CHICAGO ― William Davis Gaillard, MD, FAES will be presented with the 2024 Clinical Science Research Award during the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES). The Research Recognition Awards are the Society's highest research awards to encourage and recognize active basic science and clinical investigators whose research contributes importantly to understanding and conquering epilepsy.
Dr. Gaillard’s research utilizes and devises advanced structural and functional imaging to examine the effects of epilepsy and developmental disorders on brain structure and function. His work has provided fundamental insights into the biology of brain plasticity. Ultimately, the goal of his research is to improve the outcomes and lives of children with epilepsy.
A hallmark of Dr. Gaillard’s studies is the employment of innovative image analysis strategies with epilepsy patients to examine developmental neurobiology focusing on the plasticity of cognitive systems. His early work examining the effect of epilepsy on brain structure, cerebral metabolism and cerebral blood flow helped to end complacency regarding epilepsy as a benign disorder instead of one needing aggressive treatment.
Dr. Gaillard is best known for pioneering the use of functional magnetic resonance (fMRI). Working with Dr. Lucie Hertz-Pannier, he conducted the first cognitive fMRI studies in children. They also developed and validated fMRI paradigms for noninvasive assessment of language dominance, aiding in the planning of epilepsy and tumor surgeries.
He has also researched inflammatory mechanisms of epilepsy, the HHV6 hypothesis for MTS and TLE, and improving surgical interventions and outcomes.
Dr. Gaillard is professor of pediatrics and neurology at the George Washington University School of Medicine, chief of neurology and director of the Comprehensive Pediatric Epilepsy Program at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.
He is a past president of the AES. He is also engaged in several consortia including the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium, the Pediatric Status Epilepsy Research Group, the Multi-Centre Epilepsy Lesion Detection study and the Pediatric Epilepsy Learning Health System.