Haley Pysick, MD, PGY-4 and a Physician Scientist Training Pathway (PSTP) and Stimulating Access to Research during Residency (StARR) scholar, has been awarded the American Epilepsy Society’s (AES) 2024 Young Investigator Award. Given on behalf of the AES’s Scientific Program Committee, this award recognizes young investigators conducting basic, translational, or clinical epilepsy research. Pysick’s abstract, Abnormal Breathing Patterns after Generalized Convulsive Seizures, was one of just 20 awardees out of more than 1,500 submissions.

“My research involves investigating postictal breathing patterns following generalized convulsive seizures to help identify respiratory features that may serve as predictors of significant hypoxia and hypercapnia in the postictal period,” Pysick said. “This research is part of a larger study of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), a phenomenon that is thought to be related to dysregulated peri-ictal respiration.”

Pysick presented on this topic in the StARR Scholar Grand Rounds last academic year.

Pysick is part of the University of Iowa SUDEP Research Program, which includes key participants such as her mentor, Brian Gehlbach, MD, clinical professor in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine; George Richerson, MD, PhD, professor of Neuroscience, Rup Sainju, MBBS, clinical associate professor of Neurology, Research Coordinator Deidre Dragon, and Research Assistant Roshni Nair, among several others. This group seeks to understand the underlying causes of SUDEP to help create prevention strategies for it. The program is also part of The Center for SUDEP Research, a National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke initiative.

In her award package, Pysick has been invited to give an oral presentation on her work at the AES meeting in December. She will receive recognition in the AES Program Book for the annual meeting, a ribbon placed on her poster at the conference, and a $1,200 travel stipend.