Epilepsy & Behavior 44 (2015) 250
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Epilepsy & Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/yebeh
Editorial
Looking back and moving forward
In this issue of Epilepsy & Behavior, we are initiating a new category of paper entitled “Reflections on a Career in Epilepsy”. These contributions will come from emeritus clinical and basic science researchers in the field of epilepsy who will provide a brief autobiographical narrative of their careers which, collectively, will begin to paint a mosaic of the recent history of advances in epilepsy research and care. By design, these pieces are completely unstructured from the point of view of E&B. That is, in a limited number of pages, the authors are free to relate whatever they wish regarding their work and careers, the context in which their work occurred, core mentors and colleagues, successes and failures, lessons learned, perceptions of the status of their field and the way forward, and/or whatever else they may wish to comment on. The slate is blank and theirs to complete. We often tend to know and appreciate our colleagues through relatively brief snippets of contact and information over time—their latest (or most visible) work and publications, activities in professional organizations, and discussions with students and colleagues about their work and findings. It is typically at relaxed social settings, sometimes at meetings and sometimes during university visits, when the conversation turns to personal autobiographical issues. In fact, the impetus for this initiative originated from a spontaneous dinner at the end of the European Epilepsy Congress in Stockholm. Ann Jacoby mentioned her upcoming retirement, and the ensuing discussion turned to various aspects of her career, what she considered her most important and best contributions (never what you think they will be), successes and near misses—the sorts of things that one rarely hears about in detail—but which are informative and, we thought, of interest to the larger community. In addition, junior neurologists and junior epileptologists will gain considerably from the perspective of emeritus neuroscientists. These will not be easy pieces to write. How does one best communicate the broad landscape of their career as well as the most important
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2015.01.003 1525-5050/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
and salient details, what learned lessons does one want to convey to colleagues and junior investigators, what exactly does one want the historical record to reflect—all to be articulated in a limited amount of space? We are honored to have an initial group of scientists committed to this endeavor. They are, and will continue to be, representative of the clinical and basic sciences, specialists from a diversity of areas within adult and pediatric epilepsy, with very varied interests but with the common bond of a life in epilepsy spent trying to improve care and quality of life for people with epilepsy. We think that these will be very interesting contributions and are honored to have this series initiated by Professor Ann Jacoby. Conflict of interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. Bruce Hermann Corresponding author at: Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA. Tel.: +1 608 263 5430; fax: +1 608 265 6550. E-mail address: [email protected]. Steven Schachter Harvard Medical School Marco Mula Atkinson Morley Regional Neuroscience Centre, Epilepsy Group, St George's Hospital, Blackshaw Road, London, SW17 0QT, England, UK 2 January 2015
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Epilepsy & Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/yebeh
Editorial
Looking back and moving forward
In this issue of Epilepsy & Behavior, we are initiating a new category of paper entitled “Reflections on a Career in Epilepsy”. These contributions will come from emeritus clinical and basic science researchers in the field of epilepsy who will provide a brief autobiographical narrative of their careers which, collectively, will begin to paint a mosaic of the recent history of advances in epilepsy research and care. By design, these pieces are completely unstructured from the point of view of E&B. That is, in a limited number of pages, the authors are free to relate whatever they wish regarding their work and careers, the context in which their work occurred, core mentors and colleagues, successes and failures, lessons learned, perceptions of the status of their field and the way forward, and/or whatever else they may wish to comment on. The slate is blank and theirs to complete. We often tend to know and appreciate our colleagues through relatively brief snippets of contact and information over time—their latest (or most visible) work and publications, activities in professional organizations, and discussions with students and colleagues about their work and findings. It is typically at relaxed social settings, sometimes at meetings and sometimes during university visits, when the conversation turns to personal autobiographical issues. In fact, the impetus for this initiative originated from a spontaneous dinner at the end of the European Epilepsy Congress in Stockholm. Ann Jacoby mentioned her upcoming retirement, and the ensuing discussion turned to various aspects of her career, what she considered her most important and best contributions (never what you think they will be), successes and near misses—the sorts of things that one rarely hears about in detail—but which are informative and, we thought, of interest to the larger community. In addition, junior neurologists and junior epileptologists will gain considerably from the perspective of emeritus neuroscientists. These will not be easy pieces to write. How does one best communicate the broad landscape of their career as well as the most important
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2015.01.003 1525-5050/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
and salient details, what learned lessons does one want to convey to colleagues and junior investigators, what exactly does one want the historical record to reflect—all to be articulated in a limited amount of space? We are honored to have an initial group of scientists committed to this endeavor. They are, and will continue to be, representative of the clinical and basic sciences, specialists from a diversity of areas within adult and pediatric epilepsy, with very varied interests but with the common bond of a life in epilepsy spent trying to improve care and quality of life for people with epilepsy. We think that these will be very interesting contributions and are honored to have this series initiated by Professor Ann Jacoby. Conflict of interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. Bruce Hermann Corresponding author at: Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA. Tel.: +1 608 263 5430; fax: +1 608 265 6550. E-mail address: [email protected]. Steven Schachter Harvard Medical School Marco Mula Atkinson Morley Regional Neuroscience Centre, Epilepsy Group, St George's Hospital, Blackshaw Road, London, SW17 0QT, England, UK 2 January 2015
