Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

EPILEPSY is one of the most common neurological conditions that affect approximately three million Americans. Yet, many myths and misconceptions hinder understanding, diagnosis and treatment of the disease. David Veloso Lardizabal, M.D., a neurologist and medical director of University of Missouri Health Care’s Epilepsy Program, has been teaching countless students in the University to separate fact from fiction and raise awareness for epilepsy diagnosis.

For this, and for many more outstanding achievements, Dr. David Lardizabal was awarded the Teacher of the Year for 2010 at the University of Missouri. This is his second such award for in 2005, Dr. Lardizabal was also the Teacher of the Year in Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

"In terms of frequency, epilepsy is one of the top neurological disorders, and yet it is under-treated," said Lardizabal. "Most people associate only loss of consciousness or violent muscle contractions, such as a grand mal seizure, with epilepsy. These types of seizures occur when abnormal electrical activity affects both sides of the brain."

Epilepsy is a seizure disorder characterized by abnormal electrical activity in the brain that affects how a person feels or acts for a short period of time. Seizures are a symptom of epilepsy and can be related to an injury or family tendency. Severity of the seizure will depend on what area and how much of the brain is involved.

"Because most epilepsy diagnoses occur in childhood, absence seizures can be confused with attention deficit disorder or even misdiagnosed as ADHD," said Lardizabal. "This further confuses the diagnostic process and is precisely why specialists need to be involved in evaluating the patient."

"We tailor treatment to each individual patient," said Lardizabal. "Different medications work better for some patients than others. And there can be side effects. The goal is no seizures and no side effects."

"Understanding the type of epilepsy a patient has will require proper work-up and treatment," said Lardizabal. "But because there is misunderstanding associated with the disorder, many people who might achieve better seizure control haven’t gotten the help they need."

Born in the Philippines, Dr. Lardizabal took up BS Zoology at the University of the Philippines from 1983-1987. He then took up Medicine at the Cebu Institute of Medicine, where he graduated with a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1991. He had his post-graduate internship at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (formerly Southern Islands Medical Center), and his internal medicine residency at Cebu Velez General Hospital. Dr. Lardizabal then went on to have his adult neurology residency at the Philippine General Hospital before going to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation for his Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship (EEG/Epilepsy) from July 1999- 2001, his Preliminary Internal Medicine (PGY-1), from July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2002, and Neurology Residency (PGY-2-PGY4), from July 1, 2002- June 30, 2005.

Currently, Dr. Lardizabal is the Medical Director at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and Intraoperative Monitoring, University of Missouri, Columbia, and an Assistant Professor,Department of Neurology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Columbia. He is also the Associate Director, Medical Students Education Program in Neurology and a member of the Professional Advisory Board of the Epilepsy Foundation of America St. Louis, MO. He has been one of the members of the Board of Health in Columbia, Missouri since 2009.