Manisha N. Patel, PhD, has been elected Second Vice President of the American Epilepsy Society (AES), a medical and scientific professional society with 4,400 members. Dr. Patel’s term started at the end of the society’s annual meeting, AES2020 held virtually December 4-8, 2020. She will serve three years in the society’s presidential line and begin her term as president in 2023.
For nearly 20 years, Dr. Patel has directed an NIH grant-funded research program at the University of Colorado/Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (1999-present). She is a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Her laboratory seeks to understand the redox and metabolic basis of epilepsy and develop metabolism-based therapies for the treatment of epilepsy. She has authored more than 100 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 completed her tenure as a member of the AES Board of Directors in December 2020, during which time she served on the Budget and Audit and Professionalism committees. Dr. Patel served on the AES Task Force on Gender Diversity and was appointed by the AES President to serve as chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force charged with expanding AES diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as they relate to organizational structure, membership, and leadership. Their recommendations will also address the role of the Society in addressing systemic inequities as they impact patient access, care, and outcomes for underserved populations living with epilepsy.
Dr. Patel has served on a wide range of committees and taskforces with AES, across the research and education spectrum. She has served as chair of the Scientific Program Committee, Basic Sciences Committee, co-chair of the Research and Training Council, and of the Funding Success task Force; and as a member of the ILAE/AES Joint Translational Task Force, Translational Research Committee, contributing editor Epilepsy Currents, and Investigator Workshop Committee.
Dr. Patel is a recipient of the CURE Epilepsy Innovator Award, Shell Prize for Research and Graduate Education, and the AES Distinguished Service Award. She serves on scientific and advisory boards for CURE Epilepsy and the Epilepsy Foundation’s Innovation Institute.
Dr. Patel received her PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology from Purdue University and conducted postdoctoral training in neuroscience at Duke University School of Medicine.