CURE Epilepsy

Nine prominent epilepsy organizations, including CURE Epilepsy, collaborated to create consensus priorities for the National Plan for Epilepsy. The priorities, which were shaped by the epilepsy community, are:

⬆️ Increasing coordination of epilepsy community activities and advocacy. Build on existing efforts to work more closely together on advocacy, awareness and community activities.

💻 Accelerating and integrating research, surveillance and data. Increase funding and coordination for research, public health tracking and data collection to advance cures and treatments that change the course of epilepsy and related conditions, guided by the community’s needs.

💜 Strengthening support and improving quality of life for people with epilepsy and caregivers. Improve systems and settings so people can achieve their goals, including through access to high-quality health care, meaningful work, economic opportunities and supportive education.

📢 Enhancing public awareness and education. Develop a unified national approach to dispel myths, reduce stigma and promote understanding, inclusion and respect for people with epilepsy.

🩺 Enhancing clinical care and prevention. Ensure access to comprehensive, specialized care from professionals across disciplines that addresses the whole person throughout life, and expand access to screening and interventions to prevent epilepsy in people at high risk.

Learn more about these recommendations and the National Plan for Epilepsy here:

Press Credentials Complimentary press registration is limited to working journalists of the general and scientific/trade press. Those registered as press must identify themselves as such at all times during the virtual event.

Our latest epilepsy research newsletter is out now! This month, we featured the following studies:

🧠 Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Shows Potential as a Noninvasive Approach for Drug-Resistant Epilepsy: https://bit.ly/4AkWRAp

🤕 Brain Imaging May Help Predict Post-Traumatic Epilepsy After Brain Injury: https://bit.ly/4dNigbu

💊 Restrictions on Some Anti-Seizure Medications May Create Barriers to Epilepsy Care: https://bit.ly/4yOPz6b

⌛ Intermittent Fasting with MCTs Shows a Potential Signal for Fewer Seizures in Drug-Resistant Epilepsy: https://bit.ly/3Tkg8kx

Research News + Latest Research Stay up to date with the latest developments across the epilepsy research community--from publications to news articles.

Chicago, you showed up big time this year. On Saturday, friends and family gathered for Night of Discovery 2026. Together, we raised $1.5 million to fuel our mission of finding cures for epilepsy.

We are enormously grateful to everyone who sponsored, attended, and donated to this year's annual Chicago benefit. Your passion for scientific progress and spirit of hope drive our organization forward every day.

We want to share a special thank you to our Presenting Sponsors, the Cafaro-Livingston Foundation and GCM Grosvenor, and our Diamond Sponsor, The Ann G. and James B. Ritchey Foundation, for their vital support of our mission and this year’s Night of Discovery.

There is still time to contribute to Night of Discovery here: https://e.givesmart.com/events/PxK/

Who's looking forward to the PAME: Partners Against Mortality in Epilepsy Conference this year? 🙋‍♀

Happening December 2-3 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, the PAME conference brings together families, advocates, researchers, and healthcare professionals committed to reducing epilepsy-related deaths through education, collaboration, and research.

For community members who might need a little support to attend, The Danny Did Foundation offers travel grants to help individuals participate. Travel grants are available for:

💜 Parents, caregivers, and family members who have lost a loved one to SUDEP or another epilepsy-related cause of death

✏️ Students and early-career researchers, scientists, and clinicians who may need financial assistance to attend and participate in the conference

Apply here:

Application for PAME meeting financial assistance - The Danny Did Foundation PAME Travel Assistance Application The 2026 Partners Against Mortality in Epilepsy (PAME) meeting will be held Thursday, December 3, 2026 in Atlanta, GA . The participation of parents, caregivers, persons with epilepsy, and healthcare professionals is a vital component to this meeting. A special ses...

The Scramble For A Cure golf tournament, benefiting CURE Epilepsy, was a hole-in-one!

Attendees golfed 18 holes, then enjoyed a lovely evening of dinner and drinks. This event, hosted by Team Fidelity, included a silent auction especially for golfers, a fabulous raffle, and Bottle Bonanza, where guests picked a golf ball randomly and won bottles of whiskey, liquor, and wine.

The families of Team Fidelity, who host this scramble every year, are no stranger to epilepsy and living with fear of the unknown. Honoring three epilepsy warriors, Adelaide, Lola, and Lucy, this group looks to bring awareness surrounding the circumstances of the 1 in 26 people who suffer from epilepsy and the urgent need for a cure.

Thank you, Team Fidelity!

Thank you to former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich for sharing his epilepsy story publicly. We so appreciate you raising awareness and especially calling out how significantly underfunded epilepsy research is!

Subject to Fits My epilepsy

Bid for a chance to take home one of several unforgettable experiences and exclusive packages, including a round of golf at the world-renowned Shoreacres, a Phoenix Suns VIP getaway with luxury accommodations, a premium home bar package, a membership preview at BIAN, and more.

No matter where you live, you can bid on these luxury prizes. Learn more: https://e.givesmart.com/events/PxK/i/_Auction/

At a time when instability across the federal research landscape is putting scientific progress at risk, CURE Epilepsy is stepping forward with a new initiative: Meet the Moment.

Made possible through the generosity of our Board of Directors, major donors, and industry partners, Meet the Moment is a rapid-response funding effort designed to help researchers navigate growing challenges, including funding delays, policy changes, operational barriers, and disruptions to training and collaboration.

Launching alongside our existing grant programs, Meet the Moment will provide immediate support through two new funding mechanisms; Bridge to Breakthrough and Protecting Our Progress.

💜 Bridge to Breakthrough Grants: Four hundred thousand dollars in initial grants will provide essential support to early-career researchers as they establish independent laboratories. The inaugural cohort will focus on former CURE Epilepsy Taking Flight grantees with highly scored but unfunded NIH applications, helping them strengthen proposals, generate additional data, and remain competitive when reapplying for federal funding.

💜 Protecting Our Progress Grants: Two hundred thousand dollars in initial grants will provide emergency support to researchers facing immediate threats to their research programs due to changing federal policies. Funding may be used for staff salaries, laboratory supplies, or other justified expenses affected by delayed federal funding, limitations on collaboration, or other policy-related constraints, ensuring that critical research continues uninterrupted. The first cohort will focus on former CURE Epilepsy grantees.

Today, we're announcing the initial Bridge to Breakthrough awardees (pending contracting), who represent some of the most promising scientists in epilepsy research today:

Dr. Ankit Khambhati, UCSF, Structural Foundations of Human Neurostimulation for Epilepsy: Integrating High-Field MRI with Direct Brain Recordings

Dr. Ranmal Samarasinghe, UCLA, Human Brain Assembloids as a Platform to Model Region-Specific Pathology in SCN8A-Related Epileptic Encephalopathy

Dr. Lauren Lau, Massachusetts General Hospital, Multi-Scale Study of In Vivo Seizure Dynamics

Dr. James Niemeyer, Cornell University, The Control of Generalized Seizures by Hyperexcitatory Midbrain and Thalamic Circuits

Learn more here:

CURE Epilepsy Launches Meet the Moment Initiative to Protect Epilepsy Research Amid Growing Federal Disruptions New $600,000 investment--part of a $1.25 million special campaign--will sustain promising science, retain talented investigators, and accelerate the search for cures

Jesse has lived with epilepsy for 22 years. Can you relate to his story?

"My name is Jesse and I am a 28-year-old man with epilepsy from Long Island, New York. I am someone who has been living with this extremely terrible neurological disorder for 22 years. My first seizure occurred at the very end of my first-grade year during June of 2004 causing me to fall without knowing."

"Due to becoming an epileptic and needing to fight the epilepsy for so many years, my entire family and I have been using many different medical hospitals in the northeast. Throughout the years, I have had lots of different medical tests and had two major surgeries. My two major surgeries were a VNS implant and a RNS implant. My parents and I make sure to communicate and stay in touch with every neurologist and surgeon I have used over the years."

"I am someone who has experienced lots of terrible incidents over the years from many of my bad seizures. Grand mal seizures have caused me to fall sometimes, lose consciousness, and even need to get stitches from getting hurt so badly. My bad seizures may even be without any strange hallucinations or warnings. Epilepsy has also really affected my independence, making me need to use one on ones in different schools over the years."

"Living with epilepsy has also caused many different conflicts with my parents, other family members, and aids. However, I am someone who always appreciates all the love and care I get. The conflicts that I often experience mostly are tons of false claims, impossible and incapable time limits for certain things, not appropriate age treatments, extra safety reminders when not needed, and extra health awareness. By having these conflicts throughout life, I understandably have not liked to be someone with disabilities and epilepsy for so many years. It has been so hard managing to live with epilepsy and getting through life."

Our CURE Epilepsy Champions on the east coast are busy this month! Are you able to attend any of these fun events?