Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center

Leadership

Michael R. Sperling, MD

Chief, Division of Epilepsy Center
Director, Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center
Director, Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory

Department of Neurology

Michael.Sperling@jefferson.edu

For Patient Inquires

jeffersonhealth.org

Sidney Kimmel Medical College Alumni

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This is a multidisciplinary quaternary care center for diagnosis and treatment of people with epilepsy.

The center has a large referral base and high clinical volume. Center faculty includes eight neurologists, two neuropsychologists, two neurosurgeon, and one radiologist. The center offers basic and advanced diagnostic testing and a full array of conventional and investigational medical and surgical treatments. The surgical program is among the largest in the US, performing 80-90 operations yearly. The center and its physicians have been recognized by Philadelphia magazine over the years as having faculty who are "best doctors" and providing "best care" for epilepsy in Philadelphia, Castle and Connelly magazines.

In addition to its outpatient facilities, the epilepsy center maintains an inpatient video-EEG monitoring unit consisting of eight beds, each in a specially outfitted private room, where 400 patients are admitted yearly. Patients are evaluated for diagnostic reasons, presurgical assessments, intracranial EEG recording, and management of uncontrolled seizures.

Epilepsy center faculty play a significant role in teaching Neurology residents and fellows, in both outpatient and inpatient settings. Residents are taught all elements of patient diagnosis and seizure management, interpretation of EEG and other neurophysiological tests, and mapping of cortical function. Faculty conduct separate epilepsy management conferences and clinical neurophysiology weekly conferences for resident and fellows. In addition, the department organizes separate annual Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology courses.

Faculty members actively engage in research, with extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health, private industry, and foundation sources. Some projects are collaborative, conducted with other epilepsy centers in the U.S. and around the world, while others are carried out solely at Jefferson. Interested residents are encouraged to conduct research projects with center faculty. In past years, housestaff have performed projects and published peer-reviewed papers.

Clinical Website for Epilepsy Center

Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center - Surgical Division

Current Faculty Research Interests

Clinical trials of antiepileptic drugs and devices
Investigation of predictors of success and prediction of outcomes after epilepsy surgery
Investigation of cardiac disturbances in epilepsy
Investigation of mortality in epilepsy
Electrophysiology of Cognition
Investigation of metabolic effects of antiepileptic drugs
Investigation of genetic susceptibility in epilepsy
Use of functional MR imaging to assess cognitive and language organization and reorganization in epilepsy
Use of diffusion tensor and functional connectivity MR imaging in epilepsy
Investigation of neuropsychological defects in epilepsy

Faculty

Neurologist

Michael R. Sperling, MD
Director, Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center
Director, Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory
Associate Director, Epilepsy & Clinical Neuophysiology Fellowship Programs

Timothy Ambrose, MD

Andres Fernandez, MD, MSEd

Lindsay Higdon, MD

Scott Mintzer, MD

Maromi Nei, MD

Allyson Pickard, MD

Christopher Skidmore, MD