Frances Jensen, MD, FACP, FANA, FAAN, FAES
University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Frances Jensen is Professor of Neurology and Chair of Neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Co-Director of Penn Translational Neuroscience Center. She was formerly Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Director of Translational Neuroscience and senior neurologist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital. After receiving her AB from Smith College and MD from Cornell Medical College, she obtained her neurology residency training at the Harvard Longwood Neurology Residency Program. Her research focuses on mechanisms of epilepsy, and the interaction of epilepsy with other disorders such as autism and dementia, to elucidate new therapies for clinical trials development. She has authored over 150 manuscripts on subjectsrelated to her research and has been continuously funded by NIH since 1987, and was therecipient of a NIH Director’s Pioneer Award in 2007 and a NIH-NINDS Javits Award in 2020.Dr. Jensen was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2015 and therecipient of the Smith College Medal in 2020. Dr. Jensen has trained numerous clinical and basicresearch fellows who now hold independent faculty positions nationally and internationally. Dr.Jensen served as i President of the American Neurological Association (2021-2023) andPresident of the American Epilepsy Society in 2012. She has served on multiple leadershipboards including Society for Neuroscience and NIH. Dr. Jensen is a Trustee of the FranklinInstitute in Philadelphia and is involved in community outreach for brain research and education.In addition, Dr. Jensen is an advocate for awareness of the adolescent brain development, itsunique strengths and vulnerabilities, as well as their impact on medical, social, and educationalissues unique to teenagers and young adults, and author of the book “The Teenage Brain”,released by Harper Collins in 2015/16, translated and published in over 25 languages worldwide.