Our Story

The organization was founded by Susan Axelrod and a small group of parents of children with epilepsy who were frustrated with their inability to protect their children from seizures and the side effects of medications. Unwilling to sit back, they joined forces to spearhead the search for a cure. 

Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy or CURE was our name at founding. Moving forward, the organization will be doing business as CURE Epilepsy, creating a brand that conveys who we are, and who we will always be – an organization single-mindedly focused on finding a cure for epilepsy. 

Since its inception in 1998, CURE Epilepsy has raised more than $85 million to fund epilepsy research and other initiatives that will lead the way to cures for the epilepsies. CURE Epilepsy awards grants for novel research projects to prevent epilepsy related to pediatric epilepsy, post-traumatic epilepsy, treatment-resistant epilepsies, Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), and sleep and epilepsy advancing the search for a cure, eliminating treatment side effects, and reversing deficits caused by frequent seizures. CURE Epilepsy funds grants for young and established investigators and to–date has awarded more than 270 cutting-edge projects in 17 countries around the world.

CURE Epilepsy has led a dramatic shift in the epilepsy research community from simply treating seizures to enhancing understanding of underlying mechanisms and causes so that cures and preventative strategies can be found. CURE Epilepsy’s research program is cutting-edge, dynamic, and responsive to new scientific opportunities and directions through both investigator-initiated grants and unprecedented scientific programs and initiatives.

We are the only US nonprofit laser-focused on funding research to find the cures for epilepsy.

Our grants support both established and early-career researchers focused on epilepsy research.

CURE Epilepsy was founded in 1998 by a group of parents desperate for answers to save their children.