After completing his medical and scientific training in Neurology and Neuroscience, Dr. Patrick Chauvel became a researcher at INSERM (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale) in Paris (1975). There, he began his pioneering work in experimental and clinical research on the mechanisms of epilepsy.

Under the mentorship of Talairach and Bancaud at Hôpital Sainte-Anne/Université René Descartes in Paris, he advanced stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) as a presurgical method
using intracerebral electrodes for epilepsy surgery (1975–1990). His research has focused on the pathophysiology of the epileptogenic zone, the emergence of seizure semiology, and human cerebral cortex physiology. Notably, he championed the concept of an epileptogenic network, moving beyond the classical "epileptic focus" model, and pioneered new insights into markers of the epileptogenic zone and focal epilepsy semiology.

Succeeding Jean Bancaud, Dr. Chauvel served as Director of the SEEG Unit at Hôpital Sainte-Anne (1986–1990), then as Professor and Chairman of Neurology in Rennes (1990–1997), where he established an innovative Epilepsy Unit integrating clinical care and research. Later, he became Professor and Chairman of Clinical Neurophysiology and Director of the INSERM Institute of Systems Neuroscience in Marseille (1997–2014).

In 2014, he joined the Cleveland Clinic’s Epilepsy Center to advance SEEG-based presurgical evaluation in North America, while also serving as Professor of Neurology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine (Case Western Reserve University). Additionally, as an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland (Brisbane), he guided the development of SEEG-based epilepsy surgery and research programs.
He later held appointments as Professor of Neurology at the University of Pittsburgh and Neurologist at UPMC.

Currently, Dr. Chauvel is a researcher at the Cleveland Clinic Epilepsy Center, where he is developing novel SEEG-based methods for presurgical evaluation of drug-resistant epilepsy and researching biomarkers of the epileptogenic zone and the neural mechanisms underlying seizure semiology.

He is a Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium in recognition of his contributions to the field.