CHICAGO - Massimo Avoli, MD, PhD was presented with the 2021 Basic Science Research Award during the 2021 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. Avoli is a Physician Scientist working at the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital of McGill University where he is a Professor in the Departments of Neurology & Neurosurgery and of Physiology. He was previously a Professor of Human Physiology at the Sapienza University of Rome.
Born in Italy, Dr. Avoli received Medical Degree (1975) and Neurology training (1979) from the Sapienza University, and a PhD in Neurophysiology (1982) from McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Pierre Gloor. Dr. Avoli’s research interests have focused on the fundamental abnormalities leading to the generation of seizures by employing electrophysiological recordings in experimental models of epilepsy in vivo and in vitro. His current research is exploring the pathophysiology of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, one of the most common forms of focal epilepsy in adulthood.
Dr. Avoli has published over 300 scientific papers and edited five books. He has received the Stiftung Michael Prize for Epilepsy Research (1995), the call for Chiara Fama from the Sapienza University (2001) and the Wilder Penfield Award from the CLAE (2017).