Brian Sweeney
Thank you for considering my application to be a trustee of the WFN. I have had a lifelong commitment to neurology as a clinician and educator. Having trained in medicine and neurology in Ireland and the U.K., I returned home to Ireland in 1996 as one of three neurologists in my province.
I have been a teacher all of my working life, and an administrator as the national specialty director of neurology for the Royal College of Physicians Ireland, a member of the Specialist Certificate Examination Committee of the Association of British Neurologists (ABN) and Royal College of Physicians U.K. As a member of the European Union of Medical Specialists, I have had the privilege of training and working with neurologists from all over the world – Africa, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Europe, and North and South America.
I have been the senior neurologist in my region of Ireland, national lead for neurology for the Health Service Executive, Ireland, and national specialty director for neurology training and dean of the Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience.
My experience of working in and trying to develop an understaffed and underfunded neurology service in Ireland from the 1990s through the 2020s gives me insight into the challenges and advances facing neurology worldwide in the 21st century. These include amazing diagnostic and therapeutic developments in areas like stroke, neuroinflammation, neuroradiology and genetics on one hand, with major challenges providing the staffing and other resources to allow people with neurological illness to access these innovations on the other.
My vision is for neurology to keep its clinical soul while embracing new technologies such as AI to better provide care to our patients and their families. •
