EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE:
Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019
8:45 a.m. EST
BALTIMORE - Torbjörn Tomson, M.D., Ph.D., was honored with the Fritz E. Dreifuss Lecture
award at the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES), a medical and scientific
society whose members are dedicated to advancing research and education for preventing,
treating and curing epilepsy.
Dr. Tomson is a senior professor of neurology at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden and senior consultant at the department of
neurology, Karolinska University Hospital. His epilepsy research focuses on pharmacotherapy,
epidemiology and pregnancy issues. His main contributions are in research on Sudden
Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) and pregnancy outcomes in relation to maternal use of
different antiseizure medications.
Dr. Tomson has served on several commissions of the International League Against Epilepsy
(ILAE) and is currently chair of the task force on women and pregnancy. He is a fellow of the
royal college of physicians (FRCP) in Edinburgh, honorary professor at Hanoi Medical
University in Vietnam, and visiting professor at University College Dublin. He received AES’
Research Recognition Award for Clinical Science in 2013.
The Fritz E. Dreifuss lecture honors the memory of Dr. Dreifuss, a leading clinical epilepsy
specialist, clinical investigator, and former president of AES and ILAE. Founder of the
Comprehensive Epilepsy Program at the University of Virginia and mentor to a generation of
epilepsy researchers, Dr. Dreifuss was devoted to mentoring those in clinical epilepsy
research. Supported by the AES Fritz Dreifuss Fund, the award promotes clinical epilepsy
research and outstanding patient care and includes a $1,000 honorarium.