Alison M. Pack, MD, MPH, FAAN, FAES is Chief of the Division of Epilepsy and Sleep Disorders, Professor of Neurology - New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia. University Irving Medical Center

Upon graduating with her MD from the University of Pennsylvania, she completed her residency training in Neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennslyvania. After residency, she trained as a Clinical Fellow in Epilepsy at the Columbia Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital. In 2000, she joined the faculty at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She received an MPH with a concentration in epidemiology from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in 2010.

Dr. Pack has focused her career on clinical care for persons with epilepsy, clinical research, and educating future generations of neurologists and epilepsy specialists. She is an inductee into the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians Academy of Clinical Excellence. Within the Epilepsy Center at Columbia she is the director of the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit and co-director of the Epilepsy Surgery Program. Her research has focused on effects of anti-seizure medications on bone and mineral metabolism, as well as the care of persons of childbearing potential with epilepsy including studies among pregnant persons with epilepsy and contraceptive practices in persons of childbearing potential with epilepsy. In 2012 she received the AAN Neuroendocrine Research Award. Dr. Pack established and previously served as the director of the Epilepsy Fellowship program at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Dr. Pack's exceptional research and dedication earned her the Epilepsy Foundation Investigator Research Award, in recognition of her studies on bone health in postmenopausal women with epilepsy who were taking antiepileptic drugs. She also received an NIH K23 grant to use toward studies focused on the effects of antiepileptic drugs on bone and hormonal health. Dr. Pack has published a number of articles related to women with epilepsy, as well as endocrine issues in epilepsy. She has also been a co-investigator on numerous clinical studies, including reproductive function in young women with epilepsy, contraceptive use in women with epilepsy, and neurodevelopmental effects of antiepileptic drugs.

Dr. Pack was chair of the Neuroendocrinology section of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) between 2014-2018 and is currently a member of the AAN Guideline Development, Dissemination, and Implementation Subcommittee and the ILAE Pregnancy and Women Task Force. She serves as Chair of the Professional Advisory Board of the Epilepsy Foundation. She is Vice Chair of the ABPN Epilepsy Board Certification Exam.

To view a full list of Dr. Pack's 80+ publications, visit her PubMed page.

Education & Training

  • University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
  • Residency: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
  • Fellowship: Columbia Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital

Board Certifications

  • Neurology
  • Epilepsy

Honors & Awards

  • Young Investigator Award, American Epilepsy Society, 2004
  • AAN Neuroendocrine Research Award, 2012