Functional Seizures and Epileptic Course Speakers

Barbara Dworetzky, MDBarbara Dworetzky, MD, FAAN, FAES, FANA
The A.J. Trustey Endowed Chair, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Medical Director, The Bromfield Epilepsy Center
Chief, Epilepsy, Brigham and Women’s Hospital 

Barbara Dworetzky, MD, FAAN, FANA, FAES is Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and Chief of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Division of Epilepsy since 2009. She leads the Bromfield Epilepsy Center and the ACGME-accredited Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy Fellowships. She has an ScB with Honors in Psychology from Brown University and obtained her MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and internship at the affiliated Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx before returning to Boston for residency at Harvard (now MGB). Following residency, she completed a two-year fellowship in clinical neurophysiology/epilepsy at BWH, Boston Children’s, and Beth Israel. Her first position was at the Boston VAMC, affiliated with Boston University School of Medicine where she directed several programs. Since her return to the BWH, she and her division have trained 60 clinical and research fellows from all over the world. She has received awards for leadership, professionalism, mentorship, teaching, clinical skills, and has over 140 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Dworetzky has served on multiple boards for patient and professional societies, and is the current president of the Functional Neurological Disorder Society (FNDS)  She is internationally known for her work in functional seizures (aka psychogenic nonepileptic seizures/PNES).

 

Sara Finkelstein, MD, MScSara Finkelstein, MD, MSc
Associate Director
Functional Neurological Disorder Unit
Massachusetts General Hospital
Instructor, Harvard Medical School 

Sara Finkelstein is a neurologist and Associate Director of the Functional Neurological Disorder Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School. She is a founding and active member of the Functional Neurological Disorder Society.

 

Michael Sperling, MDMichael Sperling, MD
Baldwin Keyes Professor of Neurology
Vice Chair for Research, Department of Neurology
Thomas Jefferson University
Director, Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center 

Michael R. Sperling, M.D., is Baldwin Keyes Professor of Neurology and Vice Chair for Research at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, and Director of the Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. He is an internationally recognized clinician-scientist in the field of epilepsy, known particularly for his work in clinical neurophysiology, epilepsy surgery, and investigational therapeutics. He has published approximately 500 peer-reviewed papers, reviews, and book chapters, and several books.  Over the years, his research interests have been in epilepsy surgery, neurophysiology of epilepsy, investigational therapeutics, cognitive electrophysiology, advanced neuroimaging, and epilepsy genetics.   He was Editor-in-Chief of Epilepsia and is a former president of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society and the Philadelphia Neurological Society. He received the J. Kiffin Penry award from the American Epilepsy Society in 2018 and the Ambassador for Epilepsy award from the International League Against Epilepsy in 2021. He received the Herbert H. Jasper Award from the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society in 2024. 

 

Claus Reinsberger, MD, PhDClaus Reinsberger, MD, PhD
Chief of Division of Sports Neurology & Neurosciences
Department of Neurology
Mass General Brigham

Claus Reinsberger, MD PhD, is a board certified neurologist & epileptologist, Professor of Sports Medicine at Paderborn University (GER) and Chief of Sports Neurology and Neurosciences at Mass General Brigham. He studied Medicine at Ruhr-University, Bochum (GER), Galway (IRE) and Galveston (Tx, USA) before he finished his residency in Neurology with specific focus on clinical neurophysiology in Nottwil (CH), Zuerich (CH) and Wuerzburg (GER). After a fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy he joint faculty at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and became Assistant Professor Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. When he moved to Germany in 2014 he became Germany’s first Neurologist to serve as Chair of Sports Medicine. 2023 he moved back to Boston and was appointed as Chief of Sports Neurology & Neurosciences at MGB. His clinical and scientific interests consist of various topics within the field of Sports Neurology, specifically sports associated concussion, sports and exercise therapy in neurological diseases and the autonomic nervous system in sports and exercise, specifically in patients with seizures.

 

Raquel Lopez, MD, FAESRaquel Lopez, MD, FAES
Associate Professor Of Clinical Neurology
Department of Neurology, Epilepsy Division
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
SE Regional Director Epilepsy Center of Excellence Veterans Health Administration

Dr. Lopez is a Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society. She received her medical degree at the Institute of Health (CES) in Medellin, Colombia. She completed her neurology residency at Boston Medical Center and two fellowships, Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy, at Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston, MA. She joined the University of Miami faculty staff and the Bruce Carter Veterans Medical Center in 2008. She is the VA Southeast Regional Director of the Epilepsy Centers of Excellence.

Dr Lopez has been trained in Neurobehavioral Therapy (NBT) by Dr. LaFrance, and she established the FND clinics and a multidisciplinary team at the VA in 2022. She also serves as a National expert Consultant and specialized services (NEXCSS) evaluating and treating Veterans with functional seizures. She is a member of the VA Mind Brain Program (MBP), training clinicians in NBT, and collaborates with expanding access to veterans with functional neurological disorders.

Dr. Lopez is a founding member of FNDS, the American Academy of Neurology, and the American Epilepsy Society.

She received several Teaching of Excellence awards at the University of Miami. She has two grants and more than 40 publications in Neurology, with a special interest in psychiatric comorbidities and seizure disorders, women with seizure disorders, and Hispanic Veterans with seizures.

 

Meagan Watson, MPH, MBAMeagan Watson, MPH, MBA
Program Manager for Functional Seizures Clinic
Department of Neurology
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Meagan serves as Board President of FND Hope US, Founder and Chair for the Functional Neurological Disorders Society - Pediatric FND Special Interest Group and Owner/CEO of FND Integration Services, LLC where she consults with clinicians to help them develop FND clinics. She also co-authored Reset & Rewire: The FND Workbook for Kids & Teens.

 

Dara Albert, DO, MEdDara Albert, DO, MEd
Child Neurologist & Epileptologist
Associate Professor of Child Neurology
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Dara Albert is an Associate Professor of Child Neurology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital/The Ohio State University College of Medicine. She has clinical expertise in pediatric epilepsy and functional seizures and is the medical director of the multidisciplinary Functional Seizure Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

 

Aaron Fobian, PhDAaron Fobian, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology
Tate Jordan Thomas Professorship in Psychiatric Medicine
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Aaron D. Fobian, PhD is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, Tate Jordan Thomas Professor in Psychiatric Medicine, and a clinical psychologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) where she is also the PI of the Functional Neurological Disorder and Pediatric Behavioral Health Laboratory. She obtained her Ph.D. in Clinical/Medical Psychology from UAB in 2013 and completed her clinical internship at Baylor College of Medicine in 2013 and her psychology post-doctoral fellowship in the Leadership Education in Adolescent Medicine (LEAH) program in the UAB Department of Pediatrics in 2014. Dr. Fobian’s research aims to develop and disseminate evidence-based behavioral health interventions, including for functional neurological disorder (FND). She developed Retraining and Control Therapy (ReACT), a cognitive behavioral therapy-based intervention for FND. ReACT aims to retrain functional symptoms and allow individuals to regain control of symptoms by evaluating and replacing catastrophic symptom expectations and increasing sense of control over FND using principles of habit reversal, a well-established technique used in the treatment of involuntary tics in Tourette’s Syndrome. She is currently conducting two NIH-funded studies on ReACT: a mechanistically-focused NIMH-funded study to confirm the treatment targets by which ReACT is effective and a NCCIH-funded multi-site feasibility trial with Yale University and Baylor College of Medicine in preparation for a large efficacy trial. Dr. Fobian is also the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of ReACT FND Health, which aims to increase access to ReACT by providing telehealth treatment throughout the US and training and credentialing other providers in ReACT.

 

Chad Lane, MDChadrick Lane, MD
Neuropsychiatrist
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
UT Southwestern Medical Center

Chadrick Lane, M.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and the inaugural Clinical Neuroscience Scholar within the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Lane practices neuropsychiatry, a subspecialty of medicine focused on understanding brain-behavior relationships to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people living with complex brain disorders. Dr. Lane completed his psychiatry residency at Yale School of Medicine, followed by fellowship training in behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry at Boston University/VA Boston Healthcare System.  His clinical and research interests focus on the care of people living with functional neurological disorders (FND); Dr. Lane co-directs the UT Southwestern FND Multidisciplinary Clinic.  He is a member of the American Neuropsychiatric Association and the FND Society. 

 

W. Curt LaFrance, MD, MPHW. Curt LaFrance, Jr., MD, MPH, FAAN, FANPA, DLFAPA, FAES
Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology,
Alpert Medical School, Brown University
Director, VA Mind Brain Program
Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurology, Rhode Island Hospital

W. Curt LaFrance Jr. is professor of psychiatry and neurology at Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School and runs the neuropsychiatry and behavioral neurology clinic at Rhode Island Hospital. He is Director of the VA Mind Brain Program, Program Director for VA National Expert Consultation & Specialized Services Neuropsychiatry Clinic, and a staff physician at the Providence VAMC. He studied at Wake Forest University (B.A. in Psychology), Medical College of Georgia (M.D.) and Brown University (MPH). He trained in Brown’s combined neurology/psychiatry residency and is double boarded. He has served on the EFA Professional Advisory Board and chaired task forces with the American Epilepsy Society and International League Against Epilepsy. He has received grants from EF, AES, Foundations, Veterans Affairs and the DoD, and a NINDS K23 Award. He trains clinicians around the country using distance supervision in neurobehavioral therapy (NBT), used for seizures, movement disorders, head injuries, cognitive and somatic symptom disorders, based on a whole-person, integrative medicine bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach. His research focuses on developing new biomarkers and treatments for neuropsychiatric aspects of epilepsy, conversion (functional neurological) disorders and traumatic brain injury. His studies are published in neurology and psychiatry journals. He is co-editor of the fourth edition of “Nonepileptic Seizures”, and co-author of “Taking Control of Your Seizures: Workbook” and “Taking Control of Your Seizures: Therapist Guide.” A goal of his work at Brown, nationally and internationally, has been to bridge neurology and psychiatry clinical practice and scientific research and to dissolve arbitrary boundaries between the two fields.

 

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