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Cynthia L. Harden Research in Women with Epilepsy Award

About the Cynthia Louise Harden Research Award

The Cynthia Louise Harden Award supports vital research on neuroendocrine issues in women and girls with epilepsy. Dr. Harden’s work reveals epilepsy as an endocrine disruptor, highlighting the importance of reproductive health. The award encourages exploration into poorly understood aspects, fostering progress in sexual health, menopause, and bone health.

Apply Here

About Cynthia Louise Harden

Cynthia Louise Harden, MD, FAES, is a founding board member of My Epilepsy Story. Dr. Harden graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire with a degree in chemistry. She then achieved her MD degree at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in Madison Wisconsin. Dr. Harden trained in internal medicine for two years at St. Lukes Hospital in Harlem, NY, followed by a neurology residency at Mount Sinai Hospital, also in NYC. She completed a fellowship in clinical neurophysiology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY. She has enjoyed a long and varied career in academic medicine, publishing numerous original research papers and neurology guidelines within the American Academy of Neurology. She has held numerous leadership positions in the American Epilepsy Society. Clinically, she has a track record of successful clinical leadership in comprehensive epilepsy program development, most recently for the Mount Sinai Health System in NYC. She left academia for the challenge of working in the pharmaceutical industry to bring the perspective of patient centered care as well new therapies for patients living with epilepsy. Dr. Harden’s passion has been women’s health from the beginning. She has never shied away from talking about and address women’s health topics that are “taboo” in our society such as sexual health, menopause and SUDEP. As the great scientist, Albert Einstein once said, “It’s not that I am so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.” Dr. Harden is extremely smart and has done exactly this throughout her career, stayed with all the questions about women’s health and never given up.

The Cynthia Louise Harden Award is intended to support research into neuroendocrine problems for women and girls with epilepsy. Dr. Harden’s research has provided evidence that epilepsy itself is an endocrine disruptor and women with epilepsy potentially are more neurologically stable when their reproductive status is normal and robust. Dr. Harden and her research colleagues have shown that frequent seizures are associated with earlier-than-expected ovarian failure (menopause) and that robust ovarian reserve as evidenced by a high antimullerian hormone level may associate with seizure control. They have also shown that inability to conceive is in general not a problem for young women with epilepsy. However, endocrine influences associated with a catamenial seizure pattern remain poorly understood and effective interventions for such remain elusive. Treatment options for endocrine risks have not been explored

since a study evaluating the potential adverse effect of exogenous estrogens on seizure frequency for menopausal women.

 

There are clearly many aspects of reproductive health for women with epilepsy that need further clarification through research. Sexual health and menopause no longer need to be considered taboo in our society and need to be addressed immediately for women. In addition to the above discussed topics, management and maintenance of bone health is also an area of dire need.

 

My Epilepsy Story (MES) is excited to unveil the Cynthia Louise Harden Award for 2024 and we look forward to providing more details in the coming months. Start bringing your research ideas together to apply for this award.

Dr. Cynthia Louise Harden MD, FAES

“I have found that having a humble outlook is the most effective and comprehensive way to open your heart and mind to gain an understanding of everyone and everything around you. My advice is that you should live your life bravely, kindly and with love and conviction and don’t worry too much about what people think of you. You can achieve your goals through this strategy. However, be aware that claiming your free will is at times threatening to those who cannot be this brave.”

Cynthia Louise Harden, M.D.

Award Criteria and Instructions

  • Applicant must be the first author on the abstract submitted to AES.
  • Applicant must be an AES member.
  • Applicant must not have received this award in the last 5 years.
  • Physicians at the early career level after fellowship and within 7 years of completing training, no higher academic title than Assistant Professor, and Instructors may be considered.
  • If chosen for this award, you MUST attend the AES Annual Meeting and the Women’s Issue SIG (where the award will be presented). If you do not attend the annual meeting, the award will be forfeited.
  • AES will announce the awardees and their poster titles in the Program Book.

Please visit the American Epilepsy Society (AES) website to apply for this research award by following the Kimford J. Meador Research Award link below.

Apply Here

If you would like to donate to the Kimford J. Meador Research in Women with Epilepsy Award, please donate here:  Meador Research Award  or please contact us at:

My Epilepsy Story (MES)
2817 West End Ave
Suite 126-426
Nashville, TN 37203-1453
615.822.4224

Current and Past Recipients

Meet the current and past recipients of the Kimford J. Meador Research in Women with Epilepsy Award

Dr. Yi Li

Dr. Yi Li

2022 Award Recipient

Dr. Yi Li is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Stanford University. Originally from China, she completed her MD/PhD training under Dr. Bo Xiao at Central South University in China and under Dr. Carolyn Houser at UCLA. Her PhD research was in epileptogenesis and neurogenesis in animal models of epilepsy. She then joined the neurology residency program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, followed by an epilepsy fellowship at Stanford University. Since her fellowship, she has had the honor of working under the mentorship of Dr. Kimford Meador and Dr. Michael Snyder, who are experts in behavioral neurology and genetics. 

Dr Li’s interests include women with epilepsy, precision medicine, genetics in epilepsy, and improving quality of patient care. Her current endeavor is to find genetic biomarkers that may help identify neurodevelopmental risks in children born to women with epilepsy. She is part of an expert team that focuses on women’s health in the neurology department at Stanford. Dr. Li is also currently developing a genetic epilepsy clinical program at Stanford, and her long-term goal is to help build a model that integrates both clinical and genetic information to improve the care and treatment of women with epilepsy.

Naveed Chaudry, M.D.

2021 Award Recipient

Dr. Naveed Chaudhry is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He is also the Director of the Adult Epilepsy Diet Center and the Associate Medical Director of their Highlands Ranch Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU).

He was born and raised in Upstate New York and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland, College Park. He completed his medical degree at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine, followed by an internship in Internal Medicine and residency in Neurology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where he served as Chief Resident during his final year. Most recently he completed a two-year fellowship in Epilepsy at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

During his epilepsy fellowship, he became interested in the management of women with epilepsy. Through his clinical experiences, he discovered epileptologists had a unique and special relationship with women with epilepsy by helping them throughout their pregnancy. Under the mentorship of Drs. Emily Johnson and Gregory Bergey he began to develop a stronger interest in this field and started on clinical research projects. His current research is looking at life stressors in women with epilepsy compared to women without epilepsy. Additionally, he has co-authored a book chapter on preconception counseling that is forthcoming.

His additional research interests include global health, dietary therapies for epilepsy, and quality improvement in the EMU.

 

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Dr. Kimberly Ndahayo

2023 Award Recipient

Dr. Kimberly Ndahayo is a Senior Instructor of Neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine with her Doctor of Nursing Practice, Family Nurse Practitioner. Born in Washington D.C. into an Army family, she moved several times but spent most of her life in Colorado. She completed her undergraduate nursing with Hannibal LaGrange University and specialized in pediatric neurology and neurosurgery at Saint Louis Children’s Hospital as well as Children’s Hospital Colorado. She further specialized as the Neurofibromatosis coordinator at Children’s Hospital Colorado. She then went on to complete her Master’s in Family Nurse Practitioner with Chamberlain University and subsequently started in her current role as a Senior Instructor in the Epilepsy Division at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

She has a special interest in quality improvement work and completed her Doctor of Nursing Practice through the University of Colorado, completing a quality improvement project on improving women’s health in epilepsy. Her passion is providing excellent patient care and equipping patients though education, knowledge and empowerment to better care for themselves and their loved ones. Her expertise includes surgical epilepsy care, women’s health and pregnancy epilepsy care, non-epileptic seizure diagnosis and treatment and her current work on the pediatric to adult transition of care for complex epilepsies. 

Moving forward, Dr. Ndahayo plans to continue to expand her knowledge on the unique issues faced by women with a diagnosis of epilepsy and work to minimize preventable health disparity in this population. 

Dr. Yi Li

Dr. Yi Li

2022 Award Recipient

Dr. Yi Li is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Stanford University. Originally from China, she completed her MD/PhD training under Dr. Bo Xiao at Central South University in China and under Dr. Carolyn Houser at UCLA. Her PhD research was in epileptogenesis and neurogenesis in animal models of epilepsy. She then joined the neurology residency program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, followed by an epilepsy fellowship at Stanford University. Since her fellowship, she has had the honor of working under the mentorship of Dr. Kimford Meador and Dr. Michael Snyder, who are experts in behavioral neurology and genetics. 

Dr Li’s interests include women with epilepsy, precision medicine, genetics in epilepsy, and improving quality of patient care. Her current endeavor is to find genetic biomarkers that may help identify neurodevelopmental risks in children born to women with epilepsy. She is part of an expert team that focuses on women’s health in the neurology department at Stanford. Dr. Li is also currently developing a genetic epilepsy clinical program at Stanford, and her long-term goal is to help build a model that integrates both clinical and genetic information to improve the care and treatment of women with epilepsy.

Naveed Chaudry, M.D.

2021 Award Recipient

Dr. Naveed Chaudhry is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He is also the Director of the Adult Epilepsy Diet Center and the Associate Medical Director of their Highlands Ranch Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU).

He was born and raised in Upstate New York and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland, College Park. He completed his medical degree at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine, followed by an internship in Internal Medicine and residency in Neurology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where he served as Chief Resident during his final year. Most recently he completed a two-year fellowship in Epilepsy at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

During his epilepsy fellowship, he became interested in the management of women with epilepsy. Through his clinical experiences, he discovered epileptologists had a unique and special relationship with women with epilepsy by helping them throughout their pregnancy. Under the mentorship of Drs. Emily Johnson and Gregory Bergey he began to develop a stronger interest in this field and started on clinical research projects. His current research is looking at life stressors in women with epilepsy compared to women without epilepsy. Additionally, he has co-authored a book chapter on preconception counseling that is forthcoming.

His additional research interests include global health, dietary therapies for epilepsy, and quality improvement in the EMU.

 

Sally Mathias, M.D.

2020 Award Recipient

Dr. Sally Mathias specializes in the care of adults and adolescents with epilepsy. Originally from India, she completed her neurology residency at University of Kentucky followed by a fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology epilepsy track at Vanderbilt University. After her fellowship, Dr. Mathias joined as Assistant Professor of Neurology and Epilepsy at University of Kentucky and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky. She is also the Associate Program Director of the Adult Neurology Residency Program at University of Kentucky. Her clinical interests are women’s epilepsy, especially pregnancy and epilepsy, epilepsy surgery, and status epilepticus. 

Dr. Mathias is actively involved in clinical research in the topics pertaining to her clinical interests while also involving trainees in quality improvement projects. She has co-authored a book chapter on “seizures” in a maternal-fetal medicine textbook, and another book chapter is underway. She is currently one of the collaborators on a Practice Improvement Project (PIP) for pre-pregnancy counseling/ folic acid use for the American Epilepsy Society (AES) practice management committee.

 

Deepti Zutshi

2019 Award Recipient

Dr. Deepti Zutshi is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Wayne State University School of Medicine. After completing medical school in the 6-year BS/MD program at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Florida, she continued her residency and fellowship training at Emory University in Atlanta. It was under the guidance of mentors such as Kimford Meador, Suzette LaRoche and Sandy Helmers that developed a strong interest in women’s health, pregnancy and epilepsy and critical care electroencephalography. 

After Dr. Zutshi joined Wayne State, she immediately perceived that women with epilepsy were not receiving dedicated epilepsy care, counseling and family planning. Furthermore, Detroit was nationally recognized as having one of the nation’s highest infant mortality rates with the possibility that women with epilepsy were even further affected by this statistic. This led to launching the High Risk Epilepsy and Pregnancy clinic at the Detroit Medical Center which has thrived over the last six years. Collaborating with high risk pregnancy and materno-fetal medicine specialists, Dr. Zutshi has established a clinical practice, patient outreach and education and clinical research in working with women with epilepsy living in an urban environment.

Looking to the future, Dr. Zutshi hopes to use her knowledge and experience in helping women with epilepsy achieve healthy and successful pregnancies through education and outreach.  As she was once mentored, she also enjoys educating other physicians and budding neurologists on how to take care of women with epilepsy. 

P. Emanuela Voinescu, M.D., Ph.D.

2018 Award Recipient

Dr. P. Emanuela Voinescu is a Junior Faculty/ Investigator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/ Harvard Medical School. Originally from Romania, she started on the research path when, during medical school, she won summer undergraduate fellowships at the California Institute of Technology and worked under the mentorship of Dr. Mary B. Kennedy.  After a solid training in the molecular underpinning of synaptic specificity and plasticity, as a Ph.D. student in the lab of Dr. Joshua R. Sanes at Harvard University, she pursued clinical training in Neurology and subspecialized in Epilepsy, a fascinating disease where the neuronal connections are dysfunctional.

She is currently focusing her clinical and research efforts to improve the care of women with epilepsy of childbearing age, working closely with Dr. Page B. Pennell. Her research so far has focused on optimizing the selection of the antiepileptic regimen in the preconception settings and fine-tuning it to adequately compensate for the specific drug clearance changes during pregnancy.

Her most recent work revealed that women with frontal lobe epilepsy have the highest risk for seizures worsening during pregnancy, even with adequate therapeutic dose monitoring. For most pregnant women, seizure worsening starts predominantly in the second trimester. She plans to look further into the physiological underpinnings of this finding.  Dr. Voinescu’s long-term goals are to work toward deciphering how the complex interplay between sex hormones and genes influences the pathophysiology of epilepsy, the response to treatment, and drug metabolism.

 

Michael Owen Kinney, BSc, MB, BCh, BAO, MRCP (U.K.)

Dr. Michael Kinney is originally from Ballymena, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland. He now lives and works in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the Royal Victoria Hospital, the main neurosciences center in Northern Ireland. He is completing his training in Neurology and has worked in various hospitals in Northern Ireland during his training.

Dr. Kinney initially obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and went on to obtain his medical degree with distinction from the Queen’s University, Belfast in July 2008, and obtained membership of the Royal College of Physicians (UK) in 2012, completing the Neurology Specialty certificate exam in 2015. He is a member of the American Epilepsy Society, Irish Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, and the Association of British Neurologists.

Kinney has been interested in epilepsy since the early days of his training in neurology, including the issues around epilepsy and pregnancy. He owes a debt of gratitude to the strong mentorship that he received in this regard from the main investigators of the UK and Ireland Epilepsy and Pregnancy register; Drs John Craig, Jim Morrow, Stephen Hunt, and Ms. Beth Irwin.

Currently, Dr. Kinney is undertaking a sabbatical in New York City at the Langone Medical Centre, Comprehensive Epilepsy Centre, NYU to develop his understanding of electroencephalography and the surgical management of epilepsy. He has published work related to status epilepticus, epilepsy, and pregnancy, and currently, his goal is to continue to carry out research in epilepsy upon his return to Ireland.

 

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Disclaimer: Education materials on our website offer general medical information based on up-to-date evidence and, when available, practice guidelines. They are not intended for individual medical advice. Please refer to your treating physician to understand how this information may be applied to your care.

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We are an International, non-profit organization that serves to bridge the gap for women and girls diagnosed with epilepsy.

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Resources

Stay Updated

Receive valuable content and personal stories from other women and girls just like yourself.

Disclaimer: Education materials on our website offer general medical information based on up-to-date evidence and, when available, practice guidelines. They are not intended for individual medical advice. Please refer to your treating physician to understand how this information may be applied to your care.

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