University of Pennsylvania
Emily K. Acton is a 1st Year Epidemiology PhD Student at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Medical Student at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, focused on advancing research at the intersection between neurology, epidemiology, and pharmacology. She brings over nine years of experience as Clinical Research Assistant, Research Coordinator, and Investigator-in-Training at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Illinois, and multiple rotations in the Clinical Research Internship Study Program (CRISP) and years as Research Assistant in Neurology/Neuroepidemiology at the Mayo Clinic, along with her added background of rigorous scientific training in Food Science and Nutrition at Cornell and McGill Universities. Throughout these experiences, Emily has added to the scientific literature as primary and contributing author for multiple publications, abstracts, and presentations focused on improving understanding of the etiologic, diagnostic, and patient care factors in the management of seizure disorders and the optimization of pharmacological treatment approaches. Emily's overall career goal is to become a patient-oriented clinician-epidemiologist with the expertise: (a) to forward clinically-relevant research that reduces the burden of disease in people with secondary epilepsy, particularly epilepsy post-stroke; (b) to address current challenges and mechanistic questions surrounding drug-drug, and drug-disease interactions in persons with secondary epilepsy; and, (c) to translate pharmacoepidemiologic discoveries into clinical practice and policy recommendations.