Danielle Andrade, MD, MSc, FRCPC – University of Toronto
Dr. Andrade is a Professor of Neurology, the Medical Director of the Epilepsy Program at UHN and the Director of the Adult Genetic Epilepsy (AGE) Program at University of Toronto, a pioneer program established to promote care and research in adult genetic epilepsies. She has created the first fellowship program of Adult Genetic Epilepsy in Canada. She is also the former Chair and now Co-Chair of the International League Against Epilepsy Task Force on Child to Adulthood Transition of care, and the Chair of the ILAE Task Force on Adults with Developmental and Epileptic Encephalopathies, and the President of the Canadian League Against Epilepsy.
She graduated in Medicine at Universidade Federal do Parana (Brazil) and completed her Neurology Residency at Hospital N.S. Gracas (Brazil). She then completed a Masters of Sciences at The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Canada, studying “Protein Therapy for Unverricht-Lundborg Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsy”. In 2006 Dr. Andrade completed an Epilepsy and Clinical Electrophysiology Fellowship at Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto.
Dr. Andrade’s research interests are on the area of genetic epilepsies and their natural histories as well as the field of transition of care from pediatric to adult. Dr. Andrade and her team have identified and characterized several epilepsies and comorbidities in adults with genetic epilepsies. She has also identified the first gene associated with SUDEP (sudden, unexpected death in epilepsy) in patients with non-syndromic epilepsy. Her team has also discovered genes responsible for Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, Jeavon’s syndrome, teenage-onset neuronal ceroid lipofuccinosis progressive myoclonus epilepsy, among others.