Epilepsy

The Epilepsy Division (ED) at the University of Pittsburgh approaches the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy and seizures through a patient-oriented team of epileptologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, nurse specialists, EEG technologists, social workers and others with training in epilepsy care. In the department of neurology, the ED offers the following clinical services:

  • Subspecialty Epilepsy Clinics
  • Functional Seizures Clinic
  • Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU)
  • EEG Laboratory Services
  • Continuous EEG Service
  • Surgical Epilepsy Service
  • MEG Epilepsy Program

All services are provided within the University of Pittsburgh Comprehensive Epilepsy Center (UPCEC).  We pride ourselves at being one of the Nation’s best equipped Level 4 NAEC (National Association of Epilepsy Centers) centers, having a luxury of the latest imaging equipment, and a whole-head 306-channel MEG (magnetoencephalography) system.

The UPCEC epilepsy clinical care facilities at UPMC include a newly open 10-bed adult epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) for a short or long-term continuous closed-circuit television/electroencephalographic monitoring. This adult EMU in UPMC Presbyterian, in addition to the newest VEEG monitoring equipment, is equipped with remote-controlled automatic SPECT injectors – still a rare commodity in the USA EMUs.

For more information on the clinical care facilities that are offered through UPCEC and UPMC, please redirect to the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center (UPCEC) page.

Our educational mission is fulfilled through the competitive 4-position Epilepsy Fellowship, and 4-position Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship (CNP) as well as various structured rotations for neurology residents and medical students.

ED faculty members are involved in multiple research efforts ranging from the large multicenter NIH-funded studies of effects of seizure medications on maternal outcomes and pharmacokinetics of major seizure medication (Dr. Pennell), imaging studies of patients with temporal lobe Medication Resistant Epilepsy (MRE) focused on studying the fundamental organizational network properties as a possible foundation for predicting a surgical outcome (Dr. Bagić), to multicenter studies exploring the efficacy of RNS in treating generalized seizures (Dr. Urban), and acute treatment of prolonged seizures (Dr. Rajasekaran). Recently, more attention is dedicated to studying mechanisms of posttraumatic epilepsy (Dr. Castellano), and development of the human-in-the-loop machine learning tools that use the electronic health record for early identification of people being treated for epilepsy who instead have functional (nonepileptic) seizures (Dr. Kerr, K23 NIH Award). Traditionally productive collaborations with the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) are well exemplified in the RO1 NIH MEG-based grant of Dr. Bin He (Department of Biomedical Engineering), where Dr. Bagić is a Pitt PI.

ED faculty members are engaged in various national academic and professional efforts through the American Epilepsy Society (AES), National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC), American Clinical MEG Society (ACMEGS), American Clinical Neurophysiology Society (ACNS), American Academy of Neurology (AAN), American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN), etc. For example, Dr. Urban is a member of the ABPN Epilepsy Committee, Dr. Rajasekaran is a member of the AAN Residency In-service Training Examination (RITE) Advisory Council, etc. Dr. Fong is engaged in the national advocacy agenda, while Dr. Bagić chairs the National Professional Advisory Committee (NPAC) of the Epilepsy Alliance America (EAA). Examples of other national engagements are a role of Dr. Kerr as an Associate Editor of Epilepsia and Dr. Bagić’s membership in the Editorial Board of Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology (JCNP). An example of our international professional engagements is Dr. Bagić’s initiative focused on defining the first internationally developed and accepted clinical practice guidelines (CPG) for MEG under the auspice of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology (IFCN).

Core Faculty:

Adjunct Faculty