“In that part of the young year when the sun begins to warm its locks beneath Aquarius and nights grow shorter…”
Dante Alighieri
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
While we are all still engaged in the fight with the different waves of COVID-19 infection, the challenges of the vaccination campaigns, the emotional and economic consequences of the pandemic the entire world longs for a return to a normal personal and professional life. The EAN is working hard to offer our members and the neurological community the best present possible and a brighter future. Let me summarize the most recent developments as follows:
Congress
The current program of EAN Virtual Congress can be found here. The named EAN lectures will be given this year by Prof. J. Knoblich (Austria, Opening Lecture), Prof. J. Baron (France, Brown-Sequard Lecture), Prof. Aguzzi (Switzerland, Golgi Lecture), Prof. G. Halmágyi (Australia, Romberg Lecture) and Prof. H. Zhoghbi (USA, Brain Prize). Among the novelties of this year, I would like to mention the set-up of a TV studio with short live talks and discussions about the sessions, a new networking possibility via a separate platform, and interactive options for the audience via entry/exit questions and polling. In addition, all sessions will be video recorded. Following the very high attendance of our virtual congress in 2020 by attendees from a wide variety of countries, I am finally happy to announce translations in Spanish and Russian, as well as joint sessions with regional societies.
Science
To obtain a more precise picture of the neurological manifestations and outcome of the COVID-19 infection, an international registry (ENERGY) has been created by the EAN. ENERGY can be implemented as a stand-alone instrument for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 andneurological findings or as an addendum to an existing registry not targeting neurological symptoms. Patients are followed up to 12 months in search of incident neurological manifestations. As of now, 25 centres from 16 countries (across three continents) have entered 1,000 patients in the database. Several more centres in Europe and Latin America have expressed their interest in joining the initiative.
Education
Following the strategic decision to create a completely new eLearning platform, the EAN is happy to announce the selection of Prof. Barbara Tettenborn (St. Gallen, Switzerland) and Prof. Christian Müller (Vienna, Austria) as new chair and deputy chairs, respectively, of the learning platform. I am convinced that the neurological community will profit from the high competence and great enthusiasm that these two colleagues will bring to realising this challenging and fascinating EAN initiative. This digital educational space is directed towards medical students, residents in neurology, as well as early-career and experienced neurologists to provide life-long learning and foster excellence in neurology. Based on the European Training Requirements in Neurology (ETRN), the platform will cover general neurological concepts as well as more specified areas of the field. The collaboration also with specialty societies and non-European societies promises to make this platform a key reference for education in neurology across the world.
Prof. Christian Müller (Vienna, Austria)
Advocacy
In February, EAN officially joined the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) Initiative on Brain Health. This multi-part programme highlights important elements of brain health, including reviewing the multiple conditions that fall under brain health, explaining global factors that impact brain health, and highlighting inequities in brain health around the world. In February, EAN also joined EFNA in the production of a podcast series which, in the context of the initiative Make Neurology a Global Health Priority, brings together voices from different stakeholder groups, to explain what makes all neurological conditions ONE and how they can be addressed in an integrated way. The result will be a 7-episode podcast series which will be presented during the Brain Awareness Week (March 15-22).
Membership
The website has been successfully updated to ensure easy membership application and better understanding of the different types of membership. For EAN members there will soon be a free subscription available to several useful “special-skills” sessions. Moreover, members will be able to better understand how and where they can be directly involved in the many activities of EAN.
I wish you all to stay healthy and strong in these difficult times and look forward to meeting you online soon at the EAN Congress 2021!
Truly yours,
Claudio Lino Alberto Bassetti
EAN President
“Spring is the time of plans and projects.”
Leo Tolstoy, from Anna Karenina
