum, MD
Functional Mapping of Language with High Gamma Electrocorticography
New York University School of Medicine
Mentor: Orrin Devinsky, MD

Steven Tobochnik, MD
Predicting epileptogenic zones by stimulation-induced seizure recruitment
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Mentor: Page Pennell, MD

PERF/AES Research Training Fellowship for Clinicians, funded at 50% by PERF

Tayyba Anwar, MD
Multifactorial modeling of post-neonatal epilepsy following HIE
Children’s National Medical Center and Children’s Research Institute
Mentor: Tammy Tsuchida, MD, PhD

CURE/AES Research Training Fellowship for Clinicians, funded at 50% by CURE

James Gugger, MD, PharmD
Free-water imaging in post-traumatic epilepsy
University of Pennsylvania
Mentor: Ramon Diaz-Arrastia MD, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Fellowships

Mentored research fellowships with up to $50,000 for stipend and travel support, along with one year of AES membership.

Aswathy AmmothumKandy, PhD Adult new born glia in human epilepsy: friend or foe? University of Southern California Mentor: Michael Bonaguidi, PhD	Jessica Chancey, PhD Mechanisms of enhanced excitabilty in a mouse model of GEFS/Dravet syndrome University of Texas at Austin Mentor: MacKenzie Howard, PhD Supported by the Lennox and Lombroso Trust for Research and Training	Ping Dong, PhD Targeting BK calcium-activated potassium channels in absence epilepsy Duke University Mentor: Huanghe Yang, PhD Supported by the Lennox and Lombroso Trust for Research and Training
Hisako Fujiwara, PhD Predicting epilepsy surgery outcome with MEG functional connectivity Children’s Hospital Medical Center Mentor: Jeffrey Tenney, MD, PhD	Kaoutsar Nasrallah, PhD Role of a Hippocampal Associative Neuronal Circuit in Early Epilepsy Albert Einstein College of Medicine Mentor: Pablo Castillo, MD, PhD	Chelsea Pernici, PhD Longitudinal, in vivo Ca2+ imaging during spontaneous seizure activity University of Utah Mentor: Karen Wilcox, PhD Supported by the Lennox and Lombroso Trust for Research and Training

AES Predoctoral Research Fellowships

Mentored research fellowships with up to $30,000 for stipend and travel support, along with one year of AES membership.

Jennifer Cheng, BA
Pathogenic Mechanisms Associated with a CUX2 Missense Variant in Epilepsy
Northwestern University
Mentor: Gemma Carvill, PhD

Madelyn Haller, BA
Investigating Gliopathic Epilepsy in a Drosophila Model of PIGA Deficiency
University of Utah
Mentor: Clement Chow, PhD

Susan Nguyen, MSOT, BS
TLR4 Modulation of Dentate Inhibition and its Effect on Pattern Separation
University of California, Riverside
Mentor: Vijayalakshmi Santhakumar, PhD

AES/Wishes for Elliott Predoctoral Research Fellowship, $10,000 funded by WFE

Letonia Copeland-Hardin, BS
Characterization of gene modifiers in a mouse model of epilepsy
Northwestern University
Mentor: Jennifer Kearney, PhD

Epilepsy Study Consortium (ESC) Mini-grant, Funded by ESC and Administered by AES

Taneeta Ganguly, MD
Perampanel in Glioma Associated Seizures - Efficacy and Safety
University of Pennsylvania
Mentor: Michael Gelfand, MD, PhD

Epilepsy Foundation Clinical Research Apprenticeship Award, funded by the Epilepsy Foundation and Administered by AES

Susanna O’Kula, MD
Healthcare Utilization and Workplace Productivity in Hispanic PWE
New York University School of Medicine
Mentors: Daniel Friedman, MD, and Tanya Spruill, PhD

Susan S. Spencer Clinical Research Training Fellowship, 2020-2021

Funded by the American Epilepsy Society, Epilepsy Foundation, and American Brain Foundation in collaboration with the American Academy of Neurology

Colin Ellis, MD
Polygenic Risk Transmission in Familial Epilepsy
University of Pennsylvania
Mentors: Samuel Berkovic, AC FAA FRACP FRS and Brian Litt, MD

Many Thanks to Our Reviewers and Volunteers

The AES early career grants program is overseen by the AES Research and Training Council. Funding recommendations are based upon a proposal review led by the AES Early Career Grant Review Committee. Basic and clinical co-chairs lead both the review committee and the Research and Training Council.

Members of the grant review committee were recruited to represent 15 critical fields of research expertise. Additional ad hoc reviewers are recruited annually to ensure that the expertise of the reviewers matches that of the proposals submitted.

All reviewers are volunteers who are AES members. We deeply appreciate their support of this important AES program.

Co-chairs, Early Career Grant Review Committee

Edward Cooper, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Neurology, Neuroscience, and Molecular and Human Genetics
Baylor College of Medicine

Jenny Hsieh, PhD
Professor and Director of the Brain Health Consortium
The University of Texas at San Antonio

Members

Christine Baca, MD Associate Professor, Neurology University of Colorado School of Medicine	Tim Benke, MD, PhD University of Colorado, AMC and DC Professor, Pediatrics- Neurology; Director of Research	Angelique Bordey, PhD Professor of Neurosurgery and of Cellular and Molecular Physiology Yale University	Gemma Carvill, PhD Assistant Professor, Neurology, Pharmacology, Pediatrics Northwestern University - Feinberg School of Medicine	Catherine Christian, PhD Assistant Professor, Molecular and Integrative Physiology The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Robert Hunt, PhD Assistant Professor, Anatomy and Neurobiology The Regents of the University of California at Irvine	Kimberle Jacobs, PhD Associate Professor, Anatomy and Neurobiology Virginia Commonwealth University	Anli Liu, MD Assistant Professor, Neurology NYU Langone Health	Kimford Meador, MD Professor, Neurology Stanford University	Geoffrey Murphy, PhD Professor, Physiology University of Michigan
Ivan Soltesz, PhD Professor of Neurosurgery and Neurosciences Stanford University	William Stacey, MD, PhD Associate Professor, Neurology University of Michigan	Anastasios Tzingounis, PhD Associate Professor, Physiology and Neurobiology University of Connecticut	Mingshan Xue, PhD Assistant Professor, Neuroscience Baylor College of Medicine	Janelle Wagner, PhD Associate Professor, Nursing and Pediatrics Medical University of South Carolina

Ad Hoc Reviewers

Abbas Babajani-Feremi, PhD Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Anatomy and Neurobiology The University of Tennessee Health Science Center	Melissa Barker-Haliski, PhD Research Assistant Professor University of Washington	Mark Beenhakker, PhD Associate Professor, Pharmacology University of Virginia	Laura Borodinsky, PhD Professor, Physiology and Membrane Biology University of California Davis School of Medicine	Krzysztof Bujarski, MD Associate Professor of Neurology Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine
Kathryn Davis, MD, MSTR Assistant Professor, Neurology University of Pennsylvania Medical Center	Christina Gross, PhD Assistant Professor, Pediatrics Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center	Alicia Guemez Gamboa, PhD Assistant Professor, Physiology Northwestern University- Chicago Campus	John Hablitz, PhD Professor, Neurobiology The University of Alabama at Birmingham	Jennifer Kearney, PhD Associate Professor, Pharmacology Northwestern University - Chicago Campus
Heidi Kirsch, MD Professor, Neurology UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences	Beth Leeman-Markowski, MD Assistant Professor, Neurology NYU Langone Health	Alberto Musto, MD, PhD Associate Professor, Pathology and Anatomy Eastern Virginia Medical School	Christos Papadelis, PhD Assistant Professor, Pediatrics Harvard Medical School	Manoj Patel, PhD Associate Professor of Anesthesiology University of Virginia
Nicholas Poolos, MD, PhD Professor, Neurology University of Washington	Nathan Anthony Smith, PhD Assistant Professor, Neuroscience Children’s National Medical Center and Children’s Research Institute	Kevin Staley, MD Professor, Neurology Massachusetts General Hospital	Geoffrey Swanson, PhD Professor of Pharmacology Northwestern University- Chicago Campus	Lawrence Ver Hoef, MD Associate Professor, Neurology University of Alabama, Birmingham

AES Staff

Penny Dacks, PhD
Associate Executive Director, Programs

Jennifer Brummet, PhD
Program Coordinator, Research

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