Welcome to the In-Memoriam Tribute Page in Honor of Dr. Cynthia Rask

This fundraising page is in honor of Dr. Cynthia A. Rask, a world-renowned epileptologist and drug development expert. Dr. Rask had an esteemed career at the Food & Drug Administration including being a Director within the Office of Cellular Tissue and Gene Therapies. Her work at the FDA supported the advancement of hundreds of novel medicines, and she was the recipient of eight FDA awards in recognition of this work. Many thousands of patients in clinical trials benefited from her careful and expert work, and it is likely that tens of thousands of patients will benefit in the future from new medicines that she has helped shepherd into the clinic. After leaving FDA, Dr. Rask consulted with numerous companies developing drugs to treat neurological disorders and continued her support of the development of gene therapies.

Dr. Rask was a generous and loving friend to many. She was a world traveler, a responsible global citizen and a loyal and trusted colleague. Dr. Rask was instrumental in supporting the Aerie Africa home in Soddo, Ethiopia, and provided medical care to many children.

A graduate of Hibbing High School, Cornell University and the University of Minnesota Medical School, Dr. Rask completed her residency in Internal Medicine and Neurology at the University of Rochester, and was board certified in Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology. She also held post-graduate fellowships at the University of Minnesota.

Please support this cause by making a safe and secure donation to the Epilepsy Foundation in honor of Dr. Rask. Giving to the Epilepsy Foundation means you make the world a better, easier, more manageable place for the nearly 3 million people in the U.S. who are living with epilepsy and seizures. 

Thank you for support.