Dr Pratibha Singhi MD, FNAMS, FIAP
Director Pediatric Neurology and Neurodevelopment Medanta, India
Former Head, and Chief Pediatric Neurology and Neurodevelopment, Advanced Pediatrics Centre, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India
Current Office: Secretary General of the ICNA

Dr Singhi completed her MD Pediatrics from All India Institute New Delhi and trained in Pediatric Neurology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Kennedy Krieger Institute Baltimore, USA, and in the UK. Since then she has been working on academic posts in India and abroad.

Contributions to ICNA

Dr Singhi's passion for global pediatric neurology drove her towards ICNA several years ago and she had remained associated with it almost since its inception! She has participated regularly in ICNA meetings where she organized symposia, delivered several talks, chaired sessions, and presented her research. Some of her important contributions to ICNA include:

As Executive Board Member: (2014-2018) Dr Singhi enthusiastically contributed to the functioning of ICNA and served on various Committees.

1. Member of the Education and Training Committee: The ICNA mandate has been to promote child neurology education globally and, in particular, to reach out to regions of the world where there was a felt need to enhance education and training in Pediatric Neurology. Dr Singhi worked towards this goal passionately and was appointed the South East Asian Coordinator for ICNA Educational meetings. She organized/participated in a record 26 ICNA Educational meetings worldwide including those in Bangladesh, Belgium, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Lithuania, Mexico, Myanmar, Russia, S. Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Tunisia, and Vietnam. These educational meetings included those where, as a team, she gave lectures, had case discussions, and, also those, where she held focused “hands – on” skill development workshops, such as Management of Cerebral palsy. These workshops were greatly appreciated - with over 400 attendees in the CP workshop held in Bangladesh!
2. Member Scientific Committee for ICNA Congresses: For the ICNC Amsterdam 2016, Dr Singhi played an active role in helping with the scientific content and speaker choices, assessment of applicants for bursaries, evaluation of abstracts etc. She was an integral part, and was deeply involved with the ICNC Mumbai 2018, right from the initial planning, site visits, organization, scientific and socio-cultural program choices etc. The Congress was a huge success and was greatly appreciated by all participants. She has been actively involved in all matters of the ICNC San Diego 2020 - the physical meeting which had to be converted to a Virtual meeting because of the pandemic,
3. Member Long-term Planning Committee: As a member, She interacted closely with the chair - Ken Mack, and had discussions on the various long- term plans that would be beneficial for ICNA in the long run. Implementation of Ken’s idea of abolishing the membership fee has paid dividends to ICNA in the form of an exponential increase in membership.
4. Member Nominating Committee. With Dr Ingrid Tein in the lead, her mandate was to choose deserving candidates for various awards and positions. She had actively participated in these processes throughout.
5. Global Burden of Disease Project on Tuberculosis : Brain-child of Dr Ingrid Tein, GBOD is aimed at conducting epidemiological studies to capture pilot data on the global burden of neurological morbidity quality of life and mortality in resource-challenged regions relating to major treatable neurological diseases. Dr Singhi was awarded the GBOD project on tuberculosis and under this project she studied the profile and spectrum of tuberculosis in over 300 children with TB in and around Chandigarh, India. The GBOD project was completed on time, and the results were presented at the ICNC 2016, and have given an insight into the presentation, management, and outcome of childhood tuberculosis.
6. ICNA book on CNS Infections in Childhood: Dr Singhi co-edited this IRCN book; The book covers a wide range of CNS infections and has been particularly appreciated by people from resource limited countries where such infections continue to cause considerable morbidity and mortality.
7. JICNA: Dr Singhi has actively contributed to JICNA as reviewer and member Editorial board.

Secretary of ICNA

Dr Singhi was elected secretary in 2018 and her mandated responsibilities include

• Close communication with the ICNA officers to ensure continuity of communication – via electronic and video calls.
• Organization and Coordination of board Meetings (Actual and Virtual): Development of agendas, Compiling reports from committee chairs, conducting the meeting in a timely fashion, completion of minutes, co-ordination of the actual board meetings inclusive of ensuring all accommodation and travel information is liaised properly with the local hosts; that board members are invited and aware of lecture topics; also visa invite letters completed; and so on.
• Approval of membership applications
• Communication with the board for their preferred lecture topics, committee preferences, their JICNA submissions and reports, and compilation thereof.
• Liaison with specific groups e.g. negotiations with potential PCOs; development of bid proposals; liaison over requested educational meetings etc
• Communication with other organisations eg ILAE, WFN, CNS.
• Coordination of the FLICNA activities.
• Support of awarded ICNC committees
• Coordination of conference calls and recording matters discussion with action points.
• Assisting the ICNC organizers with access to the standard templates for the congresses which have been developed in the ICNA “virtual home office” etc etc.

In close co-ordination with all the executive officers of ICNA, Dr Singhi has been fulfilling all these responsibilities and more, with the sincerest commitment.

Proposed Future Activities

1. Dr Singhi will be liaising with all the officers concerned in the CNS and the ICNA to ensure that the Virtual ICNC 2020 is prepared in a robust way.
2. Simultaneously, as a team, she would work towards the organization of the ICNC 2022 -Turkey. The ICNA have already done site visits, discussed various organizational aspects with the core PCO and the Turkish Neurological Society. The Scientific Committee has already been formed and activated and are looking forward to an exciting congress.
3. Developing a robust platform for Virtual education dissemination.

Global Experience and insight

Dr Singhi's training, fellowships and work in several countries –including, at The University of Southern California USA, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Kennedy Krieger Institute Baltimore USA, The Great Ormond Street Hospital London, The Royal Hospital for Sick Children Edinburgh, the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, and the University of West Indies Jamaica, has provided her with rich international experience and wide perspective.

Moreover, for the past several years She has been actively working as National Delegate for the Asian Oceanian Child Neurology Association and this has given her insight into the strengths and challenges of child neurology practice in the Eastern part of the world. All the above experiences have helped her foster friendships with Pediatric Neurologists all over the world. Such a unique blend of experience from both resource limited and resource rich countries as well as from the East and West, is one of her great assets.

Contributions to Child Neurology

A staunch advocate for children with neurological issues across the globe, She has pioneered the development of Pediatric Neurology in India. She started the post-doctoral (DM) program in PGI, conducted 36 research projects including international collaborative projects - Indo UK on NCC, Indo EU on NCL, Indo Swedish on CNS Infections, published 464 papers, edited 4 books, and served on the Editorial Board of prestigious journals.

Dr Singhi was Visiting Professor to universities in USA, UK, Canada, Sweden, Taiwan, and Spain, and delivered over 450 talks in international and national conferences. She was founder member and National President Association of Child Neurology India and Vice President Childhood Disability Group of Indian Academy of Pediatrics. Through her several leadership and scientific advisory positions with UNICEF, World Bank, WHO, National Council for Education Research and Training, Indian Council for Child Welfare, Early Childhood Education and Development Centre, National Institute of Mental Handicap, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee etc, She has contributed to the cause of children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Since 1985, She has provided voluntary service, to thousands of children with special needs at the Rehabilitation Centre Chandigarh and conducted camps in rural and slum areas to help such children and their families. She organized numerous training workshops for early detection and early intervention - not only in India, but also in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Her contributions were recognized with numerous gold medals, research awards, orations and international fellowships including the President of India Medal, Asian Research Award, British Pediatric Association Fellowship, Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health Fellowship, S. Janaki Memorial Oration by the National Academy of Medical Sciences, “Medical Scientist Award”, Nehru Chair award,and AOCN Lifetime Achievement Award.