About Us

The ILAE-North America region was constituted in 2006, comprising English-speaking North American Chapters of Canada, the United States of America, and the English-speaking Caribbean (represented by Jamaica). The Mexican Chapter, although geographically in North America, is a member of ILAE-Latin America.

ILAE-North America holds quarterly teleconferences and annual face-to-face meetings at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) annual meeting. Reports are provided annually to the ILAE executive committee, in accordance with ILAE stipulations for regions, and annual updates are provided to each of the three constituent chapters (Canada, Caribbean, USA).

Goals

The goals and aims of ILAE-North America are aligned with the ILAE emphasis on current and emerging knowledge on epilepsy prevention, diagnosis, treatment, research, and optimal comprehensive care. The overall objective is to improve the delivery of epilepsy care throughout the Americas and the Caribbean.

Task Forces

All task forces establish agendas with tangible deliverables and are encouraged to form work groups that include non-region individuals as needed to achieve goals. The agendas of all task forces are discussed and approved by ILAE-North America and the budget is assembled and submitted in accordance with these strategies. Task forces hold regular telephone conferences throughout the year, and meet face-to-face once a year usually at the AES meetings. Progress reports are given to ILAE-North America members at each of their meetings, and discussion of the reports inform further actions. By the nature of its goals and geography, ILAE-North America and its task forces work closely with other ILAE commissions and chapters, in particular with ILAE-Latin America, the ILAE Therapeutics Commission (Task Force for Epilepsy Surgery), and the Caribbean chapters.

Global Health Task Force

We have established a Global Health Task Force is to advance epilepsy education and care internationally. The first step is to identify ongoing global health outreach projects in epilepsy (educational and clinical) conducted by individuals within the North American region, and to create a repository of these projects to foster communication, collaboration and pooling of resources to maximize our global impact. Additionally, the task force will collect data on the design of successful projects and also identify specific needs in various underserved regions to improve the design and impact of future projects.

Harmonization of Regulatory Activities

The goal of the Harmonization of Regulatory Activities Task Force is to monitor key ongoing issues related to approval of antiepileptic drugs with regulators including EMA, PMDA and possibly FDA. These include extrapolation of results in adults to children, use of AEDs in monotherapy, and shortening placebo exposure through time to event designs. A meeting was be held at the ECE in Vienna in August 2018 with key task force members and regulators, followed by a symposium involving task force members and regulators.

Leadership Development Task Force

The Leadership Development Course, designed to train the next generation of ILAE leaders in essential skills, is held annually, alternating between the IEC and a regional congress.

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Task Force

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Task Force is centred on strengthening the capacity of Caribbean countries to deliver evidence-based care to people with epilepsy within the framework of the PAHO Strategy and Plan of Action on Epilepsy. The Task Force aims to identify challenges and opportunities to improve access to care for people with epilepsy and to agree on key priorities for PAHO cooperation. This cooperation will address the significant healthcare disparities that exist across the English-speaking Caribbean region and the lack of advocacy and layperson involvement in most of the region.