James W. Wheless, BScPharm, MD, FAAP, FACP, FAAN, FAES

James W. Wheless, BScPharm, MD, FAAP, FACP, FAAN, FAES, is professor and chief of pediatric neurology and the Le Bonheur Chair in Pediatric Neurology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. He also serves as director of the Neuroscience Institute and the Le Bonheur Comprehensive Epilepsy Program for the Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. He received his pharmacy and medical degrees from the University of Oklahoma, where he also completed his residency training in pediatrics. He then completed his residency training in pediatric neurology at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL, at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago (previously known as Children’s Memorial Hospital). His EEG/clinical epilepsy training was completed at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. He founded and directed the Texas Comprehensive Epilepsy Program before moving to his current position.

Dr Wheless is a diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc, with special qualifications in child neurology, clinical neurophysiology, and epilepsy. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Pediatricians, the American Academy of Neurology, and the American Epilepsy Society. He is an editorial board member of the Journal of Child Neurology, Formulary, and Epilepsy.com, and serves as a reviewer of a number of journals, including Neurology, Epilepsia, Pediatrics, and Epilepsy & Behavior.

His primary interests include childhood convulsive disorders, and his research is focused on pediatric antiepileptic drug development, the ketogenic diet, epilepsy surgery device therapy, and noninvasive functional brain mapping. Dr Wheless is the author of more than 640 chapters, articles, and abstracts on these subjects, and he is the editor of 4 textbooks on epilepsy. He has lectured widely on topics related to pediatric epilepsy.