Hal Blumenfeld, MD, PhD, will receive the Research Recognition Award, Clinical Science, from the American Epilepsy Society during the society’s upcoming meeting in Washington D.C., December 1-5. AES is a medical and scientific society with 4,000 members. Dr. Blumenfeld will be presented with the award on Saturday, December 2, at 8:30 a.m. before the Presidential Symposium.
“I am very grateful to the American Epilepsy Society for creating a community of wonderful colleagues, mentors and collaborators that I’ve been fortunate to work with towards our shared goal of helping people with epilepsy,” Dr. Blumenfeld said.
The American Epilepsy Society presents Research Recognition Awards to recognize scientists and clinicians whose distinguished research holds promise for improving our understanding and treatment of epilepsy. The awards include a $10,000 honorarium.
Dr. Blumenfeld is the Mark Loughridge and Michele Williams professor of neurology, neuroscience, and neurosurgery, director of the Yale Clinical Neuroscience Imaging Center (CNIC) and a member of the Yale Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. The main goal of Dr. Blumenfeld’s career has been to understand the mechanisms of impaired consciousness in seizures and to improve the lives of people living with epilepsy. Combining neuroimaging, electrophysiology, and behavioral testing in patients, with translational work in animal models, his work has greatly advanced current knowledge, with important therapeutic benefits.
Dr. Blumenfeld has received the Francis Gilman Blake and Graduate Mentor awards and served for nine years as director of medical studies in clinical neuroscience at Yale. He has participated in or led numerous committees, including the AES Scientific Programming Committee, AES Clinical Investigator Workshop Committee, and ILAE Neuroimaging Task Force. Prior research awards include the AAN Dreifuss-Penry Epilepsy Research Award and the NINDS Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award.
Dr. Blumenfeld studied philosophy and bioelectrical engineering as an undergraduate at Harvard, completed an MD/PhD at Columbia in the laboratories of Steven Siegelbaum and Eric Kandel, did neurology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, and then entered the field of epilepsy through fellowships at Yale.