MDS-ES School for Young Neurologists delivers three exceptional days

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This summer, the MDS-ES organized another School for Young Neurologists. It took place at St. George’s Hospital in London, UK, on July 16-18. The course was organized by Prof. Francesca Morgante, Prof. Mark Edwards and Prof. Lucia Ricciardi, with faculty from England, Italy, Austria, Ireland, France, and the Netherlands. As usual, lectures covered broad topics in movement disorders, clinical examinations rounds, hands-on workshops, and “bring your own case” presentations. 

The first day was dedicated to Parkinson’s disease and related disorders. The morning started with formal welcome remarks and course introduction by the course directors, and moved on with great lessons on Parkinson’s disease diagnosis and clinical features (Prof. Lucia Ricciardi), genetics of Parkinson’s disease (Prof. Enza Valente), pharmacological treatment (Prof. Francesca Morgante), advanced therapies (Prof. Alfonso Fasano) and digital health technology in Parkinson’s disease (Prof. Nicola Pavese). In the afternoon, students attended presentations on atypical parkinsonism clinical features, diagnosis and treatment  — multiple system atrophy (Prof. Alessandra Fanciulli) and progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal syndrome (Prof. Roberto Erro). After the coffee break, young neurologists split into groups for practical workshops on deep brain stimulation programming (Prof. Alfonso Fasano), infusion therapies (Prof. Lucia Ricciardi) and botulinum toxin treatment (Dr. Carla Cordivari). This was followed by the first “Bring your own case” session for selected student cases. The day ended with free time for networking and getting to know the surroundings. 

The second day was dedicated to hyperkinetic movement disorders. After welcome remarks by Prof. Francesca Morgante, the morning went on with impressive talks about tremor syndromes (Prof. Roberto Erro), dystonia (Prof. Marie Vidailhet) and their respective treatments (Prof. Conor Fearon), myoclonus and tics (Prof. Emmanuel Flamand Roze) and chorea (Prof. Eavan McGovern). After lunch, ataxia and movement disorders at the emergency department were the lectured themes (Prof. Bart van de Warrenburg and Prof. Conor Fearon, respectively). As in the first course day, the group was split and students had the opportunity to engage in clinical history taking and neurological examination with real patients in clinical examination rounds. The day closed with a video case session with illustrative cases from students and course faculty during the usual course dinner, as well as a short presentation from MDS Young Members Special Interest Group by Dr. Sasivimol Virameteekul. 

The third and last day covered functional movement disorders and drug-induced movement disorders (Prof. Michele Tinazzi) and rehabilitation in movement disorders (Prof. Glenn Nielsen). The course was officially closed after a second “Bring your own case” session full of interesting cases. During the closing remarks, course directors highlighted the best three clinical cases brought by students. 

In summary, this was a great opportunity for neurologists in their early career dedicated to movement disorders for three days full of interesting lectures that stimulated both learning and networking and left everyone eager to repeat this experience.