ILAE Academy: Global Training for Epilepsy Clinicians - Prof. Gagandeep Singh, Dayanand Medical College & Hospital (India) & UCL (UK)
Did you know the ILAE’s vision is a world where no life is negatively affected by the epilepsies? Today we hear from Prof. Gagandeep Singh about the ILAE Academy - a one-stop shop for clinician epilepsy learning that’s self-paced, structured, & interactive.
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Episode Highlights
The ILAE Academy offers structured, self-paced, & interactive online learning based on the global epileptology curriculum.
Courses are accessible & affordable, with bursaries for learners from low & middle-income countries.
Designed for all clinicians managing the epilepsies - covering diagnosis, treatment, comorbidities, & beyond.
New AI-based modules adapt to each learner’s ability, ensuring engagement & mastery.
About Prof. Gagandeep Singh
Gagandeep Singh is a Professor of Neurology at Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, India. In addition, he is an Honorary Professor at the Department of Clinical & Experimental Epilepsy at the UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK. He is the Chair of the International League Against Epilepsy, Education Council, and Primary Care Task Force. His research interests include implementation research in delivery of epilepsy care in resource-limited settings and neurological infections as risk factors for epilepsy.
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Trailer
00:00 Gagandeep Singh
“As you know, the definition of epilepsy just does not include the occurrence of seizures, it goes beyond that. There are social consequences, medical, psychosocial consequences, and so on, and so forth.”
Our topic today
00:13 Torie Robinson
Welcome to Epilepsy Sparks Insights! I’m your host, Torie Robinson, and here we talk with specialist clinicians and researchers to spark improved understandings of the epilepsies worldwide. If you’re new here, please subscribe so that you don’t miss future conversations – and let’s get into today’s episode.
We are joined by Prof. Gagandeep Singh, Chair of the Education Council at the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). We’re exploring how the ILAE Academy is transforming epilepsy education globally — from its interactive online modules to its evolving curriculum designed for clinicians at every level. Gagandeep shares how the Academy keeps pace with new discoveries, supports learners across income settings, and helps to shape the future of epileptology education.
Meet Prof. Gagandeeep Singh & today’s focus on epilepsy education
00:55 Gagandeep Singh
So I'm Gagandeep Singh. I'm a professor of neurology with interest in epilepsy at Ludhiana in a medical school here, which is in North India. I'm also an honorary professor at the University College London, the Department of Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy. And I happen to be chair of the Education Council of the International League Against Epilepsy.01:24 Torie Robinson
Some fabulous titles there. And you're just kind of… just down the road for me in London sometimes, which is great too. Today, we're going to be talking about the ILAE Academy. Could you just tell us a little bit about… for people who aren't familiar with the ILAE, what actually is it and what's its mission, vision, goals, all that stuff?What is the ILAE & its mission to improve lives with the epilepsies
01:44 Gagandeep Singh
So the International League Against Epilepsy is a professional organisation and comprises of professionals with an interest in epilepsy. So, it largely comprises of epileptologists across the world. But as you know, epilepsy specialists or epileptologists are few and far apart, so there are a whole lot of neurologists and probably some non-neurologists also who have an interest in epilepsy. And yes, it includes other people, other healthcare professionals who are involved in the care of people with epilepsy, and that includes neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, and so on. And nurses, right!02:28 Torie Robinson
Yeah, very important nurses as well, yes!02:30 Gagandeep Singh
Technicians too, right!02:32 Torie Robinson
And what are the goals of the ILAE? What's its actual purpose? And how do you, or how does it achieve these or hope to achieve these things?How education & research drive global epilepsy progress
02:41 Gagandeep Singh
The vision of the International League Against Epilepsy is to reach some place there, a world where no person's life is affected by epilepsy, at least negatively affected by epilepsy. And as you would imagine, research and education - or should I say education first and then research - are extremely, extremely important in achieving the mission of the ILAE. And one of its strategic goals is to educate and provide continuing education to all those who need it in managing people with epilepsy, managing, diagnosing epilepsy, treating epilepsy, preventing epilepsy, and reducing the burden of epilepsy.Beyond seizures: understanding morbidities in the epilepsies
03:33 Torie Robinson
Are we just talking about seizure management here, or are we talking about other morbidities that come alongside it, like their best mates?03:41 Gagandeep Singh
Yeah, we just need to go beyond seizures and look beyond seizures and, as you said, comorbidities are extremely, extremely important; psychiatric comorbidities, somatic comorbidities. It's a one-piece management, one-stop shop where you know, as so many other things; there are social issues, and as you know, the definition of epilepsy just does not include the occurrence of seizures, it goes beyond that. There are social consequences, medical, psychosocial consequences, and so on, and so forth.04:15 Torie Robinson
Thank you. I think that's a really important point because even today, unfortunately, many clinicians and researchers don't realise that epilepsy is more than seizures. So thank you so much for saying that.ILAE has these goals, but what is it doing to try and achieve them?
The ILAE’s passionate mission: education, education & more education
04:30 Gagandeep Singh
The one thing that ILAE is doing is education. And if there are three things the ILAE is doing, it's education, education, and education, right? It's extremely important wherever it can happen, however it can happen, whichever way it can happen, and whenever it can happen, right? So education is really… people in the ILAE are the management, the executive, the leadership, everyone; the constituency is extremely, extremely passionate about education, right? They want to learn more so that they can help their patients better. They want to teach more so that people can manage epilepsy better anywhere in the world.Teaching courses, global schools & online learning opportunities
05:14 Torie Robinson
And so I believe that there are a couple of courses and such like from the International League Against Epilepsy. But look, I'm a member of ILAE and some of the working groups and even the courses aren't overly obvious to myself, despite my involvement!05:32 Gagandeep Singh
Well, I thought you're a very prominent member of the League, right? And people know you very well. And well, in terms of education, there's a lot that the ILAE is doing, and, you know, if I can count, there are teaching courses in the regional as well as the international epilepsy congress. Just recently, the International Epilepsy Congress was held in Lisbon, and so those are the teaching courses.Then, there are a number of ILAE schools. There are nine ILAE schools which are attended by nearly, about 500 young epilepsy experts and fellows and students, and young doctors who are interested in epilepsy, and these cover a range of topics. Besides the regional and the international conferences and the ILAE schools, the ILAE is also involved in online education, and there are two things that really stand apart, and these are shining examples of how the League can help in continuing education of its constituency and members across the world. So one of them is the VIREPRA, which is a Virtual Epilepsy Academy, which supports students who want to learn EEG and imaging, including paediatric EEG, adult EEG, advanced EEG, and neuroimaging. And this is actually a tutored course. It's online, but it is tutored.
Introducing the ILAE Academy: structured, self-paced & interactive
07:10 Gagandeep Singh
And the other thing which is relatively new on the scene, something [that has been going], like, about three to four years, less than three to four years, really speaking, is the ILAE Academy. So the ILAE Academy is an online platform. And if you ask me to summarise, let's say in one line, I would use five points in that one line:It's, of course, it's online;
It's self-paced, right? It's structured, right?;
It's interactive, right?
And it's online.
So that’s four. And so these are the important features of this. Now, when I say it's self-paced, it means that you can log on or anyone can log on to the ILAE Academy after subscribing to it, and then if he thinks “Oh fine, yes, I'm too busy today, don't feel like studying, need to do something else.”, so just log off and then maybe after another couple of days, you can log on to the ILAE Academy and start off from where you had left, right? So it's entirely self-paced, right?
24/7 access & expert-led development of the ILAE Academy
08:32 Torie Robinson
Is it available 24-7? Can anybody do it at any time?08:35 Gagandeep Singh
Anytime, right. Morning, day, evening, whenever, right.The second thing is, it's very interactive. A lot of effort has gone in and I really would like to, at this point, acknowledge the efforts. I took over the Education Council as its chairperson just a couple of years ago, and much of the academy was developed before that under the leadership of Professor Ingmar Blümcke who was the earlier chair of the Education Council and a lot, many experts across the world - nearly 200 of them - who contributed to its development.
Learning through real-life case studies & interactive tools
09:21 Gagandeep Singh
And then coming back to its interactive features, right? It's really interactive. You know, it asks… it builds up on a case, like, for instance, a person comes to the emergency department and comes in status epilepticus. He's diagnosed with status epilepticus. And then it builds up from there, right? What are the investigations done? What are the treatments given? What is the prognosis? Then the patient is shifted to the intensive care unit, the EEG, is hooked up to the EEG, what does the EEG look like, how is the status eventually controlled, then there are investigations which are done to establish the diagnosis of the condition, what is the underlying etiological diagnosis and then the patient comes back, is eventually discharged, comes back for follow-up to clinic, and then asks a lot of questions. So it's really very interactive, and these questions keep coming up and these questions are asked. A lot of resource material is actually there, including position papers, including guidelines, including consensus-based reports, including seminars in epileptology. So a whole lot of things are intertwined and knit into the ILAE Academy, providing a whole lot of information. And you would never get bored! No one would ever get bored! It's so interactive. keeps the person who is the subscriber so busy. It keeps the learner so busy and so involved. That's what I mean for it to be very interactive.Keeping the Academy up to date with the latest epilepsy research
11:10 Torie Robinson
Because, as we know, like, epilepsy research is so full-throttle - none of us can keep up with it completely, right - how do we ensure that these courses are bang up to date; teaching things that are accurate?11:17 Gagandeep Singh
Absolutely, that's extremely important, and I'll give you an example for that. So you know that the epilepsy classification was recently revised, right…11:28 Torie Robinson
Mm-hmm.11:28 Gagandeep Singh
…not too many things, but there was a significant revision. So, soon after the paper was… the new epilepsy classification was released, right, the first task before us was to update all the content and material in the academy so that it reflected the most recent classification, right? So all the seizure terms, terminology, etc., everything was changed, and there are still some changes which are being carried out. But, yes, so we are extremely, extremely mindful of the fact that all the academy reflects absolutely the latest in terms of our understanding of epilepsy, and we simply keep following all the latest trends, and this is all reflected in the academy.I just wanted to say, I elaborated on two of the important points. One is that it was interactive, and the second one was; it was self-paced. Now, it is also tutorless, right? And some people might see that as an advantage! So there's no need for a tutor there. And yes, it is structured, right? And when I say structured, you see, in 2018 (I think it was 2018), the International League Against Epilepsy developed (for the first time, anywhere in the world) a curriculum, a teaching curriculum for epilepsy. So this was the ILAE’s Epileptology curriculum, right? It's a set of competencies and learning objectives covering the entire spectrum of Epileptology.
A structured curriculum built on global epileptology standards
13:23 Gagandeep Singh
So, the academy is a highly structured course - or multiple courses - which are based on the ILAE Epileptology curriculum. So they are not random things like someone will do a webinar or a seminar on one particular topic, express his own views on that topic, and that's it.13:47 Torie Robinson
Yeah.13:47 Gagandeep Singh
Right? It's extremely structured so that at the end of the course, the person is very proficient in those particular competencies.Course costs & support for learners worldwide
13:59 Torie Robinson
So what's the damage to one's purse or wallet when it comes to the courses?14:04 Gagandeep Singh
It's really, really very economical. The ILAE has invested a lot of money in developing the modules and the courses. So as I said, the ILAE Academy is based on the Epileptology curriculum is level one, which is entry level.14:22 Torie Robinson
Yep.14:22 Gagandeep Singh
Level two is proficiency level. And level three is advanced level. So really advanced level. So level one: we are very mindful, in the ILAE we are really mindful about the income status of countries and applicants, the countries in which they live. So people from high-income countries would have to spend about $200 for level 1 and $300 for level 3. But for people from low and middle-income countries and low-income countries, it is as less as $25 and $50 for level one and level two (if they get a bursary, right)? And I think without a bursary, it's about 50 and 75. So it's really good value for money? So one year for level one, one year for level two, that's the time it takes. And I think that's very good value for money.New modules, AI-powered learning & evolving resources
15:24 Torie Robinson
Yeah, the significant difference between those prices, which is great. So tell us about segments to the course that you anticipate or that are planned at the moment.15:34 Gagandeep Singh
So as I said, at the Academy, we are continuously evolving and adapting. So we have a number of gaps, and we are busy trying to fill in those gaps. Some of the gaps that we recently identified were, we didn't have a platform for primary care providers. So that is now in place. We didn't have a course on neuropsychology, right, and particularly the approach to neuropsychology for practicing epilepsy experts.16:12 Torie Robinson
Wow!16:12 Gagandeep Singh
So that is something which is coming very soon. And also another module on status epilepticus.Hand-holding learning: a one-stop shop for epilepsy education
16:20 Gagandeep Singh
And this is very interesting. It is based on an AI paradigm, right? So it is… when we were students in school, and if I would answer a question right, my teacher would give me a tough question. The next question I would anticipate that the next question would be tougher, right? But if I was not able to answer the question, the teacher would say: “Fine, the next question I'm gonna ask him a simple question, I'm not gonna ask him a tough question.”. And that's what this AI-based program does. It really goes by the learner's ability.[If] the learner is good, it is answering all the questions well, it kind of gets, the questions become tougher and if he's not able to answer, he or she is not able to answer, the question comes back eventually again after some time, right? So it…
17:20 Torie Robinson
Ok.17:20 Gagandeep Singh
…will make sure that people get it right, the learners get it right….17:26 Torie Robinson
Goes easy on us, well, challenges us, but doesn't go too hard on us basically.17:31 Gagandeep Singh
It's like hand-holding, right? Hand-holding and learning along. And it's really a one-stop shop. It's a one-stop shop for epilepsy learning, right? It has everything there.Encouraging clinicians everywhere to join the ILAE Academy
17:43 Torie Robinson
So by the sounds of it, and what I learned before this, is I think it's great for anybody, really, any clinicians interested in epileptology. If we have some, we have quite a few patients and families listening, I would highly encourage them to poke their clinician and get them to do this course as well.18:01 Gagandeep Singh
Absolutely, I think that's anywhere in the world; I think the ILAE Academy has something in it for any person practising epilepsy anywhere in the world.Conclusion
18:12 Torie Robinson
Thank you so much to Gagandeep for joining us and sharing these exciting insights into the ILAE Academy and its incredible global reach. If you’re a clinician or researcher, do take a look at the Academy, and if you’re a person with an epilepsy or a caregiver, encourage your healthcare team to explore it!If you found this conversation helpful, please give it a like and subscribe, and hit the bell so you’re notified when new episodes drop. I’d also love to hear your thoughts or experiences in the comments below – I do actually read them! See you next time.
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