Career Center AES Connect

Early Career Awardees

Congratulations to the 2024 Early Career Fellowship Awardees!

AES is proud to support 24 early career scientists in 2024 with nearly $1.6 million in research grants and fellowships.

With support from philanthropic donations, the Sergievsky Fund for Epilepsy Health Equity and Diversity, the Lennox and Lombroso Fund for Research and Training, and the Susan S. Spencer Fund for Clinical Research and Education, AES supports trainees and newly independent investigators working across the full spectrum of epilepsy research, from basic science to translational and clinical research.

Sergievsky Award for Epilepsy Health Equity and Diversity

Tanya McDonald, MD, PhD
Lipid indicators of seizure response and cardiovascular risk in adults on KDT
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Mentors: Mackenzie Carpenter Cervenka, MD; and Seth Martin, MD

Junior Investigator Awards

Rina Zelmann, PhD
Stimulation-Evoked Electrographic Biomarkers of Epilepsy
Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General)
Jonathan Kleen, MD, PhD
New approaches to understanding epilepsy-related memory impairments
The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco
Qinglong Miao, PhD
Restore CACNA1A in Parvalbumin Neuron for CACNA1A Epileptic Encephalopathy
Baylor College of Medicine

AES/EF Junior Investigator Award

Kayela Arrotta, PhD
Cognitive Prehabilitation for Patients Undergoing Epilepsy Surgery
Cleveland Clinic Foundation

Cure GABA-A Variant/SLC6A1/AES Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (funded at 10% by Cure GABA-A Variant and 10% by SLC6A1)

Kirill Zavalin, PhD
Rescuing GABAergic Neurotransmission in SLC6A1 and GABRG2 DEEs with 4-PBA
Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC)
Mentor: Katty Kang, PhD

Research and Training Fellowship for Clinicians

Andrew Michalak, MD
Multiscale interictal predictors of seizure onset patterns
NYU Langone Medical Center
Mentors: Daniel Friedman, MD, FAES; and Adeen Flinker, PhD
Shobhit Singla, MD, PhD
The Role of Microglia in Post-traumatic Seizures and Epilepsy
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Mentors: Edward Burton, MD, DPhil, FRCP; Claudette St. Croix, PhD; James Castellano, MD, PhD; and Edward Dixon, PhD
Steven Lee, MD, PhD
Brain state dependence of epileptiform discharges
Baylor College of Medicine
Mentor: Matthew McGinley, PhD
Daniel Zhou, MD, MS
Structural brain networks to predict seizures in glioblastoma patients
University of Pennsylvania
Mentors: Kathryn Davis, MD, FAES; James Gugger, MD, PharmD; and Joel Stein, MD, PhD

Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation (PERF)/AES Research Training Fellowship for Clinicians

Clare Timbie, MD, PhD
Amygdala - thalamic reticular nucleus pathways in behavior and epilepsy
University of California, San Francisco (Reagents UCSF Contracts and Grants)
Mentors: Jeanne Paz, PhD; and Daniel Lownstein, MD

Postdoctoral Research Fellowships

Zoé Christenson Wick, PhD
Testing the causal role of inhibitory theta phase locking on seizures
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Mentor: Tristan Shuman, PhD
Brian Ervin, PhD
Functional Mapping of Spontaneous Conversation in Intracranial EEG
Children's Hospital Medical Center
Mentor: Ravinda Arya, MD, DM, FAES
Wen Shi, PhD
Precision Neuromodulation for Refractory Epilepsy
Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General)
Mentors: Catherine Chu, MD; and Mark Kramer, PhD
Qirui Zhang, MD
Reorganization of functional networks and predicting outcome after surgery
Thomas Jefferson University
Mentor: Joseph Tracy, PhD
Michaela Edmond, PhD
Role of astrocytic and neuronal mechanisms in post-traumatic excitability
Texas A&M University Health Science Center
Mentor: Punam Sawant-Pokam, PhD; and Karen Wilcox, PhD
Emma Acerbo, PhD
Personalized Targeting Neuromodulation with Temporal Interference (TI)
Emory University
Mentors: Daniel Drane, PhD, FAES; and Claire-Anne Gutekunst, PhD
Kala Nair, PhD
Maladaptive myelination in epilepsy
Stanford Neurosciences Health Center
Mentor: Juliet Knowles, MD, PhD

Predoctoral Research Fellowships

Meethila Gade, MPH
Unraveling the Molecular Basis of Hemimegalencephaly Through SoMoSeq
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Mentor: Erin Heinzen, PhD, PharmD
Shruthi Iyer, MS
Chronic intermittent hypoxia increases autoresuscitation failure in SUDEP
Creighton University
Mentors: Kristina Simeone, PhD; and Timothy Simeone, PhD
Madeleine Moseley, MS
Effect of tau expression on the development of TLE
Colorado State University
Mentor: Bret Smith, PhD

Epilepsy Study Consortium Mini-grants

Elizabeth Harrison, MD
Anti-Seizure Medications and Contraceptive Failure in People with Epilepsy
UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittbsurgh
Mentor: Page Pennell, MD, FAES
Wasan Abd Wahab, MD, FRCPC
Cenobamate Efficacy in Patients with RNS: Biomarkers and Potential Synergy
Yale University
Mentors: Imran Quraishi, MD, PhD, FAES; and Lawrence Hirsch, MD, FAAN, FACNS, FANA, FAES

Susan S. Spencer, MD, Clinical Research Training Fellowship in Epilepsy

Jillian McKee, MD, PhD
Deep phenotyping and biomarker discovery for clinical trial readiness in SYNGAP1-related disorders
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

The following awards were given to the 25 early career scientists above: 

  • Junior Investigator Awards: $75,000 for newly independent investigators to support direct costs of research plus one year of AES membership 
  • Research Training Fellowship for Clinicians: Mentored support for clinical fellows or junior clinical faculty with up to $75,000 for stipend and travel support plus one year of AES membership 
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellowships: Mentored research fellowships with up to $50,000 for stipend and travel support plus one year of AES membership 
  • Predoctoral Research Fellowships: Mentored research fellowships with up to $30,000 for stipend and travel support plus one year of AES membership 
  • Epilepsy Study Consortium Mini-grants: Funded by ESC and administered by AES; up to $22,000 for fellows to undertake a mentored project on anti-epileptic drug therapy during their fellowship training 
  • Susan S. Spencer, MD, Clinical Research Training Fellowship in Epilepsy, 2024-2026: Funded by AES, Epilepsy Foundation, and American Brain Foundation in collaboration with the American Academy of Neurology 
  • Sergievsky Award for Epilepsy Health Equity and Diversity: $150,000 over two years awarded to physicians and scientists who identify as members of groups historically underrepresented in science and medicine and/or who are researching issues that affect medically underserved individuals with epilepsy or seizures ore related aspects of health equity 

 

The American Epilepsy Society would like to thank Gemma Carvill, PhD and Kathryn Davis, MD, FAES, co-chairs of the AES Early Career Grants Committee, and the long list of volunteer reviewers for their continued efforts in supporting the next generation of epilepsy researchers. 

AES would also like to thank our funding partners for joining us to support the future of epilepsy research: 

  • The Epilepsy Foundation for co-funding one award
  • The Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation for co-funding one award 
  • Cure GABA-A Variant and SLC6A1 for co-funding one award 
  • Epilepsy Study Consortium for full funding of two ESC mini-grants 
  • The American Brain Foundation, Epilepsy Foundation, and American Academy of Neurology for their decade-long partnership with the American Epilepsy Society for support of the Susan Spencer Clinical Research Training Scholarship