{"id":163232,"date":"2016-05-31T12:38:43","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T16:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=163232"},"modified":"2025-11-19T07:59:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T12:59:50","slug":"neurologist-confronts-seizure-disorders-in-sub-saharan-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/neurologist-confronts-seizure-disorders-in-sub-saharan-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Neurologist  confronts seizure disorders in sub-Saharan Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gretchen Birbeck\u2019s first trip to Zambia came in\u00a01994, when she was a University of Chicago medical\u00a0student completing an elective at the remote\u00a0Chikankata Mission Hospital, about 75 miles south\u00a0of the capital city, Lusaka.<\/p>\n<p>More than two decades later, she spends half her\u00a0year in sub-Saharan Africa, working to improve care\u00a0for people with seizure disorders.<\/p>\n<p>The Edward A. and Alma Vollertsen Rykenboer\u00a0Professor in Neurology at Rochester,\u00a0Birbeck is the director for\u00a0Chikankata\u2019s Epilepsy Care Team.\u00a0She\u2019s also an adjunct faculty\u00a0member at the University of Zambia.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/people\/28535195-gretchen-l-birbeck\">Learn more about Gretchen\u00a0Birbeck&#8217;s work<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"side-right\" style=\"width: 33%;\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-163252\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/map-zambia.jpg\" alt=\"detail map of Zambia\" width=\"400\" height=\"318\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>ROCHESTER AND ZAMBIA\u00a0AND MALAWI<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>People<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>3 alumni living in Malawi<\/li>\n<li>3 alumni living in Zambia<\/li>\n<li>1 student from Malawi\u00a0in fall 2015<\/li>\n<li>7 students from Zambia\u00a0in fall 2015<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Malawi\u00a0Immersion\u00a0Seminar<\/strong><br \/>\nA three-week study abroad\u00a0and field school experience\u00a0run by the Department of\u00a0Anthropology, the seminar\u00a0addresses cultural, health,\u00a0social, political, and ecological\u00a0issues in Malawi. Students\u00a0are trained in anthropological\u00a0research methods, and\u00a0the seminar welcomes\u00a0undergraduates and graduate\u00a0students from any university\u00a0and any major. Joseph\u00a0Lanning \u201900, \u201907 (Mas) directs\u00a0the program. Since 2007, 103\u00a0Rochester undergraduates\u00a0have participated; 17 medical\u00a0students have also taken part,\u00a0beginning in 2009.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/ANT\/malawi\/\">Learn more about the Malawi\u00a0Immersion\u00a0Seminar\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Seizure disorders can be\u00a0caused by many medical conditions,\u00a0and they\u2019re more common\u00a0in the developing world. Neurological\u00a0and psychological disorders\u00a0account \u201cfor about a quarter\u00a0of the global burden of disease,\u00a0and much of that is in developing\u00a0countries,\u201d says Birbeck.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a disconnect between\u00a0where disease is and where\u00a0experts are,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>She works to redress that\u00a0disconnection, providing clinical\u00a0care and conducting research. As a result, more\u00a0than 3,000 patients have received treatment they\u00a0otherwise wouldn\u2019t have. And she has helped make\u00a0changes to Zambia\u2019s national policy that could help\u00a0many more.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s also working to build up the resources and\u00a0networks necessary to conduct clinical trials\u00a0in Africa, and to create education and\u00a0training programs for health care\u00a0providers and researchers.\u00a0She\u2019s involved in cerebral\u00a0malaria research in\u00a0Malawi and Uganda,\u00a0and mentors postgraduates\u00a0and junior\u00a0faculty carrying out\u00a0research in Zambia,\u00a0Malawi, Kenya, and\u00a0South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>While creating\u00a0access to specialty\u00a0health care is critical,\u00a0Birbeck finds that\u00a0tackling stigma and\u00a0misinformation is also key. The difficulties are\u00a0complex. There aren\u2019t only problems procuring a\u00a0diagnosis, finding treatment options, and getting\u00a0access to medication. Open flames from fires and\u00a0bodies of water also pose significant threats. \u201cBurns\u00a0and drowning,\u201d she says, \u201care two of the most\u00a0common causes of death of people with epilepsy in\u00a0developing countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the years that Birbeck has been traveling to\u00a0Africa, she has seen \u201cslow inroads\u201d in Zambia for\u00a0treating epilepsy, with improvements in general\u00a0services and better access to information about the\u00a0disease. Meanwhile, a \u201croll back malaria\u201d campaign\u00a0has transformed the incidence of malaria\u00a0seizures in Zambia, though Malawi hasn\u2019t seen such\u00a0progress. Efforts to deal with malaria haven\u2019t kept\u00a0pace with those for epilepsy, but there have\u00a0advances. \u201cI\u2019m not convinced malaria eradication\u00a0is likely, but there are improvements in infection\u00a0rates,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, though, Birbeck sees reasons for optimism.\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s much more expertise in-country,\u201d\u00a0she says. \u201cJunior people are coming back as senior<br \/>\npeople, and staying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Their efforts are an amalgam of teaching people\u00a0about seizures and making care available to them.\u00a0Both are essential, she says, and her research and\u00a0clinical care are different but interrelated efforts\u00a0to improve the lives of people with epilepsy and\u00a0other seizure disorders. \u201cWe\u2019re educating the public,\u00a0but we also work with the health care structure to\u00a0ensure there are providers and treatment,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Neurology professor Gretchen Birbeck has provided care for more than 3,000 patients with seizure disorders in Africa during two decades of work there. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":752,"featured_media":163242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42472,116],"tags":[24992,19242,13992],"class_list":["post-163232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-medicine","category-sci-tech","tag-department-of-neurology","tag-global-engagement","tag-rochester-review"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Neurologist confronts seizure disorders in sub-Saharan Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/neurologist-confronts-seizure-disorders-in-sub-saharan-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Neurologist confronts seizure disorders in sub-Saharan Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Neurology professor Gretchen Birbeck has provided care for more than 3,000 patients with seizure disorders in Africa during two decades of work there.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/neurologist-confronts-seizure-disorders-in-sub-saharan-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-31T16:38:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-19T12:59:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/fea-birbeck.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kathleen McGarvey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kathleen McGarvey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/neurologist-confronts-seizure-disorders-in-sub-saharan-africa\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/neurologist-confronts-seizure-disorders-in-sub-saharan-africa\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kathleen McGarvey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/442b2a3bb25330f6067579b6ae13adbb\"},\"headline\":\"Neurologist confronts seizure disorders in sub-Saharan Africa\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-31T16:38:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-19T12:59:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/neurologist-confronts-seizure-disorders-in-sub-saharan-africa\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":615,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/neurologist-confronts-seizure-disorders-in-sub-saharan-africa\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/05\\\/fea-birbeck.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Department of Neurology\",\"global engagement\",\"Rochester Review\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health &amp; 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