Tarek Ali, a third year Biology student at Mount Allison was invited to attend and present at the first North American Regional Epilepsy Congress in San Diego, California, this past December.

Tarek spent his 2005 summer working at the Epilepsy Centre in Jamaica, putting together an electronic database for the facility. He explains, "The first project was to compile all the data on the persons who had had video electroencephalogram (EEG) tests, used to detect abnormalities in the electrical activity of the brain. Shortly after this data was collected, the call for submissions came out from the Congress." Under the guidance of Centre Director, Dr. Amza Ali, Tarek analyzed the data and submitted a proposal for consideration. His report was accepted as a poster presentation for the San Diego conference.

"Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that causes sudden bursts of activity in the brain. This activity causes seizures which can vary in strength from person to person.

Last summer, (2006) while compiling a database on the persons who had had video electroencephalogram (EEG), a test used to detect abnormalities in the electrical activity of the brain at the Epilepsy Centre of Jamaica, a call for submissions of papers to the first North American Regional Epilepsy Congress arrived at the Centre. I was in the right place at the right time and with support and encouragement of the director of Epilepsy Centre, I submitted an analysis of the data I had been collecting for consideration. I couldn’'t believe it when the e-mail came advising that it had been accepted as a poster presentation at the Congress in San Diego.

Fueled by the success of last year's paper, this summer I decided to conduct a study of the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice(KAP)towards epilepsy in the people who live and work in a suburban middle class area of Kingston, Jamaica. After having taken two Stats courses at Mount Allison this year, I am excited to be able to employ the different statistical techniques I learned to analyze the data, and put a new spin on things. I’m hoping this study will be accepted at the American Epilepsy Society meeting in November in Philadelphia.

So far the two summer projects have been quite different. Last year it was a lot of data collection from files with no real people contact. This year, I have been walking the street interviewing people and analyzing data from a questionnaire. Maybe next summer, I’ll try something more lab oriented.

The truth is that though it is a lot of hard work, it is a great way to spend the summer, it is an invaluable experience and its really cool to see your name in print."

Tarek Ali, Biology & Math (Kingston, Jamaica)