My interest in research started while in medical school at the University of Carabobo in Venezuela. I understood that many basic physiological questions are still unanswered, which are fundamental to better comprehend pathological processes. Later, while treating patients, I saw and lived their despair and of their relatives when their quality of life could not be improved, due in part to a lack of physiological and pathophysiological knowledge. To me, one of the worst diseases is epilepsy due to its damaging effects to the patient, family and society. To better understand its origins, I decided to pursue my doctoral training in Dr. Istvan Mody’s lab, where basic mechanisms of epilepsies and inhibitory synaptic transmission are studied.

At the Mody Lab I studied phasic and tonic inhibition in the hippocampus and its relationship to epileptogenesis, as well as other projects involving synaptic inhibition. My main technical approach is electrophysiology.

In the end, the knowledge gathered from both the clinical and basic science areas will allow me to be better prepared in the future to treat patients, bridge basic and clinical research and help to advance the understanding of this disease. 

Updated February 16, 2012:

After obtaining his Ph.D.  Joseph did a brief post-doctoral fellowship with Kevin Staley  at Harvard Massachusetts General Hospital.  Joseph is now a resident in the Harvard Neurology Residency Program .  

Joseph is currently at Harvard