January 16, 2003

Profile: Jeanne Toguri

Title: Registered Nurse, Department of Neurology, The Feinberg School of Medicine, coordinator of Comprehensive Epilepsy Program

photo by Jim Ziv

What do you do? I teach patients about seizures…what they are, why they occur, current treatment and the diagnostic tests available. I try to reassure people and support the physicians’ efforts. I also do some counseling, to a certain point, and make referrals for further assistance. I occasionally do some lecturing and give orientation for nurses of the Northwestern Memorial Hospital neuroscience unit. I’m also on the professional advisory board of the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago.

What is Northwestern’s epilepsy program all about? It is a comprehensive program for patients who have seizures — offering options of treatment with surgery, clinical trials (research medications) as well as current available treatment.

What’s a typical day? We have two physicians, Dr. Scott Mintzer and Dr. Prashanthi Boppana, and hundreds of patients, so each day is busy. Clinics are held several times a week and require an appointment. I spend a lot of time triaging calls when I’m not seeing patients.
How did you come to this field? I graduated from the former Chicago Wesley Memorial Hospital (now Northwestern Memorial Hospital) nursing program and worked for 33 years in neurological nursing. I came to Northwestern’s neurology department 20 years ago to work on a grant for Parkinson’s Disease. I chose nursing as a career back in the eighth grade. In those days, girls could be teachers, secretaries, homemakers or nurses. I was strong in science and math and so it was a good fit for me. And I’ve sort of combined elements of teaching into the nursing.

How did you get into lecturing? I used to work in staff development at the hospital in the early 1970s. I presented orientation, training and continuing education sessions for the staff in the nursing department. Today I speak to nurses and other groups outside of the Northwestern system, including lay groups like the epilepsy foundation, patients, professional groups, the core consortium of other Chicago medical centers and pharmaceutical companies.

— Stephen Anzaldi