About Us

The NIHR BRC Epilepsy Centre is a collaborative initiative between UCL and UCLH, hosted by UCLH.

People

Jane de Tisi

Jane is Epilepsy Centre Coordinator & Data Manager, fully funded by the BRC. Jane manages the “UCLH Epilepsy Surgery Database” under the auspices of Chief Investigator, Prof John Duncan. She collaborates with colleagues from the epilepsy team and those at other hospitals and universities on audits, service evaluations and research regarding the long-term outcome of epilepsy surgery and also vagal nerve stimulation and invasive EEG recordings. Jane has had regular contact over the years with a large number of individuals who have been discharged from the National Hospital with regard to their health and quality of life following epilepsy surgery.

Jane also works closely with the epilepsy team’s patient support group, Brain Buddy UK.

Email: j.detisi@ucl.ac.uk or j.detisi@nhs.net or Tel: +44 (0)20 3448 8612

Research delivery team

Jennifer Child

Jenny is the BRC Epilepsy Centre Clinical Trials Operations Lead.

Jenny has over ten years’ clinical project management experience working on sponsored and hosted studies in academia and the NHS. She is fully funded by the BRC and is the primary point of contact for epilepsy PIs/study teams seeking advice and help in all aspects of clinical trials. Jenny leads on strategic and operational delivery of commercial and non-commercial research studies within the epilepsy portfolio, including day-to-day clinical operations and budget/finance management. She also co-manages the research nursing team (with Professor Matthias Koepp). Jenny is also working with Professors Matthew Walker, Stephanie Schorge, Dimitri Kullmann and Gabriele Lignani on the set-up of a UCL sponsored phase I/IIa, first-in-human trial of an in-vivo lentiviral gene therapy for refractory epilepsy (the EKC trial).

Jennifer Child's full UCL Profile

PIs/study teams/Sponsors/CROs: Please contact Jenny if you are interested in running a commercial or non-commercial epilepsy study at UCLH.

Email: j.child@ucl.ac.uk or j.child1@nhs.net or Tel: +44 (0)20 3108 8954

Jess Guinto

Jess joined the epilepsy research team as our very first epilepsy senior research nurse in 2024. Jess has responsibility for the coordination and management of a subset of the commercial clinical research portfolio. She is responsible for pre-screening patients and recruitment of participants, the coordination of care of patients on trials, collection and preparation of biological samples. She is well-skilled in phlebotomy, IV therapy and processes all blood samples in the local site laboratory for shipment to central labs. She is also responsible for the data entries, data management and data completion of CRF/eCRF, and for swift site data query resolution, the administration of experimental agents as per the study protocol and monitoring and reporting to sponsors of the expected and unexpected side effects of trial drugs and other treatment modalities in accordance with Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines. Jess has previously worked with other research departments within UCL & UCLH and has contributed to the UCL Discovery library, a depository of their research team’s publication of articles and conference presentations. Jess has worked in a range of non-CTIMP (observational & portfolio studies) and CTIMP studies (commercial) at UCL & UCLH since 2013, involving intravenous, subcutaneous and oral trial drugs. Jess is funded by commercial trials income.

For interested UCLH epilepsy patients:

Please contact Jess if you want to find out more about taking part as a participant in an epilepsy study at UCLH.

Email: uclh.epilepsytrials@nhs.net or Tel: +44(0)777 986 1209

Sife Tshuma

Sife joined the epilepsy team in 2025. Sife is an experienced senior research nurse with a strong background in both clinical and research settings. She has responsibility for the coordination and management of a subset of the commercial clinical research portfolio. Sife has worked across a range of CTIMP and non CTIMP studies (NHIR portfolio adopted), some involving intravenous and oral trial drugs, with particular experience in monitoring their safety and efficacy. She is skilled in phlebotomy and IV therapy and processes all blood samples in the laboratory for shipment to central labs. Her role includes pre-screening patients and recruitment of participants, the coordination of care of patients on trials, collection and preparation of biological samples. She is also responsible for Case Report Forms /electronic Case Report Forms completion, swift query resolution, the administration of experimental agents and monitoring of expected and unexpected side effects of drugs and other treatment modalities in accordance with Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines. Sife is funded by commercial trials income.

UCLH epilepsy patients: Please contact Sife if you want to find out more about taking part as a participant in an epilepsy study at UCLH.

Email: uclh.epilepsytrials@nhs.net or Tel: +44(0)777 913 3798

Matthew Walker

Matthew is partially funded by the BRC. Following the development of a new dietary therapy for epilepsy, Matthew has extended his work to a potential new drug to replace Sodium Valproate, but without its teratogenic potential. He has received MRC DPFS funding to undertake preclinical testing of this compound, with the plan to complete a CTA in 2026.

Together with Professors Dimitri Kullmann, Gabriele Lignani and Stephanie Schorge, Matthew also has a grant for GMP manufacture of a gene therapy for focal epilepsy, with the plan for CTA in 2025.

Matthew Walker’s full UCL Profile

Sofia Eriksson

Sofia is partly funded by the BRC. She participates in the Valproate stakeholder network, a group linking patient organisations, healthcare professionals, and regulators to improve safety related to Valproate treatment.

Sofia also participates in the MHRA-led Valproate safety implementation group, providing clinical input on the implementation of new Valproate regulations.

Sofia Eriksson's full UCL Profile

Meneka Sidhu

With the support of the BRC, Meneka has worked on projects including the longitudinal study, “Cognitive fMRI: surgery in temporal lobe epilepsy”, with novel descriptions of post-surgical plasticity in memory and language networks; “Improving the precision of presurgical functional imaging” (in collaboration with UCL Centre for Medical Image Computing-Prof Geoff Parker); and the “Development of resting state fMRI protocols, using hyperband imaging in people with epilepsy”.

Meneka has worked with research assistant, Ms Amrita Gupta, on a clinical service evaluation looking at the “short and longer term complications of invasive EEG recordings”. This has forged the basis of an imaging study to study regional and remote brain atrophy associated with cognitive and behavioural effects in people who have had invasive EEG but did not proceed to surgery.

Meneka has recently secured MRC-CARP funding to describe and predict outcomes following less invasive studies for refractory focal epilepsy, including LITT, which is now available at Kings College Hospital.

Meneka Kaur’s full UCL Profile

Umesh Vivekananda

Dr Umesh Vivekananda was supported by the BRC between 2023-2024. He has contributed to the key theme of advancing the use of optically pumped magnetoencephalography (MEG) in the management of epilepsy. He has recently been awarded a Wellcome Career Development Award towards “Understanding the neural mechanisms of anhedonia in epilepsy.

Umesh Vivekananda’s full UCL Profile

Sanjeev Rajakulendran

With previous support from the BRC, Sanjeev's research has included work on first epileptic seizures, drug treatment of epilepsy, and status epilepticus from its early stage through to the refractory and super-refractory stages. With ongoing support from the BRC, Sanjeev will be investigating the cognitive and functional outcomes of status epilepticus and its long-term consequences.

Sanjeev Rajakulendran's full UCL Profile