By Steven L. Lewis, MD, Editor, and Walter Struhal, MD, Co-Editor
We’d like to welcome all readers to the April 2023 issue of World Neurology.
Walter Struhal, MD
Steven L. Lewis, MD
This issue includes heartfelt articles and tributes to recently departed neurologists, including the article by Dr. M. Akif Topcuoglu, president of the Turkish Neurological Society, about the devastating Turkiye-Syria earthquakes, with tributes to each of the five neurologists who passed away in the disaster.
This issue also includes obituaries and tributes to the late Prof. Johan Arli, a past-president of the World Federation of Neurology (WFN), written by WFN Past-President Raad Shakir and other colleagues of Prof. Arli from around the globe, including Nils Erik Gilhis, Ole-Björn Tysnes, Christian A. Vedeler, and Amadou Gallo Diop.
In this issue’s President’s Column, WFN President Dr. Wolfgang Grisold updates us on the many international activities in progress and being planned by the WFN, including the work being done with WHO and the Intersectoral Action Plan (IGAP), and the exciting plans for the World Congress of Neurology in Montreal this October, including the planning for the Annual Council of Delegates meeting.
Drs. Tissa Wijeratne and David Dodick (Co-Chairs of World Brain Day) as well as Drs. Lewis and Grisold provide a followup report on the plans for this year’s World Brain Day 2023, which will be dedicated to “Brain Health and Disability,” including collaborations between the WFN, our global regions, national neurologic societies, and the World Federation of Neurorehabilitation. Dr. Wijeratne is also congratulated on receiving the prestigious medal of the Order of Australia.
This issue’s History Column, by Dr. Peter J. Koehler, is devoted to an extensive book review on “The Idea of Epilepsy: A Medical and Social History of Epilepsy in the Modern Era” (1860-2020), by Dr. Simon D. Shorvon.
This issue also features several reports from recent national and international conferences. Kurt Niederkorn, Yong-Jae Kim, Hee-Jung Song, and Alex Razumovsky report on the joint conference of the Korean Society of Neurosonology and the WFN Neurosonology Research Group help in November 2022. Aida Kondybayeva reports on the Fifth International Educational Forum, the Neurology Update in Kazakhstan 2023 that was held in March 2023. Stefan Kiechl and Deidre De Silva report on the World Stroke Congress that occurred in October 2022 in Singapore. Finally, Carlos N. Ketzoian reports on the Second Latin American Course on Neuroepidemiology that was held in Punta del Este, Maldonado, Uruguay, this past March.
In closing, we want to thank all readers for their interest in and attention to World Neurology and the chance to report such important updates about neurology and neurologists from around the globe. We sincerely hope many of you are planning on attending the WCN in Montreal in October 2023 in person (for the first time since 2019) or virtually. •
