Professor Helen Cross received the Research Recognition Award, Clinical Science, from the American Epilepsy Society for her promising research during the society’s recent annual meeting in New Orleans. AES is a medical and scientific society with 4,400 members.
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.
Professor Helen Cross is The Prince of Wales’s Chair of Childhood Epilepsy and Head of the Developmental Neuroscience Programme at University College London-Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, as well as Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Neurology at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, London, and Young Epilepsy, Lingfield, UK.
Her major research interest is improving outcomes in early-onset epilepsies. Her initial research was into the improvement of brain imaging in the presurgical evaluation of children with complex epilepsy, increasing the number of children who were to be considered for surgical treatment.
In establishing one of the largest epilepsy surgery programs in the world, she has worked on the utilization of advanced imaging techniques, but also in determining short- and long-term outcomes from early surgery demonstrating the benefits to those who remain seizure-free and who wean from medication.
Professor Cross has also contributed significantly to the evidence base of both newer and older medical treatments, leading the first randomized controlled trial of the ketogenic diet in childhood epilepsy. She has edited seven books, written 47 chapters, and has more than 250 peer-reviewed publications. She is elected Treasurer of the International League Against Epilepsy (2017-2021), Coordinator of the European Reference Network (ERN) EpiCARE (an ERN for rare and complex epilepsies), Clinical Advisor to the National Children’s Epilepsy Surgery Service for England, Chair of the British Paediatric Neurology Association Research Committee, and is a member of the Board of the International Child Neurology Association. She was awarded the ILAE/IBE Ambassador for Epilepsy in 2007, an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2015 for her services to children with epilepsy, the AAN Sidney Carter award in 2017, and the ICNA Frank Ford Award for services to Child Neurology in 2018.