Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a devastating disease due to emotional and physical complications, increased risk for death, and social stigma. Our role is to deliver optimal diagnostic and treatment management including medical (anti-seizure medications; pharmacy liaison), surgical (epilepsy surgery in drug resistant epilepsy), and psychological (neuropsychological and psychiatric). Our multidisciplinary approach and supportive network are paramount for seizure management, improvement of quality of life, and fostering patient sense of empowerment.

Epilepsy research allows us to better understand the pathophysiological mechanism of epilepsy, its social effects, and eventually leads to new therapeutic targets. Our clinical-research mission provides the opportunity to reflect and represent the diversity of ethnic, racial, cultural, and socio-economic background of patients with epilepsy.

Faculty

Abrar Al-Faraj MD
Myriam B. Abdennadher MD
Maria Stefanidou, MD, MSc
Ika Noviawaty, MD

Current Studies and Grants
  • Simon Grinspoon Foundation award: Study about “Better seizure-focus localization using interictal PCASL MRI”
  • AAN: Practice Currents: leading topic among a special interest group about “Parents neurologist in COVID19 era”
  • AAN: Practice Current: leading topic among a special interest group about “How do we empower women in clinical and academic neurology?”
  • Perception, Attitudes, Experiences, and Barriers to Breastfeeding Counseling for Women with Epilepsy
  • Characterization of clinical/imaging and EEG data for postcardiac arrest prognostication
  • Quantitative Oculography in Conscious Sleep Study and Comatose Subjects Characteristics of a cohort of patients in a low healthcare access setting with functional motor disorders including functional weakness, functional tremor and non-epileptiform seizures.
Recent Publications

Al-Faraj AO, Pandey S, Herlihy MM, Pang TD. Factors affecting breastfeeding in women with epilepsy. Epilepsia [Internet]. 2021;62(9):2171–9. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/epi.17003.

Lin L, Al-Faraj A, Ayub N, Bravo P, Das S, Ferlini L, Karakis I, Lee JW, Mukerji SS, Newey CR, Pathmanathan J, Abdennadher M, Cassasa C, Gaspard N, Goldenholz DM, Gilmore EJ, Jin J, Kim JA, Kimchi EY, Ladha HS, Tobochnik S, Zafar S, Hirsch LJ, Westover MB, Shafi MM. EEG Abnormalities are Common in COVID-19 and are Associated with Outcomes. Ann Neurol. 2021 Mar 11.

Abdennadher M, Inati S, Soldatos A, Norato G, Baker EH, Thurm A, Bartolini L, Masvekar R, Theodore W, Bielekova B, Porter FD, Dang Do AN. Seizure phenotype in CLN3 disease and its relation to other neurologic outcome measures. J Inherit Metab Dis. 2021 Feb 07.

Anand P, Al-Faraj A, Sader E, Dashkoff J, Abdennadher M, Murugesan R, Cervantes-Arslanian AM, Daneshmand A. Seizure as the presenting symptom of COVID-19: A retrospective case series. Epilepsy Behav. 2020 11; 112:107335.View Related Profiles. 

Cervantas-Arslanian A, Lau KHV, Anand P, Shulman JG, Ford T, Takahashi C, Daneshmand A, Nguyen TN, Suchdev K, Abdennadher M, Saxena A, Macone A, Perloff MD, Zhu S, Greer DM. Rapid Dissemination of Protocols for Managing Neurology Inpatients with COVID-19. Ann Neurol. 2020 08; 88(2):211-214. 

Stefanidou M, Montouris G. Reproductive and Sexual Health Concerns in Transition-Age Adolescents and Young Adults With Epilepsy. Semin Pediatr Neurol. 2020 Dec;36:100855. doi: 10.1016/j.spen.2020.100855.

Stefanidou M, Beiser AS, Himali JJ, Peng TJ, Devinsky O, Seshadri S, Friedman D. Bi-directional association between epilepsy and dementia: The Framingham Heart Study. Neurology. 2020 Dec 15;95(24):e3241-e3247. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000011077.

Badran A, Bartolini L, Ksendzovsky A, Ray-Chaudhury A, Abdennadher M, Zaghloul KA, Inati SK. Transient postictal blindness after a focal posterior cingulate gyrus seizure. Seizure. 2018 01; 54:58-60.

Latreille V, Abdennadher M, Dworetzky BA, Ramel J, White D, Katz E, Zarowski M, Kothare S, Pavlova M. Nocturnal seizures are associated with more severe hypoxemia and increased risk of postictal generalized EEG suppression. Epilepsia. 2017 09; 58(9):e127-e131.

Al- Faraj A, Trudy Pang, . Acute Management of Seizures. Seminars Neurol in press

Shirk, S.D. Saxena, A., Park, D.C., Kraus, S.W. Predicting Problematic Pornography Use among Male Returning US Veterans. Addictive Behaviors.

Saxena A et al. “Towards an Outpatient Model of Care for Motor Functional Neurological Disorders: A Neuropsychiatric Perspective” Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment 2020

Aneeta Saxena, David L. Perez. “A transdiagnostic and biopsychosocial-informed perspective across functional seizures and functional movement disorder, Epilepsy & Behavior, 2021,

Saxena A et al. “Towards an Outpatient Model of Care for Motor Functional Neurological Disorders: A Neuropsychiatric Perspective” Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment 2020

Aneeta Saxena, David L. Perez. “A transdiagnostic and biopsychosocial-informed perspective across functional seizures and functional movement disorder, Epilepsy & Behavior, 2021,

Glenn Watson, Ph.D. Pegah Afra, MD Luca Bartolini, MD Daniel Graf, MD Peter Yan, MD Steven Wolf, MD Patricia McGoldrick, NP, MPA, MSN Bethany Thomas, DNP, CNRN Eliza Hagen, MD Sanjeev Kothare, MD Aneeta Saxena, MD Luke Tomycz, MD A Journey into the Unknown: An Ethnographic Examination of Drug-resistant Epilepsy Treatment & Management in the United States (Accepted Epilepsy & Behavior)