CURE Epilepsy Founder Susan Axelrod with Senator Dick Durbin, 2011
In partnership with Susan Axelrod and CURE Epilepsy leadership, he advocated for the 2015 establishment of the Epilepsy Research Program within the Department of Defense's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP); the Epilepsy Research Program has since invested almost $100 million to study the causes and prevention of post-traumatic epilepsy. More recently, Senator Durbin has championed the American Cures Act, which would guarantee steady, predictable funding for breakthrough research at America's top four biomedical research agencies.
As a key leader behind past increases to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget, he has been an outspoken critic of the drastic cuts to important epilepsy research funding sources this year.
