Texas Comprehensive Epilepsy Program

More than 2.5 million Americans struggle with epilepsy and other seizure disorders. It's a difficult disease to diagnose, and one that's often challenging to manage. In 1990, the Texas Comprehensive Epilepsy Program (TCEP), a joint venture between the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, opened the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) to offer exceptional care through a one-stop-shopping approach for pediatric and adult epilepsy patients and their physicians.

Today, more than 350 inpatients a year are seen in the EMU for epilepsy diagnosis and treatment. Our multidisciplinary team of electroneurodiagnostic technologists, epileptologists, neuropsychologists, pediatric and adult neurosurgeons, and neuroradiologists, many University of Texas Medical School at Houston faculty, are at the forefront of their fields.

These key players in ongoing epilepsy research are equipped with state-of-the-art tools, from the acute brain mapping abilities of MEG to the pinpoint surgical accuracy of Gamma Knife

Department of Neurology Physicians:

• Jeremy D. Slater, M.D.
  Associate Professor of Neurology
  Director, Texas Comprehensive Epilepsy Program
  Director, Epilepsy Monitoring Unit & Neurophysiology Laboratory - Memorial Hermann - Texas Medical Center
• Giridhar Kalamangalam, MBBS, D.Phil.
  Assistant Professor of Neurology
• Omotola Hope, M.D.
  Assistant Professor of Neurology

Affiliate Physicians

• James Baumgartner, M.D.
  Pediatric Neurosurgeon
  Pediatric Neurosurgical Associates
• Nitin Tandon, M.D.
  Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
  UT-Houston Department of Neurosurgery
• Gretchen Von Allmen, M.D.
  Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
  Pediatric Epilepsy Specialist
  UT-Houston Department of Pediatrics

Support Staff Contacts

• Tracy Fontenot
  Administrative Coordinator
  UT-Houston
  (713) 500-7117
  
• Bonnie Brown
  Patient Care Coordinator, Epilepsy Monitoring Unit
  Memorial Hermann - Texas Medical Center
  (713) 704-6062
  
• Michele Walsh
  Manager, Neurophysiology & EMU
  Memorial Hermann - Texas Medical Center
  (713) 704-1304
  

Research and Clinical Trials

• Currently enrolling for:
• Lacosamide Double-Blind Trial
• A Historical-controlled,  Multicenter, Double-blind, Randomized trial to assess the efficacy and safety of conversion to lacosamide 400 mg/day monotherapy in subjects with partial-onset seizures.  Sponsored by Schwartz Biosciences.

Patient Referrals

• Outpatient Clinic Referrals, Epilepsy Specialty Clinic/ 1st Seizure Clinic
  For appointments, call 832.325.7080
• Nurse line/additional information 832.325.7087
  Fax 713.512.2239
• LBJ Epilepsy Clinic
• For appointments, 713.566.4463

• Inpatient EMU Referrals
  For appointments, call Bonnie Brown at 713.704.6062

Links

• Epilepsy Foundation Texas
• American Epilepsy Society