The Epilepsy Society of Australia (ESA) is the principal forum for health professionals involved in the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy in Australia. The ESA actively promotes and advocates improved medical management of epilepsy in Australia enlisting financial support from various sources to fund and promote scientific work within the field of epilepsy.

The ESA forms the Australian Chapter of the International League Against Epilepsy.

The purposes of the society are to further the care of people affected by epilepsy in Australia and to foster a greater scientific understanding of all aspects of epilepsy.

Epilepsy Clinical Trials

Multi-centre clinical trials for patients with epilepsy have been conducted in Australia since the mid 1980s. The majority of these trials have been phase III studies of patients with chronic epilepsy although several centres have participated in new onset epilepsy studies. The quality of data has been uniformly high reflecting the excellent standard of care provided to patients with epilepsy in Australia.

There are 10 centres in Australia with clinical trial experience and the ability to recruit subjects including a small number of paediatric epilepsy centres. Professor Sam Berkovic currently serves on the NTA Management Board as the ESA representative with Dr Nicholas Lawn the alternate.

ESA Executive (2007):

President: Simon Harvey
Vice-President: Terry O'Brien
Treasurer: Mark Newton
Secretary: Jill Bicknell-Royle
Secretarial assistant:

Committee (2007)

John Archer, Sam Berkovic, John Dunne, Michelle Kiley, Nicholas Lawn, John Lawson, David Reutens (ex officio), Ernie Somerville, Elizabeth Walker.