Dr Lance Turtle joins The Encephalitis Podcast to talk about the Japanese encephalitis virus and its impact on Australia over the past 12 months. Lance is a Reader and Honorary Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases at the University of Liverpool. As always, the questions are asked by our host, Dr Ava Easton, Chief Executive of the Encephalitis Society. The Encephalitis Podcast is available on all podcast channels and on our YouTube channel. For more information about Dr Lance Turtle: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/infection-veterinary-and-ecological-sciences/staff/lance-turtle/  If you ..read more

Best-selling author Susannah Cahalan joins host Dr Ava Easton for a special World Encephalitis Day edition of The Encephalitis Podcast. Ten years ago, Susannah published Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, the award-winning memoir and New York Times bestseller, which quickly become a Bible for members of the encephalitis community and many more people around the world. Brain on Fire follows Susannah’s struggle with encephalitis and, in particular, her diagnosis and recovery. It was later developed into a Hollywood film by Charlize Theron and starred Chloe Grace Moretz. Susannah chats to Ava ab ..read more

In this episode, Dr Ava Easton talks to author and motivational speaker Jackie Stebbins. In 2017, the former trial lawyer from Bismarck, North Dakota, became ill with encephalitis and experienced a host of difficulties, such as insomnia, paranoia, hallucinations and memory loss. In the summer of 2018, after being voluntarily hospitalized in the psychiatric ward, she was finally diagnosed with seronegative autoimmune encephalitis. To help her recovery, she began writing and speaking about her journey with encephalitis. Today, Jackie hosts the podcast, Brain Fever and is also the author of the J ..read more

In this edition of The Encephalitis Podcast, Dr Ava Easton is joined by Dr Greta Wood for a discussion around seizures and encephalitis. In this wide-ranging conversation, they discuss an important new research paper before answering some questions around seizures and encephalitis. Greta is an Academic Clinical Fellow in Infectious Diseases at the University of Liverpool and has a wide range of research interests, including the socio-economic impact of infectious diseases and multi-morbidity. She is also a member of the COVID-19 Clinical Neuroscience Study which is investigating the neurologic ..read more

We are delighted to welcome back Professor Benedict Michael to The Encephalitis Podcast. Ben talks to host Dr Ava Easton about the COVID-19 Clinical Neuroscience Study – a £2.3 million research study looking in the acute neurological and neuropsychiatric complications of COVID-19. He also shares his thoughts on being a front-line medic during the pandemic, the NHS in general and the upcoming Encephalitis Conference. Ben is a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Liverpool, a Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at the Walton Centre, also in ..read more

Welcome to a special edition of the Encephalitis Podcast. As it is Encephalitis Information Week (Oct 17 to 21, 2022), we wanted to talk about the theme of this year’s campaign - measles. This is a topic we wanted to discuss as recent research revealed that uptake of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella – or MMR vaccine - in England has fallen to its lowest levels in a decade and indeed even before the covid-19 pandemic the WHO declared that the UK had lost its measles-free status. The issue around childhood vaccinations is not restricted to the UK, however. In July, the World Health Organization re ..read more

Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Abi Morgan joins Dr Ava Easton in this edition of the Encephalitis Podcast. Abi, who is perhaps best known for the films Suffragette, The Iron Lady and Shame, is now an author, having recently published, This is Not a Pity Memoir. The book tells the story of her husband when he develops Anti-NMDAR encephalitis, the impact his illness had on their family, and also Abi’s own illness. Ava said: “I devoured this book. It’s incredibly written, profoundly insightful and, at times, brutally authentic. But also, as Abi says, not a pity memoir, but a love story ..read more

In this episode of The Encephalitis Podcast, Dr Ava Easton talks to Dr Gavin Francis, a GP and author, about his book, Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence. This is a fascinating interview about how - and why - we get better, revealing the many shapes recovery takes, its shifting history and the frequent failure of our modern lives to make adequate space for it. For more about Gavin, his work and books, visit http://www.gavinfrancis.com/ To order a copy of Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence, visit https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B099BVT2VH/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0 If ..read more

We decided to keep things in-house for this episode of The Encephalitis Podcast. Dr Ava Easton interviews Phillippa Chapman, Deputy CEO of the Encephalitis Society, for a cosy chat which covers her ten years with the Encephalitis Society, becoming a new mum during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what the future holds for us a charity. Sit back, pour yourself a cup of tea, and enjoy this cosy chat between Ava and Phillippa. If you have been affected by encephalitis and would like to become a member of the society, you can sign up here (membership is free and global): https://www.encephalitis.info/jo ..read more

In this special World Encephalitis Day edition of The Encephalitis Podcast, Dr Ava Easton talks to Dr Julia Granerod about our ground-breaking new report which looks at the global impact of encephalitis and could change millions of lives for the better. The report - Encephalitis: an in-depth review and gap analysis of key variables affecting global disease burden - has identified a range of difficulties surrounding encephalitis around the world. Crucially, however, it proposes a range of solutions which could save lives and improve the treatment and after-care of millions of people today and i ..read more