Leading epileptologist gives 2016 John Kirker memorial lecture
Posted on: 03 November 2016
The 2016 John Kirker Memorial Lecture, named in honour of the pioneering epileptologist and Trinity College Dublin graduate Dr John Kirker, was recently delivered by Dr Sydney Cash, Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and attending epileptologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. The lecture entitled 'New Perspectives on Seizures incorporating networks, single neurons and both slow and fast activity' was presented on as a keynote talk at the Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience (IICN).
Dr Cash received his BS in Biology from Yale College before going on to pursue an MD and PhD at Columbia University in New York. He then undertook internship and residency at the Partners Neurology Residency followed by a fellowship in epilepsy at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr Cash's lab brings a wide variety of approaches to bear on understanding both normal brain function and the origins of seizure activity and attempts to answer questions on the synaptic level, neuronal level and in terms of circuit dynamics. In human subjects, they focus on the combined use of intracranial electroencephalography as well as microelectrode recordings order to measure both cortical and subcortical activity and better predict and characterize the physiology underlying seizure activity.
The John Kirker Memorial Lecture series started in 2013. Dr Kirker (1922-2011) was a Trinity College Dublin graduate and Consultant Neurologist in Sir Patrick Dunn and Beaumont Hospitals. He was a founder of the Irish Epilepsy Association (now Brainwave), and was instrumental in the development of proper clinical services for people with epilepsy in Ireland, including instituting and managing the first lectroencephalographic (EEG) equipment in the country. Dr Kirker cared deeply about Trinity and its reputation throughout his life. He left a bequest to fund an annual lecture in epilepsy, aiming to inspire interest in the study of this condition