Lifetime Achievement Award 2013

Juhn Wada

Prof. Juhn Wada was born in Japan in 1924 and has, over an illustrious career, carved a reputation for research in epilepsy, including his description of the Wada test for cerebral hemispheric dominance of language function.

He worked at University of Minnesota and Montreal Neurological Institute, then settled at University of British Columbia in 1956, where he was Professor of Neurology. He created the first surgical epilepsy program and seizure monitoring unit in British Columbia. His main interest has been in researching Human Brain Asymmetry and Neurobiology of Epilepsy, for which work he has received many internationally renowned awards.

He was an associate of the Medical Research Council of Canada 1966-1994; founding president Canadian League Against Epilepsy 1977-1979, and president American Epilepsy Society 1988. He received the Wilder Penfield Gold Medal in 1988, appointed Officer of the Order of Canada in 1992 and awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.