NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Elaine Wyllie, M.D., F.A.E.S., was awarded the J. Kiffin Penry Award for Excellence in Epilepsy Care at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES). The J. Kiffin Penry Award for Excellence in Epilepsy Care honors Dr. Penry’s lifelong focus on and genuine concern for the patient with epilepsy. It recognizes individuals whose work has had a major impact on patient care and has improved the quality of life for persons with epilepsy. The award is funded through the AES J. Kiffin Penry Fund.
Dr. Wyllie is a Professor of Neurology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and a renowned epilepsy specialist at Cleveland Clinic. Her research focuses on surgical intervention for children with uncontrolled seizures, to improve quality of life and maximize developmental potential. Her work broadened the selection criteria for surgery to include children with non-localized EEG patterns when an early developmental brain abnormality is present, and children with MRI abnormalities in both brain hemispheres when seizures arise from just one side. These innovations contributed to the establishment of pediatric epilepsy surgery as an effective treatment and expanded opportunities for children to benefit.
In addition to the J. Kiffin Penry Award, Dr. Wyllie received the Epilepsy Research Award from the American Epilepsy Society, the Herbert H. Jasper Award from the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society, and the Cleveland Clinic Award for Master Clinician. She is editor of Wyllie’s Treatment of Epilepsy, the standard in the field through seven editions, and author of The Cleveland Clinic Guide to Epilepsy, an authoritative book for the lay public. She lectures extensively and has published over 300 scientific reports. Dr. Wyllie has two sons, and her passionate hobby is ballroom dancing with her husband.