European Section

MDS-ES Chair

Evžen Růžička, MD, DSc, FCMA
Professor
Charles University Prague
Prague, Czech Republic
MDS-ES Chair

September 2018

Dear colleagues and friends,

I greet you on the threshold of autumn. The MDS-European Section has had another very active and successful half-year. At the 4^th EAN Congress in Lisbon from June 16 – 19, movement disorders were one of the most represented domains. Thank you to all speakers and to numerous participants in our sessions. In Lisbon, I had the pleasure to meet with the presidents of EAN and MDS as both parties signed the collaboration contract that set the principles of our cooperation until 2022. The extension of this mutually beneficial cooperation between EAN and MDS is crucial to the success of the field of Movement Disorders and also to movement disorders education in Europe.

A personal highlight from the EAN Congress was the European Basal Ganglia Club where I had the pleasure to extend the distinguished honor, the C. David Marsden Award to Dr. Mark Hallett. Dr. Hallett began the event by lecturing on Functional (psychogenic) dystonia and included some personal stories of his time working with C. David Marsden in London. 

Following Dr. Hallett’s lecture, my colleagues Pille Taba and Joaquim Ferreira chaired the video case portion of the event which included case presentations from our junior colleagues, Madalena Rosario, Portugal; Madelein van der Stouwe, Netherlands; Ana Castro Caldas, Portugal; Alberto Benato, Italy; Marenka Smit, Netherlands; and Elena Bianca Nitu, Romania.

We have conducted further educational and scientific activities in Europe, richly visited by doctors in training, paramedical professionals and experienced specialists.

Between May and July, MDS-ES presented four educational courses including two courses from our established school format of hands on interactive education: MDS-ES 11^th Summer School for Young Neurologists in Copenhagen, Denmark (June 6 – 8); and the MDS-ES 2^nd School for Speech and Swallowing in Parkinson’s Disease in London, United Kingdom (July 6 -7); plus Chorea and Related Disorders in Poznan, Poland (May 25 – 26) – the first MDS-ES course devoted entirely to chorea and presented in collaboration with the European Huntington’s Disease Network; and Infusion Therapies for Advanced Parkinson’s Disease: Team Management in Tallinn, Estonia (June 28 – 29) – this investigation of infusion therapies included a focus on team management and included collaboration with nurses and neurologists for improved treatment of patients.

There are an additional six MDS-ES educational courses scheduled for the second half of 2018:

• 2nd Summer School on Neuromodulation for Movement Disorders in Würzburg, Germany (September 6-8) – an interactive workshop for neurosurgeons;
• Basic Neuroscience for Movement Disorders in Stockholm, Sweden (September 14-15) – a program for research-oriented neurologists and neuroscientists;
• Movement Disorders in Children and Adolescents in Groningen, Netherlands (November 22 -23) – the first MDS-ES program dedicated specifically to this topic;
• Advanced Deep Brain Stimulation for Movement Disorders in London, United Kingdom (November 29-30) – this course has reached capacity the past two years, so register early.

We will now have the key event of the year, the MDS International Congress in Hong Kong from October 5 - 9. I invite everyone participating in the MDS International Congress to join us at the MDS-ES Regional Assembly on October 5 at 10:00; and hope to meet you during the scientific sessions and also receptions at the International Congress.

I am looking forward to meeting with you.

ER