EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE:
Monday, Dec. 7, 2020
6:30 p.m. EST
CHICAGO - Karen S. Wilcox, Ph.D. was presented with the 2020 Founders Award
during the AES2020 event of the American Epilepsy Society (AES). One of the most
prestigious awards given by the Society, the Founders Award, established in 1966,
recognizes members who have a record of lifetime contributions and accomplishments
related to epilepsy. The award is funded by the AES Lennox and Lombroso Trust.
Dr. Wilcox is the Richard L. Stimson Presidential Professor and Chair of the
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Director of the contract site of the
internationally recognized NINDS - funded Epilepsy Therapy Screening Program at the
University of Utah. The goal of her research is to improve the lives of patients with
epilepsy through understanding the basic mechanisms underlying epilepsy and the
development of innovative therapies.
Dr. Wilcox is a past Board member of AES and continues as an active volunteer with
the Society. She is a past recipient of the Lombroso Lecture Award and has served in
leadership positions as co-chair of the Gender Diversity Task Force, co-chair of the
Fellows/Jr. Investigators Professional Development Committee, member of the
Nominating Committee, and on more than a dozen councils and committees over the
last 20 years.
She is a member of several editorial review boards and has served as an ad hoc
reviewer for journals in many areas including pharmacology, neuroscience, and
epilepsy. She has completed terms as a regular member of two study sections at NIH,
continues to serve in an ad hoc capacity as a reviewer for NINDS, and reviews grants
for several foundations. She recently received a NINDS Javits Neuroscience
Investigator Award.