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The name of pediatric neurologist Jack Pellock of Midlothian has been inseparably linked with the leading studies of childhood epilepsy for more than 30 years, both in clinical care and drug therapy.

Epilepsy is the third most common neurological disorder after Alzheimer’s disease and stroke, according to the American Epilepsy Society. A person who has had two or more unprovoked seizures is considered to have epilepsy, which affects as many as 3 million people in the U.S. and 65 million worldwide.

“You look at every medicine (to treat epilepsy) released in the last 36 years — he has been one of the lead investigators (in its development),” said Dr. Lawrence D. Morton, chairman of the VCU Division of Child Neurology and a longtime colleague.

Kathryn “Kathy” O’Hara, an epilepsy nurse clinician who worked with Dr. Pellock as his research coordinator, noted, “When he started (his career), there were four drugs on the market. I think we now have 27. Usually a drug is approved for one type of seizure. He continued studying the drug to see if it worked for other kinds.