Award Lectures
IFCN Berger Lecture
This is award is presented every four years by the IFCN for outstanding current contributions to central clinical neurophysiology research.
Margitta Seeck, MD, PhD
Professor
University of Geneva
Prof. Margitta Seeck received her medical and doctoral degrees at the Ludwigs-Maximilians-University of Munich, where she also received her neurology training. After her medical studies, she did a postdoctoral fellowship at the Free University of Berlin and moved then to the United States where she was trained in EEG and epileptology at the Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard University.
Since 1995, she has been the director of the presurgical epilepsy program Geneva-Lausanne, which became a reference center for difficult-to-treat epilepsies in adults and children both on a national and international level. She then became head of the outpatient unit, now known as the EEG and Epilepsy Unit of University Hospital of Geneva. In collaboration with the emergency department, she established new guidelines for patients presenting with a first seizure leading to swift and effective in- and out-patient care.
Prof. Seeck's main interests are epilepsy surgery evaluation, seizure semiology and cognitive epilepsy-related phenomena, imaging in epilepsy and first seizure neurology. She is author of more than 180 papers on epilepsy in national and international journals, expert for the Swiss and other national science foundations, past president of the Swiss Neurophysiology Society and is actively involved in teaching activities of the Swiss Neurophysiological Society. Under its patronage, she developed the “Swiss EEG Bulletin”, of which she is co-editor, which promotes EEG education of Swiss neurologists.
IFCN Kugelberg Lecture
This is award is presented every four years by the IFCN for outstanding current contributions to peripheral clinical neurophysiology research.
Mandaville Gourie-Devi, MBBS, MD, DM, DSc
Emeritus Professor of Neurology Department of Neurology
Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS)
Professor M. Gourie-Devi received her MBBS from the Andhra Medical College and her MD in Internal Medicine and DM in Neurology from the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS).
In addition to her position as Emeritus Professor at IHBAS, she is also Chairperson and a Senior Consultant in the Neurophysiology Department at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi and Honorary Advisor for Neurology Research at the Indian Medical Council of Medical Research. Prior to joining Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, she was the Director-Vice Chancellor & Professor of Neurology at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore for 25 years.
Prof. Gourie-Devi is the current President of Neurophysiology Section of Indian Academy of Neurology and earlier was the President of Neurological Society of India, Vice President of Indian Academy of Neurology. She is a Fellow of National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS), Indian Academy of Neurology (IAN) and National Academy of Sciences (NAS). She has received numerous awards for her contributions in the field, including the prestigious BC Roy Award, Om Prakash Bhasin Award, DSc (Hon Causa) from University of Life Sciences, Andhra Pradesh, Lifetime Achievement Awards from Indian Academy of Neurology, Neurological Society of India and Indian Academy of Neurosciences and is one of the renowned neurophysiology consultants of India.
Prof.Gourie-Devi’s research interests include motor neuron disease, monomelic amyotrophy and leprous neuropathy.
IFCN Adrian Lecture
This is award is presented every four years by the IFCN for outstanding current contributions to Clinical Neurophysiology research in basic science.
Clifford Saper, MD, PhD
Professor
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Prof. Saper received his MD and PhD degrees and did his internship in internal medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, before doing a neurology residency at Cornell University Medical Center- New York Hospital.
He then joined the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine where he served from 1981-1985 as Assistant and then Associate Professor of Neurology and Anatomy and Neurobiology. He then moved to the University of Chicago, where from 1985-1992 he was an Associate Professor, then William D. Mabie Professor of Physiology and Neurology, and Chairman of the Committee on Neurobiology. In 1992, Prof. Saper moved to his present position at Harvard Medical School, where he is the James Jackson Putnam Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience and Chairman of the Harvard Department of Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Prof. Saper served from 1994-2011 as the Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Comparative Neurology and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Neurology. He has received a Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health, and was named one of the 100 most frequently cited neuroscientists by the Institute for Scientific Information. He has served as Vice President and Councilor of the American Neurological Association (ANA), and has served on the Publications Committee and has chaired the Program Committee of both that organization and the Society for Neuroscience.
Prof. Saper was elected to the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine), and has been named a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal College of Physicians (London) and a member of the American Association of Physicians.
Prof. Saper’s research has explored circuitry of the brain that controls basic functions such as wake-sleep cycles, feeding, and immune response, and how these circuits are disrupted in neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, in sleep disorders such as narcolepsy and sleep apnea, and during aging.
ACNS Jasper Award Lecture
The Herbert H. Jasper Award is presented annually to an individual for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to the field of clinical neurophysiology including research, teaching and mentoring.
Mark Hallett, MD, FACNS
Chief, Human Motor Control Section
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health
Prof. Hallett is the President of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology (IFCN) and also serves as the Chief of the Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
He obtained his MD at Harvard University, interned at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and trained in Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by fellowships in Neurophysiology at the National Institutes of Health and at the Institute of Psychiatry in London.
From 1976 to 1984, Prof. Hallett was the Chief of the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and became Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. From 1984, he has been at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke where he also served as Clinical Director of NINDS until July 2000. He is past President of the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) and the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS) and also served as Vice-President of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). He has served as Editor of many journals and books and has received many honors.
Prof. Hallett's work mainly deals with principles of motor control and the pathophysiology of movement disorders. His interests in motor control are wide-ranging, and include brain plasticity and its relevance to neurological disorders and the pathophysiology of dystonia, parkinsonism, and myoclonus. In recent years, he has become interested in disorders of volition, including tic and functional movement disorders.
ACNS Gloor Award Lecture
The Pierre Gloor Award is presented annually for an individual’s outstanding contributions to central clinical neurophysiology research.
Marc R. Nuwer, MD, PhD, FACNS
Professor and Vice Chairman, Department of Neurology
University of California Los Angeles
Prof. Nuwer has served on the Board of Directors, committees or advisory panels for the following organizations: International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology (IFCN), American Academy of Neurology (AAN), National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC), California Medicare Carrier, and American Medical Association (AMA). His leadership is exemplified by the many organizations in which he has served as President, including the IFCN from 1997-2001, ACNS from 1994-1995, American Society for Neurological Investigation (ASNI), and Association of California Neurologists (ACN). Prof. Nuwer also holds the role of Honorary Consulting Editor for Clinical Neurophysiology.
Prof. Nuwer’s work has been published in over 160 peer-reviewed journal articles, seven books, 110 book chapters, and 123 published abstracts. His main research interests are computer analysis of EEG and its applications in clinical settings, neuro-Intensive Care Unit continuous EEG monitoring, surgical neuromonitoring, health care outcomes research in Clinical Neurophysiology, and medical economics modeling and policy impact in Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology.
ACNS Schwab Award Lecture
This Robert S. Schwab Award is presented annually for an individual’s outstanding contributions to peripheral clinical neurophysiology research.
Donald Sanders, MD
Professor of Neurology
Duke University Medical Center
Prof. Sanders is a graduate of Harvard Medical School, and trained in Neurology at the University of Virginia. He completed a fellowship in neuromuscular physiology and electromyography at Mayo Clinic.
Prof. Sanders is also the Director of Neuromuscular Research at Duke University Medical Center, where he founded and for 25 years directed, the Duke Medical Center EMG Laboratory and the Duke Myasthenia Gravis Clinic. His major clinical and research interest is the electrophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of neuromuscular diseases.
Prof. Sanders is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the American Neurological Association (ANA), and the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM). He has served as President of the Board of Directors of the AANEM and of the Medical Scientific Advisory Board of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) and chair of the Neuromuscular Section of the AAN. He received the AANEM Distinguished Researcher Award in 1999 and the AANEM Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. He was Chair of the MGFA Task Force on MG Clinical Trial Design and the MGFA Task Force on MG Treatment Guidelines, which recently published the International Consensus Guidance Statement for the Management of Myasthenia Gravis.
Prof. Sanders has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters on the topic of neuromuscular diseases.