Clinical Research
The BC Epilepsy Society supports research performed in the clinical to further our understanding of how epilepsy and epilepsy therapies affect both patients and society as a whole.
2014
In 2014 the BC Epilepsy Society provided the BC Children’s Hospital with a support award. This was used to provide salary support to two clinical fellows involved both in the care of patients and who undertook key research projects into the genetic causes of and current treatments for epilepsy.
Award: $120,000
Awardee: Dr. Sarah Buerki
Project Goal: Whole Exome Sequencing to improve epilepsy care for children in BC.
Source of Funds: BC Epilepsy Society, The Alva Foundation and Dean’s Innovative Fund.
Resulting Publications:
Report of a Novel Compound Heterozygote Mutation in the ATP1A2 Gene Presenting With Epilepsy and Recurrent Hemiplegia https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4834292/
Rare variability in epilepsy GWAS loci https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3746521/
De-novo FGF12 variant in a patient with neonatal onset epilepsy http://ng.neurology.org/content/2/6/e120
Awardee: Dr. Shimrit Uriel
Project Goal: Investigating Dravet Syndrome in Children, adolescents and young adults.
Source of Funds: BC Epilepsy Society.
2006
Awardee: Dr.Veronica Schiariti
Proposal Title: Who has epilepsy in British Columbia?
Source of funds: BC Epilepsy Society and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research partnership
Competition: Trainee Award
Award: $22,000
Resulting Publications:
Period Prevalence of Epilepsy in Children in BC: A Population-Based Study https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19294886
Proposal Abstract:
According to national surveys, an estimated 30 per cent of Canadian children between six and 18 years of age suffer from chronic conditions and/or disabilities, including seizure disorders. However, these surveys do not allow for provincial analysis, due to small sample sizes, and there is limited comparability between surveys because of differences in target groups, methodologies and conceptual frameworks. Currently, there are no comprehensive prevalence data on children with special health care needs in BC, such as children with epileptic seizures, who account for half the visits to specialists because of neurological disease. Veronica Schiariti is researching the influences of neighbourhood income, population density, health care availability and community resources on the treatment prevalence of epilepsy in BC children under the age of 19. She is examining both diagnosis and treatment patterns of pediatric patients with epilepsy. Veronica hopes that her research will contribute to improved treatment for epileptic children by identifying disparities in health service delivery, informing health care policy decisions, and enabling long-term tracking and study of health and development outcomes at the individual level and in the broader population.