Philip Haydon, Ph.D.

Phil is the Annetta and Gustav Professor and Chair of Neuroscience at Tufts University School of Medicine. He runs an active research laboratory researching a range of neurological disorders, including epilepsy. In addition to his research, he has medically controlled epilepsy resulting from a traumatic brain injury.

When he was 15 he was heading home from the last day of school when a drunken teenager threw a house brick that hit him in the forehead. This caused a depressed compound fracture of the skull, which in turn triggered post-traumatic epilepsy. He was in and out of hospital and was eventually fitted with a vitallium plate to cover the hole in his skull and given medications to prevent seizures.

After his accident he initially struggled at school, finding it difficult to stay awake and to study. Never the most diligent student he gradually managed to apply himself, graduate and even to go on to university to study physiology and later to a successful career in the Neurosciences.

Phil is a passionate sailor, sometimes cruising for the pleasure of being on the ocean and at other times racing as far as to Bermuda. Recently he formed a non-profit organization, Sail For Epilepsy, with the goal of Navigating to Inspire, raise funds for research into Cures, and to Educate. He plans to circumnavigate the globe and to try to inspire people with epilepsy, and their caregivers, to “Take one extra step” to live fuller lives. Sail For Epilepsy partners with the Epilepsy Foundation New England.