Since December 1971 when IEA was registered as a Public Charity Trust, various individuals have contributed towards its progress and growth. Though it is not possible to thank everyone and detail the hard work put in by them, a few people in Mumbai such as Dr. Eddie Bharucha, Dr. Bhimsen Singhal, Late Dr. Freny Kohiyar and Dr. Pravina Shah have been very active almost from inception. Later on when the Samman epilepsy support group was formed Ignatius Misquitta, Kavita Shanbhag, Neeta Sodhi and Carol D’Souza showed immense dedication to further the activities of the Association.

The mission of the IEA / Samman Association is to raise epilepsy awareness, increase acceptance of persons with epilepsy and provide relief and rehabilitation to patients and their families.

Activities of the Association during 1973-1995 focused on epilepsy education – making films (none other than Shyam Benegal made us a film which was aired on national TV), using the radio for epilepsy education, education of teachers and students as well as the general public, production of print material in different languages, liaising with the press and fund raising. In December 1996 the first painting competition for children with epilepsy was held where late actor and MP Sunil Dutt was the chief guest.