Christopher Donalty CURE Epilepsy benefit official press release

For release August 30, 2011

CONTACTS:
Michael Austin
Public Relations Coordinator
Cell phone 315/794-0342

Jeanne Donalty
Board member, CURE
Cell 315/ 404-4516

Christopher Donalty CURE Epilepsy benefit slated for Sept. 17

• Local attorney George Aney to receive CURE NYS Man of the Year Award;
• Purdue neuroengineer to speak at Christopher Donalty CURE benefit;
• Mohawk Valley event is one of the largest CURE efforts nationwide.

Local volunteers for Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE) are organizing the fifth Christopher Donalty CURE benefit event to raise money for epilepsy research, at a dinner to be held September 17 at Hart’s Hill Inn in Whitesboro.

The benefit will also feature a silent auction and will be held at Hart’s Hill Inn, 135 Clinton Street, Whitesboro, New York. The cocktail reception and silent auction will begin at 5:30 PM, followed by dinner at 6:30 PM. All seating is by reservation only.

Herkimer attorney George Aney will receive CURE’s New York State “Man of the Year Award” in recognition for his leadership in raising public awareness and money for epilepsy research. He is again chairing the 2011 effort.

The featured speaker at the Sept. 17 dinner will be Dr. Pedro P. Irazoqui. Dr. Irazoqui is the recipient of the 2006 Christopher Donalty Interdisciplinary Research Award, and he will discuss the progress on his research project, one of 10 that the Donalty benefit events have funded.

This event is the fifth CURE benefit in the Mohawk Valley. To date, individuals, foundations, and corporations have contributed over $900,000 locally, which has enabled CURE to fund 10 cutting-edge research grants. The Utica-area events have been among the most successful in the country.

“In additional to this financial success, our committee is extremely proud of the impact we have had in raising public awareness of epilepsy,” said event coordinator Jeanne Donalty.

“All proceeds from this year’s benefit will go directly to fund epilepsy research, which will benefit the thousands of people in our community who have epilepsy,” she said. If the group meets its goal of $100,000 on Sept. 17, the five Utica CURE events held since 2003 will have raised a total of over $1 million.

Jeanne and Barry Donalty are the parents of Christopher Donalty, in whose memory the event is held. Christopher died February 22, 2002, of Sudden Unexplained Death In Epilepsy (SUDEP). He was 21 years old and a candidate for a degree in business administration from Stetson University at the time of his death.

Guest speaker, Dr. Irazoqui, is an assistant professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University, and director of the Center for Implantable Devices pursuing research into a modular approach to the design of biological implants. (Full bio is below).

For ticket and silent auction information, go to www.donaltycure.com, call 315/866-6600 or email [email protected] . Information is also available on Facebook at “The Christopher Donalty CURE.”

CURE is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and is rated 4 stars (out of four) by Charity Navigator.

Biography — Dr. Pedro P. Irazoqui
Guest Speaker,
2011 Christopher Donalty CURE Benefit

Dr. Irazonqui received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire, Durham in 1997 and 1999 respectively, and Ph.D. in Neuroengineering from the University of California at Los Angeles in 2003.

Currently he is an Assistant Professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University, and Director of the Center of Implantable Devices pursuing research into a modular approach to the design of biological implants. Devices are applied to the clinical treatment of physiological disorders, using miniature, wireless, implantable systems. Specific research and clinical applications explored include: epilepsy, glaucoma, cardiology, and neural interfaces.
He has received the Best Teacher Award from the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering (2006 & 2009), the Early Career Award from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation (2007 & Phase II in 2009), the Marion B. Scott Excellence in Teaching Award from Tau Beta Pi (2008), and the Outstanding Faculty Member Award from the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering (2009), and has been serving as Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering since late 2006.