Zhong Ying became interested in neuroanatomy during medical school at Capital Medical University, Beijing, but she wasn’t introduced to epilepsy research until she started her post-doctoral stint at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States.
“In general, there is no cure for a neurological diagnosis—but epilepsy is different,” said Ying, a neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic who sees patients with epilepsy. “And there are so many modalities to study and diagnose epilepsy, and something like 26 medications to treat it. No other neurological disease has that many treatment options.”
Also, epilepsy surgery offers a chance at a cure, as well as providing brain tissue for research. “That’s not possible for other neurological conditions, other than brain tumors,” she said. “But epilepsy also is devastating. The seizures are scary, and impact people’s lives every day.”
AANS Neurosurgeon is the official socioeconomic publication of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and features information and analysis for contemporary neurosurgical practice. Published monthly online, AANS Neurosurgeon focuses on issues related to neurosurgery legislation, the workforce and practice management.
