Research award to young neurologist

At the annual European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Congress in Copenhagen 31. May 2016, Marte Helene Bjørk won the Clinical research Tournament for young Neurologists. The Uschi Tschabitscher Prize consists of a travel grant. There were 1900 submitted research abstracts to the Congress and 6000 participants. Six abstracts were selected for oral presentation.  The candidates were judged by scientific quality, presentation technique and by questions from the jury board. Marte Bjork’s study showed that plasma folate and folic acid supplementation during pregnancy mitigates development of autistic traits in 3 year of children exposed to antiepileptic drugs in utero. The last author is professor Nils Erik Gilhus. The project uses a unique set of prospective epidemiological data from the Norwegian and Child cohort study including information from linked registries and biobank samples. The results have already received substantial attention in international media.  Marte Helene Bjørk, M.D, PhD born 1980 is a post doc in Bergen Epilepsy Research Group, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen and a resident neurologist at Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital.