Andres M. Kanner

Andres M. Kanner, M.D., is the Guest Editor of this issue of Seminars in Neurology on Epilepsy. Dr. Kanner is Professor of Neurological Sciences and Psychiatry in the Rush Medical College and Director of the Laboratory of Electroencephalography. He is Chair of the Epilepsy Section of the American Academy of Neurology and a member of the Practice Task Force of the American Epilepsy Society. He is also a member of the Commission of Neuropsychiatric Disorders in Epilepsy of the International League Against Epilepsy. He is Chair of the Practice Guidelines Committee of the American Epilepsy Society.

Dr. Kanner trained in Psychiatry in the Long Island Jewish Hillside Medical Center and held a Fellowship in Child Psychiatry at Columbia University. He then did a Research Fellowship in Pediatric Psychopharmacology at Columbia, followed by a Residency in Neurology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. This was followed by a Fellowship in Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology at the Cleveland Clinic. He has separate board certifications in Psychiatry and Neurology from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He was first board-certified in 1982 in Psychiatry and then in 1989 in Neurology. He also is board-certified in Clinical Neurophysiology by the American Board of Clinical Neurophysiology and board-certified in added qualifications in Clinical Neurophysiology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Dr. Kanner has published extensively. He is the author of a book entitled Depression in Neurologic Disorders. He has edited five books, including Psychiatric Issues in Epilepsy: A Practical Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment, Manual de Electroencefalografia, Diagnostico y Tratamiento de las Epilepsias, and Depression and Brain Dysfunction. He has published a tremendous number of peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters as well. He is on the Editorial Board of Epilepsy and Behavior and Epilepsy Currents. He is a regular reviewer for many major neurological journals.

Our readers will find this issue on epilepsy to be invaluable in their care of patients with epilepsy and seizure disorders. The issue includes a review of classification, considerations in the treatment of a first seizure, recognition of nonepileptic events, considerations in the choice of an antiepileptic drug in the treatment of epilepsy, adverse effects of antiepileptic drugs, teratogenicity of antiepileptic medications, the treatment of status epilepticus, epilepsy surgery and vagal nerve stimulation, commons errors made in the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy, and epilepsy in the elderly. This issue truly contains everything that each of us encounters on a near-daily basis in the care of patients with epilepsy and seizure disorders. We are very grateful to Dr. Kanner and to all of the contributors to this issue for providing us with such an incredible monograph on epilepsy.