When doctors couldn’t stop her daughter’s seizures, this mom earned a PhD and found a treatment herself.

When doctors couldn’t stop her daughter’s seizures, this mom earned a PhD and found a treatment herself.

Savannah Salazar (left) and her mother, Tracy Dixon-Salazaar, who earned a PhD in neurobiology in the quest for a treatment of her daughter's seizure disorder.

LGS Foundation

Twenty-eight years ago, Tracy Dixon-Salazaar woke to the sound of her daughter, two-year-old Savannah, in the midst of a medical emergency.

“I entered [Savannah’s room] to see her tiny little body jerking about violently in her bed,” Tracy said in an interview. “I thought she was choking.” When she and her husband frantically called 911, the paramedic told them it was likely that Savannah had had a seizure—a term neither Tracy nor her husband had ever heard before.

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Sarah Watts

Sarah Watts is a health and science writer based in Chicago.

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Zubin Master
Zubin Master, PhD is an Associate Consultant II in the Biomedical Ethics Research Program at Mayo Clinic. Previously, he was an Associate Professor at the Alden March Bioethics Institute of Albany Medical College. He has also held appointments at the University of Alberta, University of Montreal, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Dr. Master also worked in public service as a Senior Policy Advisor at Health Canada in areas of assisted reproduction and scientific integrity. He holds an undergraduate degree in genetics from York University, a PhD in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Toronto, and completed post-doctoral fellowships in bioethics and health policy at Dalhousie University and the University of British Columbia. His research interests focus on the ethics and policy of research specializing in stem cell research, genetics, and research integrity. Dr. Master serves on several committees and journal editorial boards and has published over 70 articles. Dr. Master has not received any remuneration for writing for leapsmag.
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Katherine Gammon
Katharine Gammon is a freelance science writer based in Santa Monica. She writes for a wide variety of publications about technology, science and child development. She can be followed on Twitter @kategammon.