Charlotte Dravet

Charlotte Dravet (born July 14, 1936 ) is a French child psychiatrist and epileptologist .

Life

After studying human medicine at the University of Aix-Marseille , Dravet began training as a pediatric specialist in Marseille from 1962 to 1965. She wrote her doctorate on Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome . In 1971 she completed further training in psychiatry . From 1965 to 2000, Dravet specialized in epileptology at the Center Saint Paul in Marseille , working with Henri Gastaut , Joseph Roger and René Soulayrol (pediatric psychiatry), among others . Until her retirement in 2000, she also lived on the premises of the center and had the opportunity to follow and observe the inpatients day and night for many years, which led to some of her most important contributions to epileptology. In 1972 she completed further training in the pediatric EEG department at the Hôpital Saint-Vincent de Paul and in the Department of Functional Neurosurgery at the Hôpital Sainte-Anne in Paris . From 1989 to 2000, Dravet was Deputy Medical Director of the Center Saint Paul.

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With Joseph Roger and Michelle Bureau, Dravet played an active and important role in the delimitation of various epilepsy syndromes, among others in several workshops and the co-editing of the book "Epileptic syndromes in infancy, childhood and adolescence".

In 1981, together with Michelle Bureau, she described benign myoclonic epilepsy in childhood and in 1978 and 1982 the severe myoclonic epilepsy in childhood, later named after her syndrome ( Dravet syndrome ), which was confirmed by subsequent genetic findings and a model for genetic epilepsy in childhood has been.

From 1991 to 1993 Dravet was a member of the Scientific Committee of the French Foundation for Epilepsy Research. From 1996 to 2004 she was part of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Task Force on Classification and Terminology. From 1997 to 1999 she was President of the French League Against Epilepsy (LFCE). In 2000 she organized the first National Epilepsy Day in France. From 2003 to 2006 she was a member of the board of the French Comité National pour l'Épilepsie and she is still a member of the scientific board of the International Dravet Syndrome Epilepsy Action League.

Since her retirement, she has concentrated her activities on the syndrome named after her. As a consultant, she regularly visits the pediatric epilepsy unit of the A. Gemelli Polyclinic at the Catholic University in Rome , Italy, where she sees patients with this form of epilepsy and, in collaboration with her Italian colleagues, coordinates research on their cognitive development.

Charlotte Dravet, herself or with others, has helped train many doctors who came to Marseille from all over the world to learn about childhood epileptic syndromes and has many students. She is a sought-after speaker at epilepsy congresses, symposia and workshops worldwide, and she is also a frequent participant in events organized by patient and parent associations.

Books

• C. Dravet, P. Jallon: L'Enfant Épileptique. Le Comprendre et l'Aider. Editions Privat, Toulouse 1985.
• J. Roger, M. Bureau, C. Dravet et al. (Eds.): Les Syndromes Épileptiques de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent. J. Libbey, London / Montrouge 1984; English edition: J. Roger, C. Dravet, M. Bureau et al. (Eds.): Epileptic Syndromes in Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence. (= Current Problems in Epilepsy. Vol 2). J. Libbey Eurotext, London / Montrouge 1985; Current edition: M. Bureau, P. Genton, C. Dravet et al. (Eds.): Epileptic Syndromes in Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence. Fifth edition with video sequences (= Current Problems in Epilepsy. Vol 23). J. Libbey Eurotext, Montrouge 2012.
• C. Dravet (Ed.): La Prize en Charge Globale® de l'Épilepsies. Communications Globale Sant, Paris 2002.
• AV Delgado-Escueta, R. Guerrini, MT Medina, P. Genton, M. Bureau, C. Dravet (Eds.): Myoclonic Epilepsies. (= Advances in Neurology. Vol 95). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia / Baltimore / New York et al. 2004.
• C. Dravet: Comprendre l'Epilepsy. Notions élémentaires sur l'épilepsie et les épilepsies. (= Dialogue Medecin-Malade ). J. Libbey Eurotext, Montrouge 2006.
• C. Dravet, R. Guerrini: Dravet Syndrome. (= Topics in Epilepsy. Vol 3). J. Libbey Eurotext, Montrouge / Esher 2011.

Awards

Charlotte Dravet is an honorary or corresponding member of many national chapters of the ILAE (including the German Society for Epileptology). Other awards and prizes are

• 1989: "Ambassador for Epilepsy" of the ILAE and the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE)
• 2004: European Epileptology Prize from the Commission on European Affairs (CEA) of the ILAE
• 2011: Knight of the French Legion of Honor
• 2017: "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the ILAE and the IBE.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dravet C. Encéphalopathie Epileptique de l'Enfant avec Pointe-onde lente diffuse (“petit mal variant”). Thesis, Marseille 1965.
2. ↑ J. Roger, M. Bureau, C. Dravet et al. (Eds.): Les Syndromes Épileptiques de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent. J. Libbey, London - Montrouge 1984; English edition: J. Roger, C. Dravet, M. Bureau et al. (Eds.): Epileptic Syndromes in Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence. (= Current Problems in Epilepsy. Vol 2). J. Libbey Eurotext, London / Montrouge 1985; Current edition: M. Bureau, P. Genton, C. Dravet et al. (Eds.): Epileptic Syndromes in Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence. Fifth edition with video sequences. (= Current Problems in Epilepsy. Vol 23). J. Libbey Eurotext, Montrouge 2012.
3. ↑ C. Dravet, M. Bureau: L'épilepsie myoclonique bénignes du nourisson. In: Rev EEG Neurophysiol Clin. 11, 1981, pp. 438-444.
4. ↑ C. Dravet: Les épilepsies graves de l'enfant. In: Vie Med. 8, 1978, pp. 543-548.
5. ↑ C. Dravet, J. Roger, M. Bureau, B. Dalla Bernardina: Myoclonic epilepsies in childhood. In: H. Akimoto, H. Kazamatsuri, M. Seino, AA Ward Jr (Eds.): The XIIIth Epilepsy International Symposium (Advances in Epileptology). Raven Press, New York 1982, pp. 135-140.