Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (PDF)

Claire M. Lathers, PhD, FCP, has been credentialed as a senior biomedical research scientist by the FDA for international recognition of her work in the two areas of cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction associated with sudden death in persons with epilepsy and with space flight and for her professional management experience in drug development, the business world, and clinical pharmacology. The primary focus of her international cardiovascular pharmacology research career has centered on autonomic peripheral and central mechanisms involved in the control and regulation of blood pressure, heart rate and rhythm, and electroencephalogram. Dr. Lathers served as President Clinton's lead person on the Food Safety Program at FDA, was Director of the Office of New Animal Drug Evaluation and a Senior Advisor for Science at FDA.

Paul L. Schraeder, MD, FAAN, is Professor Emeritus of Neurology at Drexel University College of Medicine. Along with Dr. Lathers, Dr. Schraeder has spent over three decades studying and investigating the mystery of SUDEP and developed the first experimental animal models of this fatal phenomenon. Dr. Schraeder organized a collaborative nationwide survey of how coroners and medical examiners evaluate the deaths of persons with a history of epilepsy.

Jan E. Leestma, MD, MBA, is licensed as a physician in the states of Illinois and Michigan and certified by the American Board of Pathology in both Anatomic Pathology and Neuropathology. His areas of expertise and publication history include sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, viral infections of the central nervous system, and forensic neuropathology.

Braxton B. Wannamaker, MD, FAAN is Clinical Professor of Neurology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). In his long career devoted to comprehensive care of persons with epilepsy, Dr. Wannamaker has served as a member of the NINDS Epilepsy Advisory Committee, as a board member of the Epilepsy Foundation of America, a