Ingrid Scheffer

Ingrid Eileen Scheffer is an Australian paediatric neurologist and senior research fellow at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. Scheffer has made several major advances in the field of epilepsy research. Scheffer is credited with finding the first gene implicated in epilepsy. She has also described and classified novel epileptic syndromes such as Epilepsy limited to Females with cognitive disability.

Early life and education Ingrid Eileen Scheffer was born in Melbourne, Victoria on 21 December 1958. Scheffer finished secondary school at Methodist Ladies' College in 1976, and then attended Monash University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in 1983. and Epilepsy limited to Females with cognitive disability. Her work also provides for more accurate genetic reproductive counselling.

In 2014, Scheffer, alongside her close collaborator Professor Sam Berkovic, AC, won the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science for their work on deciphering the genetics of epilepsy. It is one of many awards in she has received throughout her career. RACP Eric Susman Prize (2009) Prime Minister's Prize for Science (2014) Order of Australia (2014) Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2018