Executive Director Lisa Gallipoli of Epilepsy Alliance America advocates for those living with epilepsy. Her illustrious 25+-year career fostering healthcare nonprofits includes American Liver Foundation, American Heart Association, and the National MS Society. Having joined Epilepsy Alliance America in 2021, Lisa continues her staunch leadership of patient advocacy, determined to educate the public about clients' challenges.

She says, “One in 26 people in the United States have an epilepsy diagnosis. One in 10 people will experience a seizure in their lifetime. Our work must not be interrupted!”

Epilepsy Alliance America traces its beginnings to eight organizations in 2018, having grown to 19, JoshProvides being the 11th member. Lisa points out that key to success is that organizations joining post-founding have just as strong a voice as original organizations.

Lisa says, “We foster an environment of inclusion, where all member organizations, regardless of size and/or specialties are treated with respect, given equal representation, and valued equally. We strive to promote integrity by fostering transparency, establishing accountability, and nurturing lasting relationships—all for our clients’ success.”

Liza Gundell, CEO of Epilepsy Services of New Jersey and board chair of Epilepsy Alliance America, touts Lisa’s leadership: “Lisa balances strategic direction and empathy, consistently focusing on the needs of individuals living with epilepsy and our member organizations—a level of focus I’ve never seen before. Her steady, thoughtful leadership continues to strengthen the Alliance and elevate the epilepsy community nationwide.”

Utmost for her and Epilepsy Alliance America and its consortium is to ease the path of those diagnosed with epilepsy. Besides being challenged by recurrent seizures, falls and injuries, and possible Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), clients can suffer negative treatment side effects and other health issues. More importantly, a diagnosis might render the patient isolated, unemployed, stigmatized—powerless.

JoshProvides CEO Andria Bilan says that partnering with Epilepsy Alliance America was a strategic decision: “As a member, we increase our credibility and visibility. It also provides funding resources from pharmaceutical companies and adds collective impact in building awareness and advocating for services. Aligning with a national organization to expand our ability to offer meaningful assistance to children and families living with epilepsy is crucial.”

Awareness and education are the keys to unlocking the door to success.

• Why were you interested in including Epilepsy Alliance America in your impressive list of nonprofits for which you have served? 

Seeing myself as a professional partner for individuals who are passionate about causes, like epilepsy, I was fortunate to have been chosen as the executive director of Epilepsy Alliance America.

Advocates are usually those living with the disorder or are inspired by a family member. They're looking for ways to get involved—to give back and take action. Although sometimes feeling powerless against a disorder like epilepsy, they want to channel their passion into a cause.

As their professional partner, I look for the right opportunities for achieving those goals, including fundraising, volunteering, and/or serving as a board member. I see myself as someone introducing new people to the cause.

• I noticed that your website is available in Spanish. Is that language offered to foster inclusion?

One of our founding member organizations is Sociedad Puertorriqueña de Epilepsia (the Epilepsy Society of Puerto Rico). Many member organizations work with Spanish-speaking populations, and we know that individuals sometimes prefer receiving information, flyers, written information, webinars, and training in Spanish, their first language.

That's why we created the Spanish hub on our website, a one-stop shopping center for the materials we offer in Spanish. We're also pleased that our organizations in both Puerto Rico and Epilepsy Alliance Florida are willing to take calls from individuals in Spanish: another way we're ensuring that people with epilepsy are getting the services and the information that they need.

• I understand that your organization’s core values are collaboration, inclusion, responsiveness, compassion and integrity. How do you ensure that your staff and team foster those values?

Core values are the lifeblood of how we do the organization’s work, fostering its mission. Epilepsy Alliance America has recently undergone a strategic planning process where we’ve honed our core values, reaffirming who we are and what we do as an organization and how we want to operate with one another. We have also revised our mission, vision, and purpose statements. Read more about our values (https://epilepsyallianceamerica.org/mission/).

• What does your partnership with JoshProvides look like? 

As one of our nationwide member organizations, JoshProvides encapsulates our core values and mission, proving that this like-minded organization collaborates with Epilepsy Alliance America and its fellow members: sharing tools, resources, ideas—ensuring that organizations bond—helping to defeat the isolation of living with epilepsy.
JoshProvides delivers resources nationwide. Member organizations consistently refer individuals to that organization’s grant programs, especially for seizure alert and detection devices and seizure response dogs. By emphasizing JoshProvides' “shining-star” initiatives, such as support groups and its incorporating our On-Demand Seizure First-Aid Training for School Personnel, we’re ensuring that we’re not reinventing the wheel (https://epilepsyallianceamerica.org/seizure-safety/on-demand-seizure-first-aid-training-for-school-personnel/).

In looking at our monthly web stats, I see that JoshProvides grant applications are consistently within our top five downloaded materials on our website, indicating that people are visiting our website because they’re looking for financial resources, connecting with JoshProvides and receiving grants that are making a difference—supporting epilepsy journeys.

JoshProvides epitomizes the Epilepsy Alliance America mission: a national community, building local solutions, for people impacted by epilepsy.