Orrin Devinsky, MD
Dr. Orrin Devinsky is professor of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine. His epilepsy research includes sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), cannabinoids, phenome-genome correlations, autism, neural markers and imaging, therapeutic electrical stimulation, quality-of-life, cognitive and behavioral issues, and surgical therapy. He is the principal investigator for the North American SUDEP Registry and on the Executive Committee of the SUDEP Institute.
He has chaired several committees of the Epilepsy Foundation and the American Epilepsy Society and has served as a Board member of both organizations. He founded Finding A Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures (FACES) and co-founded the Epilepsy Therapy Project and epilepsy.com. Outside interests include behavioral neurology (intracranial and functional imagining studies to understand language and sensory processing), evolutionary biology and history of neuroscience.
Jennifer Bain, MD, PhD
Jennifer Bain, MD, PhD, is board-certified child neurologist at Columbia University Medical Center. Her early research career focused on spinal cord and brain development after injury. She currently works as a clinician at Columbia Doctors specializing in general pediatric neurology with special interest in development, behavioral neurology, genetics and autism. Dr. Bain authored the first manuscript describing HNRNPH2-related disorder and is currently enrolling individuals with HNRNP-related disorders to learn more about the natural course of this neurodevelopmental disorder. She is on the scientific advisory board of the Yellow Brick Road Project supporting families affected by HNRNPH2.
Katherine Inoyama, MD
Katherine Inoyama, MD, is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Neurology at the NYU School of Medicine. She received her medical degree from Georgetown University and completed Neurology residency training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, followed by a 2-year Neurophysiology/Epilepsy fellowship at Stanford University. She practices at the NYU Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in pursuit of advancing our understanding of epilepsy while providing comprehensive and compassionate care to patients with epilepsy. Her interests include women’s issues in epilepsy, epilepsy genetics, and co-morbidities associated with epilepsy such as cognitive impairment, mood disorders, and migraine.
Sarah Dugger, MS, LGC
Sarah Dugger, MS, LGC, is currently a PhD Candidate within the Department of Genetics & Development and Institute of Genomic Medicine (IGM) at Columbia University Medical Center. Prior to her current graduate work, Sarah attended Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio where she received a BA in Biology and MS in Genetic Counseling. She subsequently practiced as a Genetic Counselor for four years in the Department of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Ultrasound and Genetics at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio where she primarily worked with patients carrying pregnancies high-risk for various genetic conditions. This experience largely inspired Sarah to return to academia to pursue a career in biomedical research, where she hopes to improve the understanding of disease mechanisms in effort to promote the discovery of better targeted treatments. She is now conducting her thesis work in the laboratory of Dr. David Goldstein in the IGM where she works with both mouse and human stem cell models of Hnrnpu-related epilepsy with the central goal of identifying candidate targeted therapies.
Ana Mingorance, PhD
Ana Mingorance, PhD, is the Chief Development Officer of the Loulou Foundation, the Scientific Director of the Dravet Syndrome Foundation Spain, and an independent consultant in genetic epilepsy syndromes and orphan drug development.
A neuroscientist by training, Ana first worked in drug discovery and development as a laboratory head and discovery project leader at the global pharmaceutical company UCB Pharma. She then founded her own boutique consultancy firm, Dracaena Consulting, to focus on orphan neurological diseases and to work more closely with patient organizations. Ana is a strong advocate for patient involvement in drug discovery and development, and through her multiple roles she joins forces with the patient communities to accelerate the development of new treatments. She is also a regular speaker at rare disease and orphan drug development conferences.
Ana received her PhD in neuroscience from the University of Barcelona in Spain, and completed an EMBO postdoctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
Eric Segal, MD
Dr. Eric Segal is an assistant professor of neurology at the Hackensack Merdian School of Medicine, co-director of epilepsy at Hackensack University Medical Center, and Director of Pediatric Epilepsy for the Northeast Regional Epilepsy Group. His research interests include neurogenetics, novel therapies for epilepsy, and non-pharmacologic therapies.
He received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he also completed his pediatric residency. Dr. Segal completed his neurology training at Columbia University Medical Center and neurophysiology at Children’s Hospital Boston.
Dr. Segal is on the boards of several epilepsy-focused nonprofit organizations, including New Jersey’s Family Resource Network and the Epilepsy Foundation of Northeastern New York.