The Epilepsy Research Institute has become an affiliate charity partner of Our Future Health, the UK’s largest health research programme.
About Our Future Health
Our Future Health is the UK’s largest health research programme, bringing together up to five million volunteers to support research into the prevention, early detection and treatment of disease. Working with the NHS, charities and industry, it provides a powerful resource to help researchers improve health outcomes for people across the UK.
The partnership
Our Future Health is working with many of the UK’s leading health research charities, bringing together expertise to help shape and strengthen the programme. These partnerships will play an important role in supporting research that aims to change how diseases are prevented, detected and treated.
Through this partnership, we will share our expertise in the prevention, early detection and treatment of epilepsy with Our Future Health. By working together, we will also help shape the programme to ensure it reflects the research needs of people living with epilepsy and related conditions.
Rosemarie Pardington, Chief Executive of the Epilepsy Research Institute, said, “Sadly, currently too many people receive a diagnosis of epilepsy at some point during their lifetime, and many live with uncontrolled seizures and have very limited treatment options. By joining Our Future Health as an affiliate charity partner, we have a powerful opportunity to make a positive change. This collaboration will help ensure epilepsy is more visible in large-scale health research and bring us closer to our vision of a life free from epilepsy.”
Dr Raghib Ali, CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Our Future Health, said, “We’re proud to welcome the Epilepsy Research Institute as our newest affiliate charity partner. As the UK’s largest health research programme, we want to ensure all conditions are represented in our cohort, and this partnership will help us to enable research into preventing, detecting and treating conditions like epilepsy.”
About epilepsy
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions in the world. It is caused by excessive electrical activity in the brain, leading to temporary disruptions in brain function and recurrent, unprovoked seizures.
Around one in 100 people live with epilepsy. In the UK, this includes approximately 633,000 people, with around 600 new diagnoses each week. Epilepsy can affect people at any age but is most commonly diagnosed in childhood and in people over 60.
More than 30% of people with epilepsy live with seizures that do not respond to medication. There is currently no cure for epilepsy, which is why we are focused on driving forward research to improve understanding, diagnosis and treatment.
Find out more about the important work of Our Future Health on their website.