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Conference Speaker BiographiesDr. Peter Carlen, MD, FRCP (C)Dr. Taufik Valiante, MD, PhD, FRCS(C) Dr. W. McIntyre Burnham, PhD Dr. Mary Lou Smith, PhD Irene Elliott, RN, MHSc, ACNP Dr. Ilo E. Leppik, MD Dr. James Deutsch, MD, PhD Dr. Peter Carlen, MD, FRCP (C)  Dr. Peter L. Carlen is a clinical neurologist, specializing in epilepsy and the Director of the Epilepsy Clinic at the Toronto Western Hospital. Dr. Carlen was trained in Medicine and Neurology at the University of Toronto. He studied cellular electrophysiology for three years at the Neurobiology Department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He then returned to Toronto where he was a staff neurologist and researcher at the Toronto Western Hospital and the Addiction Research Foundation starting in 1975. In 1989, he was appointed Director of the Playfair Neuroscience Unit and Neuroscience Research at the University Health Network for a 10 year term, where he is now a senior scientist and neurological clinician. He is also a professor in the Departments of Medicine (Neurology) and Physiology of the University of Toronto. His main research interests are mechanisms of neural synchrony and entrainment (epilepsy, movement disorders), neuroprotection and CNS aging. Dr. Taufik Valiante, MD, PhD, FRCS(C)  Dr. Taufik Valiante is an adult epilepsy neurosurgeon at the Toronto Western Hospital. He completed his residency in the Neurosurgery Training Program at the University of Toronto in 2002, and acquired his epilepsy neurosurgery fellowship at the University of Washington, Seattle, under the mentorship of Dr George Ojemann. There, he learned Dr Ojemann's technique of language mapping for patient's undergoing epilepsy surgery. Taufik is the recipient of a CIHR Clinician-Scientist Award which will provide funds for his research in the field of electrophysiology. Dr. W. McIntyre Burnham, PhD  Dr. McIntyre Burnham is a Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Toronto, and an epilepsy researcher. After receiving his Ph.D. in Psychology from McGill, Dr. Burnham studied as a post-doctoral fellow at the Montreal Neurological Institute, and then moved to the Pharmacology Department at the University of Toronto in 1974. Dr. Burnham is President of Epilepsy Ontario, holds the Bahen Chair of Epilepsy Research, and is Director of the University of Toronto's Epilepsy Research Program. His current laboratory projects include: 1) a study of how seizures enhance neurogenesis, gliosis and cell death; 2) a molecular biology study of the long-term effects of seizures on gene expression ; 3) a study of the anticonvulsant effects of progesterone-like compounds; 4) a study of the behavioral effects of seizures; and 5) a study of the mechanism of action of the ketogenic diet. Dr. Mary Lou Smith, PhD  Dr. Mary Lou Smith is a Psychology Professor at the University of Toronto and a Psychologist at the Hospital for Sick Children. Her research examines the behavioural and neuropsychological consequences of a variety of disorders of the central nervous system in children. Dr. Smith and her colleagues are longitudinally following children with epilepsy treated with surgical excision or medication. They are examining the cognitive, academic, social, emotional, and behavioural effects of epilepsy and its impact on the family. They are also interested in the long-term effects of surgery on children and are beginning to study its outcomes in young adulthood. Irene Elliott, RN, MHSc, ACNP  Irene Elliott has worked as a Registered Nurse in the Division of Neurology at the Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) for 34 years. Currently, she is working as a Clinical Nurse Specialist as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner in the Epilepsy Program at the HSC. She is also appointed as a Clinical Associate-Lecturer for the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto, and as the Project Director for the Brain and Behaviour Research Institute at the HSC. She specializes within the following areas: epilepsy in children, its medical management & psychosocial support; education (family, child, school, community associations; other health professionals); and epilepsy research. She has co-authored many publications related to epilepsy investigations, and the quality of life and outcomes after epilepsy surgery in children. She has presented at several local, national, and international venues. Dr. Ilo E. Leppik, MD  Dr. Ilo E. Leppik is the Director of research of MINCEP Epilepsy Care in Minneapolis and the adjunct Professor of Neurology and Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Leppik is the past President of the American Epilepsy Society and the past Chairman of the American Epilepsy Society Guidelines Task Force and the Central Society for Neurological Research. Since 1986 he has been the founding and managing editor of Epilepsy Research. He also was on the Board of Directors of the Epilepsy Foundation of America and chaired its professional advisory board. Currently, he is principal investigator of a multicenter study of epilepsy in the elderly. Dr. Leppiks research is widely published, and he has authored or coauthored a number of books including Contemporary Diagnosis and Management of the Patient With Epilepsy. Dr. James Deutsch, MD, PhD  Dr. James Deutsch, MD, PhD, is a staff psychiatrist and former Director at the Youthdale Treatment Centre. He is also a staff psychiatrist at the Hospital for Sick Children, and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. Dr. Deutsch carried out graduate and postgraduate studies in the neurosciences prior to medical training and continues to have an interest in the overlap of neurology and psychiatry. |