Legal Status
Epilepsy Alliance Europe Ltd has charitable status and is registered in Ireland as a company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital (CRO Number: 549872).
Memorandum & Articles of Association
The main objectives of Epilepsy Alliance Europe are to:
- Promote research into the epidemiology, causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of epilepsy and its comorbidities.
- Advance and disseminate awareness and knowledge concerning the epilepsies.
- Establish epilepsy as a healthcare priority in Europe.
- Protect the rights of people with epilepsy by fighting stigma, prejudice and unjustified life restrictions.
Epilepsy Alliance Europe collaborates with medical centres, technology companies, universities, hospitals, epilepsy organisations, the pharmaceutical industry and other groups. It also develops information programmes to raise awareness and understanding of epilepsy in the general public, in people with epilepsy and in those who care for them to develop interventions to dispel stigma and to protect the rights of people with epilepsy.
To achieve its objectives, Epilepsy Alliance Europe:
- Works to secure funding for research and education in connection with the epidemiology, causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of epilepsy and its comorbidities in Europe and in other regions
- Develops EU funded programmes to improve research into the epidemiology, cause, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of epilepsy and its comorbidities
- Seeks to participate in other European Union funded programmes aimed at improving knowledge about epilepsy, quality of epilepsy care and cost-effectiveness of interventions in people with epilepsy.
Directors
The Board of Directors comprises of one nomination of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), one nomination of the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE) and one nomination agreed jointly by the Presidents of ILAE and IBE. In accordance with Irish company law, the majority of members of the Board are resident in Ireland. The term of the Directors mirrors the term of the Executive Committees of ILAE and IBE, with Directors retiring at the time of the General Assemblies of the International League Against Epilepsy and the International Bureau for Epilepsy, held every four years.
Emilio Perucca (Italy)
Prof. Emilio Perucca obtained a M.D. degree at the University of Pavia in 1975, a Ph.D Diploma at the University of London in 1980 and a Specialization in Neurology at the University of Pavia in 1982. He trained as a neurologist and clinical pharmacologist at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, London. He is currently Professor at the University of Pavia and Director of the Clinical Trial Centre at the C. Mondino National Neurological Institute in Pavia. He is President of the International League against Epilepsy (ILAE).
In 1997 he received the Ambassador for Epilepsy Award presented jointly by the ILAE and the IBE. He is a member of the Editorial/Advisory Boards of several journals, including Epilepsia, Epileptic Disorders, Epilepsy Research, Seizure, Lancet Neurology, and CNS Drugs. He co-edited several international textbooks and authored over 400 Pubmed-listed publications in the field of clinical pharmacology and epilepsy therapy, with an H-Index (Scopus) of 65 and a Citation Index of 15,183. Dr. Perucca’s research activities have focused on the clinical pharmacology of antiepileptic drugs, the drug treatment of seizure disorders, clinical trial methodology and assessment of outcome in people with epilepsy.
Norman Delanty (Ireland)
After graduating from University College Cork in 1988, Prof Norman Delanty B.Sc., FRCPI trained in general medicine in Cork and Dublin before completing a neurology residency at Cornell Medical Center, New York. He then moved to Philadelphia to a fellowship at Penn Epilepsy Center, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. In 2000, he returned to Dublin to take up a position as consultant neurologist at Beaumont Hospital where he runs the epilepsy service.
He is also Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). He has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, and has edited a book on acute symptomatic seizures, entitled Seizures: Medical causes and management. He has served as the treasurer of the Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and the secretary of the Irish Neurological Association. He has been President of the Irish chapter of the International League Against Epilepsy.
Ann Little (Ireland)
Ann Little studied at University College Dublin and received a BA degree in 1973 and a H. Dip in Ed. in 1974. She has been involved with the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE) since 1997, serving as its Executive Director since 2001. With a previous background in journalism, she is also Editor and coordinator of the IBE quarterly newsletter International Epilepsy News.
She has represented IBE on a number of EU funded projects in which IBE has been a partner charged with dissemination work packages. She is currently President of the European Federation of Neurological Associations, a Pan-European umbrella group of more than 20 neurological patient organisations working in Europe.
Members
The Company has eight members – four of whom are the nominees each of the IBE and the ILAE. The Directors may from time to time register an increase of the number of members to a total of 9.
The term of the Members mirrors the term of the Executive Committees of the IBE and the ILAE, with Members retiring at the time of the General Assemblies of the ILAE and the IBE, held every four years at the end of the terms of office.
Ed Bertram
ILAE Secretary General
Martin Brodie
IBE President
Helen Cross
ILAE Treasurer
Mary Secco
IBE Secretary General
Eugen Trinka
ILAE Chair, Commission of European Affairs
Sam Wiebe
ILAE President
Anthony Zimba
IBE Treasurer