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The awardees noted varying inspirations to pursue the field of epilepsy research. For example, Dr. Nobis mentioned, “I have always been interested in neuroscience research, my initial motivation for training to be a physician-scientist was my experience with my grandmother and Alzheimer’s disease. During my residency training in neurology, I had exposure to epilepsy patients and experience with epileptologists, and I liked the impact you could have on patients’ lives by controlling seizures.” Dr. Nobis continues to be inspired by the patients he aims to serve. He says, “I want to do research that has the opportunity to make an impact on my patients’ lives – this is something that is within reach for epilepsy researchers. We have come far with controlling epilepsy but there are still so many people impacted by seizures.
Controlling epilepsy and preventing SUDEP are both interesting problems that will involve cutting edge circuit-based science and are also of immense importance and impact for the lives of our patients.” Previous research on SUDEP had shown that difficulties in breathing (respiratory depression) could lead to deficits in heart function, ultimately leading to death.[3] To understand this process better...
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