Manisha Patel, Ph.D., has joined the Board of Directors of the American Epilepsy Society (AES), a medical and scientific society with 4,000 members. Dr. Patel assumed her new position at the end of the society's annual meeting, December 1-5, in Washington, D.C. She will serve a three-year term.
"I am honored to join the AES Board and look forward to serving the research and training missions of AES while fostering an inclusive and diverse culture within the society," Dr. Patel said.
Dr. Patel is a tenured Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Anschutz Medical Campus. The overarching theme of her laboratory's research is to understand the metabolic basis of epilepsy and develop metabolism-based therapeutic strategies for epilepsies and its comorbidities. She has authored more than 95 scientific publications including articles in Neuron, the Journal of Neuroscience, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and Proceedings in the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Patel has been the recipient of several grants from the National Institutes of Health, CURE, and the Epilepsy Foundation of America.
Dr. Patel's service to AES has been devoted to supporting the careers of early-stage investigators. She began her leadership role in AES as the chair of the Junior Investigator Special Interest Group and Funding Success Taskforce. The work of the Funding Success Taskforce was critical in providing trainee outcome data for AES's Development Committee. She has also served AES as chair of the Basic Science Committee, Scientific Program Committee, and Research and Training Council. As chair of the Research and Training Council, she led AES's efforts in transitioning to an autonomous early career research program while fostering partnerships with other organizations. She was the recipient of the 2016 AES Distinguished Service Award.
Dr. Patel received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology at Purdue University and post-doctoral training in Neuroscience at Duke University.