Shaping the future of epilepsy care: highlights from AES 2025

In early December, several doctors, fellows and faculty from the division of Neurology at Children’s National Hospital attended the American Epilepsy Society (AES) Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.

This meeting unites a global community of child and pediatric neurologists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, neuropsychologists, psychologists, basic translational and clinical scientists, advanced practice providers, advocates and industry professionals to share scientific breakthroughs, foster collaboration and improve outcomes for people living with epilepsy.

Children’s National experts were featured throughout the program, presenting on a wide range of topics in pediatric epilepsy.

Sessions and Workshops

• Chima Oluigbo, MD: Epilepsy Surgery Skills Workshop | Overcoming Complications in Epilepsy Surgery
• Dana Harrar, MD, PhD: Resident EEG Course
• Hua Xie, PhD: Neuroimaging platform | Thalamo-lesional Connectivity Profile Predicting Focal to Bilateral Tonic-Clonic Seizures in Focal Cortical Dysplasia-related Epilepsy
• John Schreiber, MD: Investigators Workshop | Mortality in DEEs Across the Lifespan: Timing, Causes and Prevention
• Leigh Sepeta, PhD: Investigators Workshop | Hippocampal Long Axis Differentiation in Memory and Seizure Networks
• Sara Preisendanz, MS, RD, CSP, LD: Professional Development | Career Pathways: Interprofessional Panel
• Syed Anwar, PhD, MS: Pediatric State of the Art Symposium | Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery: It’s Not Just About Resection

Poster Presentations

• An Infantile Epileptic Spasms Syndrome Multidisciplinary Program: One Center’s Experience, Kathryn Havens, MS, PA-C, Sun-Young Ahn, MD, Kathleen Bender, BA, Carrin Brandt, LMFT, Hannah Grindling, MMSc, LCGC, Melissa Liggett, PhD, Archana Pasupuleti, MD, Monica Rush, BSN, RN, CPN, Anne Vasiliadis, MSN, CPNP-AC, Sanam Zarei, MD, William D. Gaillard, MD, Wei-Liang Chen, MD
• Anxiety in a Multi-site Focal Epilepsy Pediatric Cohort: Predictive Factors and Risk, Hayley Loblein, PhD, Madison Berl, PhD, William D. Gaillard, MD, Chima Oluigbo, MD, Leigh Sepeta, PhD
• Characteristics Affecting Decision to Not Offer Epilepsy Surgery Following Presurgical Evaluation Across US Pediatric Epilepsy Centers, Dewi Depositario-Cabacar, MD, Cemal Karakas, MD
• Connectivity based Determination of Autism and Epilepsy Shared Neuroanatomical Substrates, Sienna Williams, BS, Samantha Werner, MA, Hua Xie, PhD, Priyanka Venkata Sita Illapani, MSc, Arini Bhargava, BS, Sonya Leikin, BS, Cemal Karakas, MD, Ana Moreno Chaza, BS, Amy Mistri, BS, Madison Berl, PhD
• Effects of the Hippocampus, Neighborhood and Seizure lateralization on Memory in Children, Sonya Leikin, BS, Priyanka Venkata Sita Illapani, MSc, Samantha Werner, MA, Hua Xie, PhD, Chima Oluigbo, MD, Marcin Gierdalski, PhD, Hayley Loblein, PhD, Madison Berl, PhD, William D. Gaillard, MD, Leigh Sepeta, PhD
• Evaluating dysfunction in glymphatic system in temporal lobe epilepsy with DTI-ALPS, Priyanka Venkata Sita Illapani, MSc, William D. Gaillard, MD, Madison Berl, PhD, Leigh Sepeta, PhD
• Evaluating the Role of Functional Network Co-localization in Parent-Reported Depression and Anxiety in FCD-related Epilepsy, Xiaotong Li, BA, Priyanka Venkata Sita Illapani, MSc, Sonya Leikin, BS, Hua Xie, PhD, Chima Oluigbo, MD, Gilbert Vezina, MD, William D. Gaillard, MD, Hayley Loblein, PhD, Perrine Heymann, PhD, Leigh Sepeta, PhD, Madison Berl, PhD, Nathan Cohen, MD
• Factors Associated with Invasive Extraoperative Electroencephalography Monitoring in Pediatric Drug-Resistant Epilepsy due to Focal Cortical Dysplasia, Cemal Karakas, MD, Dewi Depositario-Cabacar, MD, William D. Gaillard, MD, Chima Oluigbo, MD, Nathan Cohen, MD
• Factors associated with rapid treatment for status epilepticus: Data from the Quality Improvement in Time to Treat Status Epilepticus (QuiTT-SE) baseline cohort, Dana Harrar, MD, PhD, William D. Gaillard, MD
• Feasibility of implementation of an age-based guideline for PCPC scoring, Dana Harrar, MD, PhD
• Gamma Synchrony Correlating with Less Autistic Severity in Epilepsy Patients: SEEG Evidence from Amygdala-Hippocampal Coherence, Leigh Sepeta, PhD, Samantha Werner, MA, Sienna Williams, BS, Priyanka Venkata Sita Illapani, MSc, Sonya Leikin, BS, Cemal Karakas, MD, Ana Moreno Chaza, BS, Madison Berl, PhD, Nathan Cohen, MD, William D. Gaillard, MD, Chima Oluigbo, MD, Hua Xie, PhD
• Graph Learning to Predict Seizure Outcomes in Pediatrics using Thalamic sEEG, William D. Gaillard, MD, Chima Oluigbo, MD
• International Consensus on the Evaluation and Management of Hypothalamic Hamartomas: Results from a Modified Delphi Survey, Nathan Cohen, MD, Xiaotong Li, BS, Madison Berl, PhD, Chima Oluigbo, MD, William D. Gaillard, MD
• Language Mapping in Pediatric Epilepsy: Concordance of Lateralization Across Bilingual and Monolingual Patients, Ana Moreno Chaza, BS, Sonya Leikin, BS, Xiaotong Li, BS, Priyanka Venkata Sita Illapani, MSc, Hua Xie, PhD, William D. Gaillard, MD, Madison Berl, PhD, Leigh Sepeta, PhD
• Outcomes of thalamic neuromodulation in pediatric drug-resistant epilepsy: A multicenter analysis from Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium (PERC) Surgery Database, Chima Oluigbo, MD
• Prevalence of Comorbid Phenotypic Features in Genetic Epilepsies, Chloe Hooker, BS, Khloe Fleming, Rachel Weaver, MS, John Schreiber, MD
• Quantifying Arterial Spin Labeling MRI in Pediatric Focal Cortical Dysplasia-Related Epilepsy, Hua Xie, PhD, Xiaotong Li, BS, Priyanka Venkata Sita Illapani, MSc, Gilbert Vezina, MD, Chima Oluigbo, MD, William D. Gaillard, MD, Nathan Cohen, MD
• Thalamo-lesional Connectivity Profile Predicting Focal to Bilateral Tonic-Clonic Seizures in Focal Cortical Dysplasia-related Epilepsy, Hua Xie, PhD, Xiaotong Li, BS, Priyanka Venkata Sita Illapani, MSc, Leigh Sepeta, PhD, Madison Berl, PhD, William D. Gaillard, MD, Nathan Cohen, MD
• Zorevunersen Demonstrates Disease-modifying Potential in Patients with Dravet Syndrome with Increases in Seizure-free Days, Improvements in Quality of Life, and Benefits in Overall Functioning, John Schreiber, MD

To learn more about the meeting, visit the AES website for additional information.