Developing 21st Century Medicines
Professor Marc Dichter, MD, PhD
Science Advisory Board Member
ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP
Emeritus Professor of Neurology and Pharmacology, University of Pennsylvania
Former Director, Penn Epilepsy Center
Former Director, David Mahoney Institute of Neurological Sciences
Past President, American Epilepsy Society
HONORS AND DISTINCTIONS
NINDS Javits Award
Fulbright Fellowship
William G. Lennox Award, American Epilepsy Society
ASPET Award for Research in Antiepileptic Drugs
Solomon Berson Distinguished Alumnus Award, New York University
Professor Marc Dichter, M.D., Ph.D., is an internationally recognized neurologist and neuroscientist whose work has advanced the understanding and treatment of epilepsy. He is Emeritus Professor of Neurology and Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he served for 20 years as Director of the Penn Epilepsy Center and previously directed the David Mahoney Institute of Neurological Sciences.
Professor Dichter earned his undergraduate degree from Queens College of the City University of New York and his M.D. and Ph.D. from New York University School of Medicine. Following clinical training in medicine and neurology through the Harvard-Longwood program and research at the National Institutes of Health, he joined Harvard Medical School. After 14 years at Harvard, he moved to the University of Pennsylvania in 1986.
His research has encompassed basic neuroscience, clinical investigation and translational medicine, with particular emphasis on the mechanisms underlying epilepsy, epileptogenesis and the actions of antiseizure medicines. He has contributed to the evaluation of numerous therapies for epilepsy and to the development of approaches for treating drug-resistant epilepsy, preventing post-traumatic epilepsy and protecting the brain from neurological injury. His broader research has included neuroimmunology, neurovirology, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neurological disorders.
Professor Dichter has published more than 110 research papers and 62 chapters and reviews and has edited four books. His research was continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health for more than four decades. He has also played an important role in educating and mentoring physicians and physician-scientists working across neuroscience and translational medicine.
At SMDG, Professor Dichter contributes extensive expertise in neuroscience, epilepsy, clinical translation and therapeutic development as a member of the Science Advisory Board.