Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9 AM EDT, March 20, 2003

THE “FIND A CURE FOR EPILEPSY” CONFERENCE

Faced with the reality that neither medications nor surgeries were able to control her epilepsy, Susan Eik Filstead looked at her physician and said: “Then we will just have to find a cure for epilepsy!”

That statement, backed by her resolve and determination, has resulted in the FIND A CURE FOR EPILEPSY conference to be held May 18-21, 2003 at the Harrison Conference Center in Lake Bluff, Illinois.

This conference brings together 15 internationally prominent neuroscientists (see attached biographies) to address the following question: WHAT DO WE NEED TO KNOW TO CURE EPILEPSY? Jointly funded by the Susan Klingenstein Fund and the Susan Eik Filstead Stroke and Epilepsy Foundation, Inc. (www.sefsef.org), the answer(s) to this question will provide a roadmap for researchers.

The potential impact of this conference can be paradigm changing as attested to by the comments from numerous scientists from across the country.

“Best wishes as these plans for a very impressive conference become a reality”
Marc W. Kirschner, Ph.D
Chair, Department of Cell Biology
Harvard Medical School

“I wish the best for a successful conference and in finding approaches to the treatment and cure of epilepsy”
H. Robert Horvitz, Ph.D
Professor of Biology, MIT
Noble Prize Laureate 2002 Physiology and Medicine

The conference participants, a small working group of researchers-clinicians, will engage in a dynamic dialogue which questions current assumptions and approaches about the causes and treatments of epilepsy. Such questioning of current paradigms and “thinking outside the box” will yield new relationships and associations among ideas that will produce a uniquely different blueprint to guide research activities.

Armed with a prioritized list of “things that we need to know” the attendees will suggest specific concrete steps that should be taken to implement this blueprint.

“Very best wishes for the success of your endeavor--open ended and wide-ranging overview meetings like this are all to rare but essential if we are to make dramatic progress against this baffling and horrible malady.”

Paul Adams, Ph.D
Professor of Neurobiology SUNY Stony Brook
MacArthur Fellow 1986

For the 2.5 million Americans with epilepsy (more than MS, muscular dystrophy and Parkinson Disease combined); the 40% that currently have no effective treatment available; and for the families of the 40,000 individuals who died from epilepsy or epilepsy related cause each year, do not give up hope.

As Mrs. Eik-Filstead is fond to point out, “You have to live with hope.” It is her hope that this conference will lead to new research that will eventually find a cure for epilepsy.

Basic Facts

• Conference Dates May 18-21, 2003
• Location Harrison Conference Center
  136 Green Bay Road
  Lake Bluff, Illinois 60044
  Phone: 847.604.6450
  Fax: 847.295.9307
• Conference Contact William J. Filstead
  Secretary/Treasurer of the
  Susan Eik Filstead Stroke and Epilepsy Foundation, Inc. (SEFSEF)
  Phone: 847.632.1926
  Fax: 847.632.1927
  Email: wjf@sefsef.org
  Web Address: www.sefsef.org
• Conference Summary Remarks/ Tuesday May 20, 2003 4:00pm CST at Harrison Conference Center
  Press Conference Contact: Sarah M. Paxon
  Phone: 847.295.1100

Note: Conference is not open to the public or media.

A cure is at the of our mission.