Dr. Steven Schachter elected president of American Epilepsy Society

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Steven C. Schachter, MD, program leader for neurotechnology at CIMIT, has been elected president of the American Epilepsy Society, a 3,000-member association of medical professionals and scientists who study and treat the condition.

Dr. Schachter, also a CIMIT site miner at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School. He serves as director of research and senior neurologist in the Department of Neurology at BIDMC.

“This is a very meaningful honor coming from his peers as it does, and we are very pleased for Steve,” said Executive Director John Parrish, MD. “He has been a very important part of CIMIT, and his ascent to presidency of this society reflects that he is truly a national leader in his field.”

Dr. Schachter has directed more than 80 research projects involving antiepileptic treatments and contributed extensively to the medical literature of the field. He is the founding editor and current editor-in-chief of Epilepsy & Behavior. His six-volume “Brainstorm” series of books for lay readers has been distributed to more than 150,000 patients and families worldwide, and he has written or edited another 15 books on epilepsy and behavioral neurology.

Dr. Schachter attended medical school at Case Western Reserve University. He completed an internship in Chapel Hill, N.C., a neurological residency at the Harvard-Longwood Neurological Training Program, and an epilepsy fellowship at BIDMC.

"I am honored by the election,” said Dr. Schachter, “and I want to thank my colleagues in the field for this opportunity. I plan to make use of the knowledge I have obtained from my work at CIMIT, where I will continue to lead the neurotechnology efforts, for the benefit of the Society and patients with epilepsy."

Epilepsy is the third most common neurological disorder after Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. It affects 50 million people worldwide, including 3 million in the U.S.

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