While you will have seen that we have some very interesting topics to be discussed as part of the public events of the International Epilepsy Congress, these will be delivered by some of the leading experts working in epilepsy globally. On this page, you can learn more about our speakers.
Prof Sam Berkovic
Professor Berkovic is an Australian neurologist and Laureate Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne. He is also the Director of the Epilepsy Research Centre at Austin Health, where his research career has focused on the genetics of epilepsy. His research group discovered the first gene for epilepsy in 1995 and has been involved in many other key genetic discoveries since then which have revolutionized our understanding and approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. One of the world’s most respected neurologists, Prof Berkovic was appointed as a Companion of the Order of Australia for his services to epilepsy research in 2014.
Dr Sophie Bennett 
Dr Bennett is a Senior Clinical Psychology Lecturer at the KCL Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience and Honorary Associate Professor at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health in London. She specialises in child and adolescent mental health, specifically focusing on the integration of physical and mental health care and in increasing access to psychological treatments through ‘low intensity’ interventions. She has a particular interest in addressing the mental health needs of children with epilepsy and has been research lead for the Mental Health Interventions in Children with Epilepsy (MICE) trial funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, and a member of ILAE’s Integrated Mental Health Care Pathways Committee.
Dr Gaston Baslet
Dr Baslet is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and leads the division of neuropsychiatry as well as a clinical research program on functional neurological disorders at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. His main clinical and research interests include functional seizures (also known as psychogenic nonepileptic seizures), and psychiatric comorbidities in epilepsy. He is also the director of medical student education at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is a member of ILAE’s Integrated Mental Health Care Pathways Committee.
Prof Manisha Patel
Prof Patel is a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorado. For over 20 years, her research laboratory has been working to understand the metabolic basis of epilepsy and
develop metabolism-based therapies for the treatment of the condition. She has authored more than 100 scientific publications in journals such as Neuron and the Journal of Neuroscience. She was elected President of the American Epilepsy Society in 2022.
Prof Sanjay Sisodiya
Prof Sisodiya is a Professor of Neurology (Clinical & Experimental Epilepsy) at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London. He is also an Honorary Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. His main clinical and research interests are in drug-resistant epilepsy, genetic and genomic causes of epilepsy, treatment-response genetics and translational neurology. He is the principal investigator of several international projects including the ENIGMA-Epilepsy Project and the EU-funded epilepsy pharmacogenomics project EpiPGX. He is a founding member of EpilepsyClimateChange (EPICC), an affiliation of professionals supporting research into climate change and epilepsy and is chair of the ILAE’s Climate Change Commission.
Dr Floor Jansen
Dr Jansen is an Associate Professor in Pediatric Neurology at the University Medical Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands. She combines clinical care with teaching and a variety of research projects, focussed on rare and complex epilepsies including tuberous sclerosis (TSC), electrical status epilepticus in sleep (ESES of CSWS), genetic epilepsy and epilepsy surgery. She coordinates the TSC center of excellence for children and has been the principal investigator of a number of international clinical trials in rare epilepsies. She has authored/ co-authored over 140 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals. She was a member of the ILAE taskforce on the classification of seizure types and is co-leading the epilepsy working group of the European Pediatric Neurology Society.
Dr Birgit Frauscher
Dr. Frauscher is Professor of Neurology and Biomedical Engineering, Director of the Duke Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and Director of the Analytical Neurophysiology Lab at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA. She has built an internationally recognised research program that seeks to better understand the important relationships between sleep and epilepsy. Her research has been awarded with national and international awards, among which are the Excellence in Research Award 2022 of the Canadian League against Epilepsy and the Michael Prize 2019 of the International League against Epilepsy. Dr. Frauscher has published >160 peer-reviewed original articles with an H-index of 62.
Prof Sándor Beniczky
Prof Beniczky is a neurologist, clinical neurophysiologist, and epileptologist. He is the Head of Clinical Neurophysiology at the Danish Epilepsy Centre & Aarhus University. His main research interest is EEG and epilepsy, focusing on electromagnetic source imaging, seizure detection, standardization, and quality assurance in clinical neurophysiology. He is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed papers and 22 book chapters and is a past chair of the joint EEG taskforce of the IFCN and ILAE. He is the editor-in-chief of Epileptic Disorders, the educational journal of the International League Against Epilepsy.
Prof Kette Valente
Dr. Valente is a Paediatric Epileptologist & Full Professor at the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil. Since 2006, she has been the Technical and Scientific Director of the Neurophysiology Laboratory, Clinic Hospital, USP. Her main research interests are in Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology, and she has published over 200 scientific papers. She is the Past President of the Brazilian Chapter of the ILAE and the current Chair of the Pediatric Commission of the ILAE.
Prof Guy McKhann
Professor McKhann directs the Epilepsy Surgery program within the Department of Neurological Surgery at Columbia University Irving Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He has 25 years of experience working within multidisciplinary teams to maximize outcomes for patients with a variety of conditions including epilepsy and brain tumors. He has particular technical expertise in epilepsy surgery, intraoperative awake brain mapping, minimally invasive brain tumor surgery, and laser ablation. He also works as a translational neuroscientist, studying various aspects of brain function and epilepsy pathophysiology.
Prof Gus Baker
Prof Baker is a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist who has worked at the Walton Centre, Liverpool and the University of Liverpool for 30 years, spending his time equally between clinical practice and research. He has published over 300 papers, chapters and books on neuropsychological subjects with a specific emphasis on the cognitive and psychosocial consequences of epilepsy. He currently serves as Secretary General of the International Bureau for Epilepsy, the elected Vice President of Epilepsy Action UK and Patron of the Brain Charity, Liverpool.
Dr Halley Alexander
Halley Alexander, MD is a neurologist at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem. Her clinical specialty is in epilepsy, and one of her main clinical and research interests is in improving quality of life in people with epilepsy through the development of new lifestyle interventions such as physical activity programs. She is currently researching the effects of physical activity in people with epilepsy on seizure control and epilepsy-associated comorbidities.
Prof Cecilie Johannessen Landmark
Cecilie Johannessen Landmark is a Professor of Pharmacology and Head of the Pharmacology Team at the National Center for Epilepsy in Norway. She has been focusing on personalized medicine in patients with epilepsy for the last 20 years through teaching, research and clinical work at the Dept. of Pharmacy at OsloMet, the National Center for Epilepsy and the Laboratory for Clinical Pharmacology. She is involved in various national and international collaborations and has published a range of articles related to topics of clinical pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, therapeutic drug monitoring, and patient safety issues. She is also a board member of ILAE Europe.
Prof Finbar O’Callaghan
Finbar O'Callaghan is Professor of Paediatric Neuroscience at the UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, University College London and (Hon) Consultant Paediatric Neurologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital. He was President of the British Paediatric Neurology Association from 2017-2020. His research has been in the area of neuroepidemiology and clinical trials, specifically in infantile epilepsies, tuberous sclerosis complex and stroke.
As you can see, our public events will boast a wealth of global experience and expertise on a number of key topics of interest to the wider epilepsy community. Now that you've read about our speakers, be sure to visit the International Epilepsy Congress section of our website to book your place and join us for what is sure to be a fantastic and informative event!
We would like to thank all our incredible speakers for giving their time to speak to people with epilepsy and their families in Ireland. We look forward to giving them a them a traditional Irish Céad Míle Fáilte and we hope you will be there to help us do just that!