Dr. Steven Schachter attended medical school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He completed an internship in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a neurological residency at the Harvard-Longwood Neurological Training Program, and an epilepsy fellowship at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is Chief Academic Officer and Program Leader of NeuroTechnology at the Consortia for Improving Medicine with Innovation and Technology (CIMIT) and a Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School (HMS).
Dr. Schachter is Past President of the American Epilepsy Society and has served on the board of the Epilepsy Foundation. He has directed over 70 research projects involving antiepileptic therapies, and published over 200 articles and chapters. He compiled the 6-volume Brainstorms series, which has been distributed to over 150,000 patients and families worldwide in several languages, and edited or written 30 other books on epilepsy and behavioral neurology.
Dr. Schachter is the founding editor and editor-in-chief of the medical journals Epilepsy & Behavior and Epilepsy & Behavior Case Reports.
Dr. Mackenzie Cervenka is a Professor of Neurology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine with subspecialty training in epilepsy. She developed the Johns Hopkins Adult Epilepsy Diet Center in 2010 and has treated over 400 adults with ketogenic diet therapies for epilepsy. She conducts clinical trials examining the feasibility, safety and efficacy of ketogenic diet therapies in managing medically resistant epilepsy and refractory status epilepticus, and also collaborates with investigators to evaluate these treatments for patients with alcohol withdrawal, glioma, Parkinson’s disease, migraine, and dementia.
Bradley Boyd has been married for 23 years and is raising two boys. In addition to his law practice, he enjoys singing in his church choir, biking, hiking, and camping. He is originally from Wisconsin but has lived in Florida since the age of 9. He represents claimants on appeal at any of the following Florida district offices of SSA: Orlando, Kissimmee, Cocoa, Melbourne, or Vero Beach. He also represents Plaintiffs in Federal Court in the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida. Geographically, this area extends from Jacksonville south to Key West and over to Tampa.
“Since 1993, I have been blessed to help thousands of people with disabilities – both children and adults. I am grateful that more than half of my new business comes from referrals of past clients or other attorneys.” Bradley Boyd.
Alan R. Towne, MD, MPH is a Professor of Neurology, Epidemiology and Community Health at Virginia Commonwealth University and is past Chair of the Department of Neurology. He is currently the National Director of the Epilepsy Centers of Excellence (ECoE) for the Veterans Administration (VA). He is also Director of the VA Headache Center of Excellence, one of seven national centers treating veterans with post-traumatic headaches.
His clinical and research interests include status epilepticus, the development of new anti-epileptic drugs, post-traumatic epilepsy, seizures in the elderly, neuro-epidemiology and post-traumatic headache. He is a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Academy of Neurology, the American Headache Society, the American Epilepsy Society, the Virginia Neurological Association, the Richmond Academy of Medicine, and the Epilepsy Foundation of Virginia where he is on the Professional Advisory Board and has been included in Best Doctors in Richmond.
He served as the Division Surgeon of the 29th Infantry Division, before his retirement in 2017, and has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He has published extensively in peer reviewed journals and is the author of various chapters on the diagnosis and management of seizures. He has received research funding by the NIH, the Department of Veterans Affairs and has been the principal investigator for many clinical trials in epilepsy and headache. He serves as a reviewer for several journals including Epilepsia, Neurology, Resuscitation, Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology, Journal of Emergency Medicine, Epilepsy Research and the Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Elizabeth lives in Austin, Texas with her husband. She is a board-certified adult health clinical nurse specialist who has been with the Seton Healthcare Family since 2007. After receiving a B.A in Psychology from Austin College, she completed a Master of Science in Nursing at U.T. Austin.
Director NYU LANGONE Brooklyn Epilepsy Program
BLANCA VAZQUEZ, MD is an attending physician in neurology and Director of Clinical Trials and Director of NYU Langone Brooklyn Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in Brooklyn, NY. She received her MD from Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine in Puerto Rico. Subsequent to her residencies in internal medicine and neurology at St. Michael’s Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, respectively, Dr. Vazquez completed an epilepsy fellowship at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at NYU Langone Health. Dr. Vazquez has served as Principal Investigator for multiple clinical trials of the new antiepileptic medications. Her major research interests are antiepileptic drugs development (clinical trials), surgical treatment of epilepsy, women’s health and epilepsy, and epilepsy and behavior.
Dr. Vazquez was a member of the Board of director of the National Epilepsy Foundation of America where she serves as a liaison with the professional advisory board. She is the chair of the professional advisory board of the Epilepsy Foundation of New York City and has been an active member of FACES since its founding. She established the Blanca Vazquez Summer Camp Scholarship Program, helping children with epilepsy enjoy a summer of fun and camaraderie. In the international arena, She has developed an international Epilepsy program to provide comprehensive care to patients outside the USA.
Dr. Vázquez is the recipient of the Petter Ho Memorial award for Humanism in medicine. She also is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Academy of Neurology, the American Epilepsy Society, the Spanish American Medical Society of New York, the American Medical Association, and the Puerto Rico Academy of Neurology.
Professor of Clinical Neurology, Head of Epilepsy Section and Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine.
Dr. Kanner was born in Mexico City, where he grew-up and attended Medical School at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. After graduating from medical school, he moved to the USA where he completed a residency in Psychiatry at the Long-Island Jewish Hillside Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, a residency in Neurology at the Department of Neurology of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and completed his training with a fellowship in Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Kanner is quadruple-boarded in Neurology, Psychiatry, Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy.
Dr Kanner has long-standing research interests in the areas of pharmacology of epilepsy, psychiatric aspects of epilepsy and surgical treatment of treatment-resistant focal epilepsy. He has authored or coauthored over 200 research publications, over 90 invited review articles and over 100 book chapters and has edited two textbooks and co-edited four.
Dr. Kanner was awarded the J. Kiffin Penry Award for Excellence in Clinical Care in Epilepsy by the American Epilepsy Society, the Epilepsy Ambassador Award from the International League against Epilepsy, the Award of Epilepsy Ambassador for Latin America by the Latin American Commission of the International League against Epilepsy.
Dr. Kanner has served as Co-Chair of the Neuropsychobiology Commission of the International League against Epilepsy.
