What to Expect at the 2019 American Epilepsy Society Annual Meeting

The 73^rd annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES) will kick off this week as thousands of epilepsy healthcare providers gather in Baltimore, Maryland from December 6-10, 2019.

The 5-day meeting will take place at the Baltimore Convention Center, and feature numerous sessions designed to appeal to multidisciplinary epilepsy professionals, including various symposia, special sessions, investigators workshops and special interest groups, poster sessions, and professional development.

Over 1300 abstracts have been accepted for this year’s meeting, many of which will be presented during the 3 poster sessions on Saturday, December 7, Sunday, December 8, and Monday, December 9.

The program will kick off on Friday afternoon with the 17^th Judith Hoyer Lecture in Epilepsy, which will focus on advances in the diagnosis and management of neonatal seizures. The lecture will be led by Eli M. Mizrahi, MD, and will also feature an update from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) director Walter Koroshetz, MD.

On Saturday, AES President Page B. Pennell, MD, will lead the Presidential Symposium, titled “Evidence-Based Treatment for Women With Epilepsy During Reproductive Years: 15 Years of Progress and Future Directions.” The symposium will feature presentations on the following topics:

• Impact of Changes in ASM Selection on Risk of Congenital Malformations: Evidence-based Strategies Make a Difference. Presented by Torbjörn Tomson, MD, PhD
• Effects of ASMs and Seizures on Development: Mechanistic Insights from Basic Science: Presented by Patrick A. Forcelli, PhD
• Pharmacokinetics of ASMs During Pregnancy and Postpartum: Latest and Emerging Data: Presented by Angela Birnbaum, PhD, FAES
• Balancing Maternal Health and Fetal Risk: Dual or Dueling Exposure Considerations?: Presented by Page B. Pennell, MD, FAES
• Incorporating Genetics into the Care of Women with Epilepsy: Presented by Beth Rosen Sheidley, MS, CGC

Saturday will also feature 3 platform sessions on basic mechanisms of epilepsy, neuroimaging, and advances in neurophysiology, as well as a symposium on neurstimulation, which will be led by Lawrence J. Hirsch, MD, and Timothy Simeone, MD.

On Monday, a symposium on emergency seizure management will be led by Nicholas Abend, MD, and Adam Ostendorf, MD, and will feature actionable, data-driven changes to help optimize care of pediatric epilepsy emergencies.

The Lombroso Lecture, which will take place Monday afternoon, will be given by Karen S. Wilcox, PhD, on the topic of glial cells and epilepsy, and will be followed by a new session, titled “Dialogues to Transform Epilepsy” which will feature 2 speakers discussed how their transformative neurobiological research outside of epilepsy can be applied within the field.

Feature platform sessions on Monday include gene-targeted therapy, clinical epilepsy, and epilepsy-related comorbidities, as well as a highlight session on pediatric epilepsy and the Merrit-Putnam Symposium on neuroinflammation in epilepsy.

The Annual Meeting will wrap up on Tuesday with 2 key sessions, including the Hot Topics Symposium led by Elinor Ben-Menachem, MD, PhD, and Michael R. Sperling, MD, which will cover the latest on sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, seizure-monitoring devices, epilepsy surgery, and neuroprotection in status epilepticus. The Scientific Symposium will focus on pharmacogenomics, including existing and emerging opportunities for intervention, and will be led by Alica M. Goldman, MD, PhD.

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NeurologyLive will be providing live coverage of AES 2019. If you would like to speak to us about your research or be featured in a video interview, please reach out to Alicia Bigica (abigica@neurologylive.com).