Research Grand Rounds Presents:  “Anti-Seizure Medications and the Developing Brain.”

Sponsor: MHRI and GHUCCTS
Time: 12 - 1:00 PM
Location: Live Stream Only
Speaker(s):  Patrick A. Forcelli, Ph.D.

Dr. Forcelli is an Associate Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology and of Neuroscience at Georgetown. For over a decade, his research has focused on preclinical models as tools to understand the impact of anti-seizure medications on brain development. Understanding therapeutic and toxic effects in these understudied patient groups (i.e., women, pregnant women, and neonates) is important clinically because these drugs are used both in pregnancy, to treat women with epilepsy, and in early life, to control neonatal seizures. Dr. Forcelli has found that even brief exposure to many common anti-seizure medications can permanently change brain structure and function with long-lasting effects on behavior. This work has been supported by NIH, foundations, and pharmaceutical companies and has implications for drug selection when treating women with epilepsy and neonates with seizures. His talk will highlight how pre-clinical research can inform and guide clinical investigations to improve outcomes for patients with epilepsy. In this sense, it is an exemplar of discipline-spanning translational research, with clear clinical applications in medicine, obstetrics, pediatrics, and neurology and in the design of studies that leverage preclinical models to advance clinical care by revealing mechanisms that could not be studied easily in humans.

Live Stream Link or more information please contact research@medstar.net