Professor Eva Andermann obtained a BSc degree majoring in mathematics and physics; MDCM as well as MSc and PhD degrees in genetics, all from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. After her postgraduate clinical training in internal medicine, electroencephalography and genetics, she holds specialties in public health, EEG and medical genetics. She joined the staff of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) in 1973 as a neurogeneticist and electroencephalographer, and has worked there ever since.
She established the first neurogenetics department in Canada at the Neuro, and was its director for over 40 years. In addition to her clinical work in neurogenetics and EEG, she carried out many genetic investigations of novel neurogenetic syndromes in the province of Quebec,where there is a strong founder effect, and these studies eventually led to the discovery of many new genes. These syndromes included familial agenesis of the corpus callosum with sensorimotor neuronopathy ( Andermann syndrome ), Joubert syndrome, action-myoclonus-renal failure syndrome, and many others. These studies were carried out with the collaboration of her late husband Professor Frederick Andermann, who headed the epilepsy unit and clinic at The Neuro for many years.
She also carried out a large prospective study on epilepsy and pregnancy, which led to improved management of these patients. She has trained and mentored a large number of undergraduate and graduate students, residents and postdoctoral fellows from 5 continents, many of whom have continued to work in neurogenetics.
She has received a number of awards, including the Ambassador Award of the International League Against Epilepsy, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Neuro, the P.E. Becker Prize of the German, Austrian and Swiss Child Neurology Societies, and honorary memberships in the German and Portuguese Epilepsy Societies, and the Brazilian Academy of Neurology.
She is presently Professor in the Departments of Neurology & Neurosurgery and Human Genetics of McGill University, and her main research interests are: genetics of the epilepsies, with a focus on progressive myoclonic epilepsies, genetics of malformations of cortical development; and epilepsy and pregnancy, particularly teratogenic effects of antiseizure medications.
