Annamaria Vezzani

Vezzani holds a PhD in neuropharmacology and completed postdoctoral research at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the University of Maryland in the US, as well as a sabbatical at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

She is Head of the Laboratory of Epilepsy and Therapeutic Strategies at the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, Italy. Her research focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying seizures and epileptogenesis, the process by which the brain develops epilepsy, with the aim of identifying new treatments and biomarkers.

Vezzani has published more than 200 original research papers, as well as numerous book chapters and reviews in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

She has held several leadership roles within the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), including Chair of its Commission on Neurobiology from 2005 to 2009 and membership of the Commission on European Affairs from 2013 to 2017. She was also a member of the Innovative Medicines Initiative Scientific Committee from 2018 to 2019 and has served on editorial boards and committees for the American Epilepsy Society and the ILAE.

She currently chairs the Task Force on Research Sustainability within the ILAE Climate Change Commission. In 2009, she received the American Epilepsy Society’s Research Recognition Award for translational research.