News Release

Harvard's Donald Schomer, M.D., named AES J. Kiffin Penry Award recipient

Grant and Award Announcement

American Epilepsy Society

Donald Schomer, M.D., Named AES J. Kiffin Penry Award Recipient

image: AES President, Dr. Amy Brooks-Kayal presents the J. Kiffin Penry Award to Harvard's Dr. Donald Schomer. view more 

Credit: AES

PHILADELPHIA, December 7, 2015--The American Epilepsy Society (AES) announces that Donald Schomer, M.D., professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, will receive the J. Kiffin Penry Award for Excellence in Epilepsy Care at the Society's 69th annual meeting in Philadelphia. Schomer is being recognized for his pioneering work in establishing the comprehensive epilepsy program at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard.

Schomer has established a legacy in the work of patient care for those persons with epilepsy that extends far beyond his work at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). In 1984, Schomer started a fellowship program at BIDMC and has since trained 46 fellows, many of whom are now senior clinicians throughout the world.

In announcing the award, Award Committee Chair Douglas Coulter, Ph.D., remarked, "We are privileged to honor Schomer for his impressive career focused on the development of treatments and awareness of epilepsy. Schomer's contributions are felt throughout the world not only in his own work, but in the work of the many highly skilled trainees he's mentored over the years."

A founding member of the National Association of Epilepsy Centers, Schomer manages BIDMC at the highest level. He was the president of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society and chair of the Board of Clinical Neurophysiology for five years. He has also served on numerous occasions as a member of the External Committee for the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology.

Along with Fernando Lopes da Silva, he is an editor of Niedermeyer Textbook of Clinical Neurophysiology. He also serves on numerous editorial boards and is current the associate editor of the Annals of Neurology, overseeing submissions pertaining to central neurophysiology or epilepsy.

Established in 1997, the J. Kiffin Penry Award for Excellence in Epilepsy Care recognizes individuals whose work has had a major impact on patient care and improved the quality of life for persons with epilepsy. The $3,000 award remembers Dr. Penry's lifelong concern for people with epilepsy.

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About the American Epilepsy Society:

The American Epilepsy Society is a medical and scientific society whose members are engaged in research and clinical care for people with epilepsy. For more than 75 years, AES has provided a dynamic global forum where professionals from academia, private practice, not-for-profit, government and industry can learn, share and grow. Find out more at aesnet.org.

Information Contacts:
Tess Aaronson, Big Voice Communications, 908-698-9153, tess@bigvoicecomm.com
Natalie Judd, Big Voice Communications, 203-605-9515, natalie@bigvoicecomm.com


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