Gregory Bergey, MD, FANA, is a professor of neurology and director of the epilepsy center at Johns Hopkins, where he focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of seizures and epilepsy.

After receiving his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, Dr. Bergey attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He was later an internal medicine resident at Yale-New Haven Hospital before completing two more neurology residencies at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

A medical fanatic through and through, Dr. Bergey enjoys reading from his medical book collection in his free time. His collection even includes books dated back to the 1700s. One of his favorites is a first edition William Osler textbook from 1892. It’s especially meaningful because Osler made history at Johns Hopkins where Dr. Bergey works.

Dr. Bergey flirted with the idea of being a cardiologist before ultimately deciding on neurology. He enjoys research, but recognizes it’s most valuable when it translates to the benefit of patients. This realization has inspired Dr. Bergey to become more patient-oriented over time. He focuses on taking what he and his colleagues have learned from research and applying it to the care of patients.

A lifelong east coaster, Dr. Bergey grew up in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He has since moved around a bit, but never strayed far from his roots. Now in Maryland, he’s happy to be close to his beloved Baltimore Ravens. To his dismay, he is resigned to watching games from home this fall despite being a long-time season ticket holder.

As for SCNS, Dr. Bergey has been attending meetings for over 20 years. Initially invited to be a speaker, Dr. Bergey keeps coming back because he likes that the conference “gives him a chance to get outside of his bubble.” He enjoys talking to general neurologists, in particular, and finding out what’s important to them. He says researchers, like himself, can get so focused on the esoteric that they can lose sight of what’s important for treating patients.

Dr. Bergey’s favorite SCNS memory was sailing in Aruba and says he is looking forward to learning what’s going on across the neurology field at this year’s conference.