Orrin Devinsky
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Orrin Devinsky (born February 12, 1957) is an American neurologist who is the Director of the
NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...
Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and the Saint Barnabas Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery (INN). He is also a professor of
Neurology Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine) , medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous syst ...
,
Neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system ...
, and
Psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...
at NYU Langone School of Medicine. Devinsky specializes in
epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...
and
behavioral neurology Behavioral neurology is a subspecialty of neurology that studies the impact of neurological damage and disease upon behavior, memory, and cognition, and the treatment thereof. Two fields associated with behavioral neurology are neuropsychiatry a ...
.


Education and academic career

Devinsky graduated from
Columbia High School Columbia High School may refer to: *Columbia High School (Huntsville, Alabama) *Columbia High School (Georgia) *Columbia High School (Florida) *Columbia High School (Idaho) *Columbia High School (Illinois) *Columbia High School (Mississippi), a Mis ...
in
Maplewood, New Jersey Maplewood is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is an inner-ring suburban bedroom community of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's popula ...
in 1974 and was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 1995. Devinsky was mentored by
Norman Geschwind Norman Geschwind (January 8, 1926 – November 4, 1984) was a pioneering American behavioral neurologist, best known for his exploration of behavioral neurology through disconnection models based on lesion analysis. Early life Norman Geschwi ...
, who stimulated his interest in both epilepsy and behavioral neurology. He received his B.S. and M.S. from
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
(1977) and his M.D. from
Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...
(1982). He interned at
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
's Beth Israel Hospital, completed neurology training at the
New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (abbreviated as NYP) is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City. It is the primary teaching hospital for Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The hospit ...
, and his epilepsy fellowship at the
National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
(NIH). Devinsky arrived at
Saint Barnabas Medical Center Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center (CBMC), formerly Saint Barnabas Medical Center (SBMC), is a 597-bed non-profit major teaching hospital located in Livingston, New Jersey. An affiliate of RWJBarnabas Health (formerly known as Barnabas Health and ...
in 1998. In 2009, Saint Barnabas’ Neurology and Neurosurgery Program became the first in
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
to make U.S. News & World Report top 50 in the nation list. Devinsky direct
The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center
(CEC) a
New York University Langone Medical Center
The CEC has 16 inpatient video-EEG-monitored beds in a specialized Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. Each bed has the capacity for 64 channels of
EEG Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The bio signals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neoc ...
data with on-line computer analysis for 24-hour
seizure A seizure is a sudden, brief disruption of brain activity caused by abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal firing. Depending on the regions of the brain involved, seizures can lead to changes in movement, sensation, behavior, awareness, o ...
and spike detection. He has chaired several committees of the American Epilepsy Society and has served as a board member. He is active in the
American Academy of Neurology The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) is a professional society representing over 40,000 neurologists and neuroscientists. As a medical specialty society it was established in 1948 by A.B. Baker of the University of Minnesota to advance the a ...
and the
Epilepsy Foundation The Epilepsy Foundation, also Epilepsy Foundation of America (EFA), is a non-profit national foundation, headquartered in Bowie, Maryland, dedicated to the welfare of people with epilepsy and seizure disorders. The foundation was established in 196 ...
. He is an associate editor of Epilepsy & Behavior and co-founded Reviews in Neurological Disorders, and serves as a reviewer for more than 30 journals. Devinsky founde
Finding A Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures
(FACES) and co-founde
epilepsy.com
He co-founded th
Epilepsy Therapy Project
where he serves as the Vice President for Translational programs. Devinsky has appeared on many
television news News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or tel ...
programs, including
NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas'' for its weeknight broadcasts ) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NBC television network ...
,
Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...
, and
Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...
, and he has been featured several times on
Mystery Diagnosis ''Mystery Diagnosis'' is a television docudrama series that aired on Discovery Health Channel and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. Each episode focuses on two or more individuals who have struggled with obscure medical ailments, and their quest for ...
. He was invited to the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
to ask
President Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Ob ...

question
about Health Care. In 2017, Devinsky became the chairman of Tilray's Medical Advisory Board.


Research

Devinsky's epilepsy research interests include translational therapies,
sudden unexpected death in epilepsy Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) refers to the sudden, unexpected death of a person with epilepsy that is not the result of trauma, drowning, or an identified medical condition. In most cases, no structural or toxicological cause of d ...
(SUDEP), devices to deliver
drug A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...
s directly to the
brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...
,
quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...
, cognitive and behavioral issues in epilepsy, surgical therapy, and new
medication Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to medical diagnosis, diagnose, cure, treat, or preventive medicine, prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmaco ...
s. Other areas of active interest include
autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...
,
tuberous sclerosis Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a rare multisystem autosomal dominant genetic disease that causes non-cancerous tumours to grow in the brain and on other vital organs such as the kidneys, heart, liver, eyes, lungs and skin. A combinatio ...
, and
head trauma A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms ''traumatic brain injury'' and ''head injury'' are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of inj ...
. Devinsky serves as the director of the Phenome Core for the Epilepsy Phenome/Genome Project, funded by an NIH multi-institutional grant. Devinsky and his co-investigators are conducting studies of several investigational
antiepileptic Anticonvulsants (also known as antiepileptic drugs, antiseizure drugs, or anti-seizure medications (ASM)) are a diverse group of pharmacological agents used in the treatment of epileptic seizures. Anticonvulsants are also used in the treatmen ...
medications such as
topiramate Topiramate, sold under the brand name Topamax among others, is a medication used to treat epilepsy and prevent migraines. It has also been used for alcohol dependence and essential tremor. For epilepsy, this includes treatment for generali ...
,
tiagabine Tiagabine, sold under the brand name Gabitril, is an anticonvulsant medication produced by Cephalon that is used in the treatment of epilepsy. The drug is also used off-label in the treatment of anxiety disorders including panic disorder. Medi ...
,
lamotrigine Lamotrigine ( ), sold under the brand name Lamictal among others, is a medication used to treat epilepsy and stabilize mood in bipolar disorder. For epilepsy, this includes focal seizures, tonic-clonic seizures, and seizures in Lennox-Gastau ...
,
vigabatrin Vigabatrin, sold under the brand name Vigafyde among others, is a medication used in the management and treatment of Epileptic spasms, infantile spasms and refractory complex partial seizures. It works by inhibiting the catabolism, breakdown o ...
,
oxcarbazepine Oxcarbazepine, sold under the brand name Trileptal among others, is a medication used to treat epilepsy. For epilepsy it is used for both focal seizures and generalized seizures. It has been used both alone and as add-on therapy in people with ...
, and
remacemide Remacemide is a drug which acts as a low-affinity NMDA antagonist with sodium channel blocking properties. It has been studied for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke, epilepsy, Huntington's disease, and Parkinson's disease. Because remacem ...
, as well as vagal nerve stimulator implantation. He is also collaborating with other researchers to develop a device to deliver antiepileptic drugs directly to the brain to treat seizures. He was involved in pivotal drug studies for
felbamate Felbamate (marketed under the brand name Felbatol by MedPointe) is an anticonvulsant used in the treatment of epilepsy. It is used to treat partial seizures (with and without generalization) in adults and partial and generalized seizures associ ...
, oxcarbazepine,
intravenous Intravenous therapy (abbreviated as IV therapy) is a medical technique that administers fluids, medications and nutrients directly into a person's vein. The intravenous route of administration is commonly used for rehydration or to provide nutr ...
valproate Valproate (valproic acid, VPA, sodium valproate, and valproate semisodium forms) are medications primarily used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder and prevent migraine headaches. They are useful for the prevention of seizures in those with ...
and other drugs. He was the lead investigator of the Quality of Life in Epilepsy group that developed the four inventories that were translated into many languages and used in over 150 academic studies.


Publications


Articles

Devinsky has published more than 35
articles
and book chapters.


Books

Devinsky has authored more than 20 books and monographs. Alternative Therapies for Epilepsy (Orrin Devinsky,Steven C. Schachter, Steven V. Pacia) 2012 Epilepsy (Orrin Devinsky) 2007 Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Epilepsy (Orrin Devinsky,Steven C. Schachter, and Steven V. Pacia) 2005 Managing Epilepsy and Co-Existing Disorders, i.e. (Alan B. Ettinger and Orrin Devinsky) 2001 Epilepsy and Developmental Disabilities, 1e (Orrin Devinsky and Lauren Westbrook) 2001 Examination of the Cranial and Peripheral Nerves, i.e. (Orrin Devinsky and Edward Feldman) 1987 Neurological Complications of Pregnancy (Advances in Neurology) (Orrin Devinsky, Edward Feldmann, and Brian Hainline) 1994


References


External links


Lectures


FACES 2008 Epilepsy Conference

Orrin Devinsky, Part I: Limbic Lessons from Epilepsy - Neuropsychoanalysis Lecture Series

Orrin Devinsky, Part 2: Limbic Lessons from Epilepsy - Neuropsychoanalysis Lecture Series


Websites


NYU Comprehensive Epilepsy Center

NYU Finding a Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures (FACES)

Epilepsy.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devinsky, Orrin 1957 births Living people American neurologists Columbia High School (New Jersey) alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Yale University alumni