Douglas A. Coulter, PhD, has been elected Second Vice President of the American Epilepsy Society (AES), a medical and scientific society with 4,400 members. Dr. Coulter's term began at the end of the society's recent annual meeting in New Orleans. He will serve three years in the society's presidential line and begin his term as president in 2021.
For nearly 30 years, Dr. Coulter has directed a NIH grant-funded research program, first at Virginia Commonwealth University (1990-1999), then at University of Pennsylvania/Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (1999-present). Throughout his career, his research interests have focused primarily on mechanisms of epilepsy and epileptogenesis, mechanisms of action of antiepileptic drugs, and epilepsy therapies.
Dr. Coulter currently is completing his tenure as a member of the AES Board of Directors, also having served on the Finance and the Governance subcommittees. In 2010, he was awarded the AES Epilepsy Research Recognition Award for Basic Science.
He has been an active member of the AES for almost 30 years. He has served on a wide range of committees and taskforces across the research and education spectrum. Dr. Coulter has served as chair of the following councils and committees: Scientific Program Committee, Research and Training Council, Research Awards Committee, Basic Science Committee, Year-Round Education Committee—Science Education Subcommittee, Basic Science Taskforce (Co-Chair); and as member on the Nominations Committee, the Council on Education, and the Continuing Medical Education Committee. For the last two years, as Co-Chair of the Basic Science Taskforce, Dr. Coulter has provided leadership on efforts to reinvigorate participation of the Basic Research membership in the Annual Meeting and the Society. He is currently helping to develop a plan to perpetuate the momentum begun with the Task Force. Dr. Coulter is a well published author and has served on numerous editorial boards including as an Editorial Board Member and a Contributing Editor of Epilepsy Currents.
Dr. Coulter received his PhD from the Boston University Marine Program in Woods Hole, MA, and conducted postdoctoral training in Dr. David Prince's laboratory at Stanford University.