Help Select Our Society's Next Leaders

As Chair of the 2021-2023 MDS Nominating Committee, I am honored to take this opportunity to provide you general information on the MDS nominations process and invite you to take an active role in the selection of the next Leaders for MDS.

The MDS President appoints the Nominating Committee accounting for the international scope of the Society and ensuring there is broad representation on the Committee. The 2021-2023 Nominating Committee members are:

Jonathan Carr, South Africa
Andrew Lees, United Kingdom
Janis Miyasaki, Canada
Marcello Merello, Argentina
Raymond Rosales, Philippines
Rachel Saunders-Pullman, United States
Pille Taba, Estonia
Claudia Trenkwalder, Germany
Mitsutoshi Yamamoto, Japan
Ruey-Mee Wu, Taiwan

The MDS Bylaws charges the Nominating Committee to prepare a slate of Officers and International Executive Committee (IEC) members for the Society every two years. The Nominating Committee takes this process very seriously and strives to nominate the best leaders to advance the mission of the Society. After the Nominating Committee prepares the slate, the members have the opportunity to review the nominees and then submit their votes via proxy ballot or in-person at the annual Business Meeting during the International Congress. The next election will take place at the International Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark on Tuesday, August 28, 2023.

One of the ways that you, as an MDS Member, can be involved is through submitting candidates for the Nominating Committee to consider.

MDS calls on the membership to proposed candidate names that fit the criteria to serve in our leadership positions. The call for nominations will be emailed to all members in July 2022. The link for nominations will be included on the ‘Get Involved’ webpage on the MDS website. If you are interested in submitting your name or your colleague’s name for consideration as an Officer or IEC member, please visit the nominations page (add link). Candidate profiles for leadership positions will be accepted until August 24, 2022.

The criteria used for the selection of candidates has been carefully refined over the past years. Generally, we are seeking the following attributes:

Long and varied volunteer experience within MDS. Typically the higher the position, the more extensive the experience should be (i.e. Previous service as an MDS Officer for Presidential consideration)
Ability to work in teams
Scientific and/or clinical reputation
Organized working style, being responsive to requests
Ability to represent the Society
Representation of different disciplines (Neurology, Neurosurgery, basic sciences)
Diversity: gender, geographic distribution

After we have received the list of candidates from the membership, the Nominating Committee evaluates the candidates based upon defined criteria. The Nominating Committee’s goal is to prepare a diverse slate that is poised to work well as a team and bring their individual expertise to advance MDS goals and provide the best experience for our membership.

We look forward to and welcome your active participation in this process through submitting candidate names for consideration, reviewing the slate and bios prepared by the Nominating Committee, and participating in the final voting process. Together we will select the next Leaders of the Society!

Nominate a leader »

Deadline: August 24, 2022