Bernard Dan
Biosketch
I am a multilingual paediatric neurologist and rehabilitation physician based in Brussels, professor of neuroscience at the Université libre de Bruxelles, and editor-in-chief of Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology. My clinical and research interest is wide, including cerebral palsy, neurogenetic conditions and neurophysiology. I also enjoy developing interdisciplinary educational projects tailored to needs in various regions (in Rwanda, Georgia, etc.).
In addition to being an enthusiastic ICNA member, contributor to ICNC and JICNA, and recipient of the 2012 John Stobo Prichard Award, I have been engaged in a number of other professional groups, e.g. as chairperson of the Van Goethem-Brichant Foundation, past president of the Belgian Society of Paediatric Neurology, past chair of the scientific committee of the EACD, current chair of the scientific committee of the Fondation Paralysie Cérébrale and of the Auschwitz Foundation, member of leadership of the BPNA, AACPDM, and AusACPDM.
I wrote over 300 articles including in top-ranking journals, authored several textbooks (on Angelman syndrome, childhood disability, etc.), co-edited a major reference book on cerebral palsy, and one on ethics in childhood neurodisabilities – and I also write short stories and novels (one of which received an award from the Royal Academy of French Literature of Belgium!), and served as scientific curator to several exhibitions in prominent museums…
Vision
Within ICNA, I would like to share my experience and use my clinical, research, editorial, organisational, and cross-cultural skills to facilitate and promote excellence in clinical practice and research, further develop educational activities, and foster collaboration with other organisations, both professional and lay, to improve the life of children with neurodisability. If I can be useful within a specific mandate, I would love to consider the Treasurer position, to which I can bring the rigour and experience gained within the leadership of other groups.
I would like to work with junior trainees, in particular, to promote high quality, needs-driven research and implementation of evidence-based results into practice. I would like to help design teaching and training programmes for professionals and parents in all aspects of childhood neurodisability. I hope to make optimal use to ICNA tools (teaching meetings, ICNApedia, JICNA) to facilitate dissemination throughout the membership and beyond, and develop new educational resources. I see some possibilities for effective synergies between JICNA and DMCN in this regard.
The collaboration with other organisations, big and small, local and wide in reach, is a timely key to strengthen the reach of ICNA in its mission – my experience with various groups, societies and academies provides interesting models for this. Another crucial aspect concerns ethics: ICNA has a major role to play in this dimension. We must maintain high ethical and scientific standards in all our activities and help colleagues, service providers, and policy makers address the many ethical challenges inherent to paediatric neurology in an open, respectful child-centred way.
Biju Hameed
Biosketch
Dr Biju Hameed MRCPI FRCPCH PhD
Consultant Paediatric Neurology & Neurodisability
Movement Disorder Service
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
London WC1N 3JH
Dr. Hameed is a Consultant in Paediatric Neurology & Neurodisability at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London. He has a particular interest in movement disorders and acquired brain injury in childhood, including traumatic brain injury & neurorehabilitation. He is the clinical lead for neurorehabilitation at GOSH. Dr. Hameed trained in Paediatrics and Paediatric Neurology in the UK at Leicester Royal Infirmary, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, and worked as a Consultant Paediatric Neurologist at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children before joining the Movement Disorder Service at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
Dr. Hameed has been an active member of the ICNA since 2002 and has been a co-opted member of the Executive Board since 2004. Dr. Hameed is also a skilled Linux system administrator and adept at developing web applications using open-source technologies. He is a contributor to several open-source PHP projects and has been the lead developer for ICNA’s web-based Child Neurology Knowledge Environment Platform “ICNApedia” since 2004. He was also instrumental in establishing the infrastructure for JICNA, ICNA Press, ICNA Wiki & ICNA Research Management Systems. He has been an active member of the organizing committee of all ICNCs since 2010.
He has helped organize and contributed to several educational meetings in various countries under the auspices of ICNA. He is a Co-Program Director of the International Child Neurology Teaching Network (ICNTN) and module lead for the ICNTN Certificate Course in Cerebral Palsy. He actively supports the Future Leaders of ICNA (FLICNA) group as a Mentor and is a staunch advocate for open access in Academia; and strives to promote education and research in child neurology and neurodisability breaking barriers to the dissemination of knowledge to and from resource-limited countries.
Vision
The ICNA was established in 1973 to promote education and research in child neurology worldwide. I have been fortunate to be part of ICNA's growth & progress in the last decade, establishing the knowledge environment platform, ICNApedia. The ICNA is perfectly poised to work with national and regional societies, leading from the front on education & training, research & advocacy.
ICNA is already carrying out the arduous task of aggregating training curricula globally, generating valuable data to design and manage change initiatives in training successfully. ICNA's advocacy projects continue to increase awareness of the magnitude of the disease burden of neurological disorders amongst policymakers and healthcare workers, which could be further expanded into public and patient education initiatives.
Online science outreach and digital advocacy are crucial for disseminating scientific knowledge to minimize disparities and variations in care and empower regional health care delivery. ICNApedia infrastructure can make available reliable data to stakeholders, thereby directly influencing agenda-setting processes for policymakers. ICNA's collaboration with WHO's Intersectoral global action plan on epilepsy and other neurological disorders is a good example.
The GBOD grants and the visibility JICNA provides would empower researchers in resource limited setting in getting funding for their projects, contributing to fundamental changes in children's lives. Early adoption of cutting-edge web technologies has ensured that the knowledge generated through the biennial ICNCs, and other educational activities has the furthest reach.
The ICNTN, ICNA Research Management Systems (RMS), JICNA, ICNA press, and VLE remain incredible resources for the worldwide neurology community to improve the quality of life of children with neurological disorders and neurodisability. I am committed to the continued development of these resources, which would be key in supporting the Organisation's activities. ICNA has been blessed from the start and still is with outstanding clinician-researchers and visionary leaders supporting such endeavours.
Hans Hartmann
Biosketch
As consultant pediatric neurologist at Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, my clinical work covers the entire field of pediatric neurology, with special interests in metabolic epilepsies and neurological complications of organ failure and organ replacement therapy in children. After studying medicine in Germany and Ireland, I trained in pediatrics in Germany and the United Kingdom before specializing in pediatric neurology. In 2002 I joined Hannover Medical. At my institution, I am involved in undergraduate teaching in pediatrics and coordinate postgraduate training in pediatric neurology.
Over the last 10 years, I have enjoyed teaching at international courses in Europe, Asia, and the Americas and had the opportunity to contribute to child neurology textbooks. Since 2013 I have served on the Pediatric Commission of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and have supported the implementation of pediatric epilepsy training courses in countries both in Africa and Asia.
I am currently co-chairing an ILAE task force updating the guidelines on neonatal seizures, a project which we hope to complete this year. Besides my own research work and teaching commitments, I serve on the editorial boards of Neuropediatrics and JICNA, aiming to improve distribution of research findings and state of the art review articles. As member of EPNS and ICNA, I tremendously enjoy exchange with colleagues from around the globe, and gained experience in the way international societies work, especially as head of ICNA’s finance committee.
Vision
Over the last 3 years, visibility sometimes was limited due to the COVID situation. Nevertheless, networking of child neurologists from all around the globe has continued and ICNA played a big part in this development. The 2020 ICNC / CNS joint congress was a huge success and so is the International Child Neurology Teaching Network (ICNTN). As pediatric neurologist my main goal is to be part of this process and support the further development of its programs and forums. With my experience in education, guideline development and implementation, I aim to help expand the international exchange on diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for neurological disorders in childhood. From my work with ILAE as well as the WHO, I have learned that this is best done in a coordinated way in order to avoid unnecessary duplication, and to ensure an efficient roll out of attainable goals including implementation of guidelines at a local level.
ICNA offers a unique platform to coordinate child neurology between the various countries and societies in the world. Regarding both diagnosis and treatment, knowledge about neurological disorders in children is growing at an enormous pace. Genetic and acquired diseases pose challenges that require a conjunct effort of physicians from different regions. The international society may help to join such efforts, and establish networks bringing together clinicians and scientists in order to expand our knowledge on pathophysiology and treatment options.
Further, the international society can define standards of care and thereby help reduce knowledge and treatment gaps. In summary, I aim to continue serving ICNA in further developing its exciting initiatives, support child neurologists around the globe, and help improve the lives of children with neurological disorders. Within ICNA, I aim to further contribute to the ICNTN and JICNA, with an open mind to new developments arising over the next years.
Helen Cross
Biosketch
Professor Helen Cross is The Prince of Wales’s Chair of Childhood Epilepsy and Head of the Developmental Neuroscience Research and Teaching Department at UCL-Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Neurology Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, London and Young Epilepsy, Lingfield, UK. Specialising in complex epilepsy, she led the development of the epilepsy surgery programme at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her research has been targeted at improving outcomes in early onset epilepsy, specifically in assessing the role of surgery and ketogenic diet, as well as more recently novel compounds in the treatment of rare epilepsies.
She also works on research projects advocating for improved epilepsy care and prevention in Africa and India. She has played a key role in the development of the Paediatric Epilepsy Training courses with the British Paediatric Neurology Association now in many countries worldwide, and translated into Spanish and Portuguese. She has held key leadership roles both nationally and internationally, including President of the British Paediatric Neurology Association 2008-2010, Clinical Advisor to the National Children’s Epilepsy Surgery Service since 2012, elected to the Board of the European Paediatric Neurology Society 2001-2010 and the Board of the International Child Neurology Association since 2014. She was elected to the management committee of the International League Against Epilepsy as Secretary general 2013-2017, Treasurer 2017-2021 and is currently President 2021-2025. She developed, as Coordinator, the European Reference Network for Rare and Complex Epilepsies (EpiCARE) launched in 2017.
Vision
The International Child Neurology Association advocates for the health and optimal management of all children with neurological disease, wherever they may reside. We have a responsibility to advocate through communication, education, as well as facilitation of research. These are exciting times for child neurology as we become an interventional rather than symptomatic speciality, but as we emerge from the effect of the pandemic, there will be many areas in child health requiring review and restructure, particularly in the area of prevention.
We will therefore need to work as an organisation to recognise priorities, and work with our community in ensuring the best course of action for ensuring appropriate services for the children within our care Education may work at many levels dependent on geographical area, and those responsible for delivering care. We should build our educational portfolio to address the skills required by all those caring for children with neurological disease – professional or carer. This may involve evaluating different methods of educational delivery.
We also need to build on the work already undertaken with regard to our younger child neurologists, the experts of the future. As we move forward, we should evaluate how we work with other organisations, to build on joint strengths rather than competition, and ensure joint working in transition of care as children with increasingly recognised disorders grow into adulthood. We should work toward a society where all children with neurological disease have access to optimal and timely appropriate management.
Nicola Specchio
Biosketch
Dr Nicola Specchio, MD, PhD
Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital
Institute for Research and Health Care (IRCCS), Rome, Italy
I am Head of the Epilepsy Unit in the Department of Neuroscience at Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, Rome, Italy. Within this role, I am responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with pediatric epilepsy.
My main interest lies with seizure semiology and the classification of epileptic seizures and syndromes, drug resistant epilepsies, developmental and epileptic encephalopathies. I published more than 180 papers in many international journals. I am also a principal investigator on different international clinical trials in patients with rare and complex epilepsies.
I am tutor for the Virtual Epilepsy Academy (VIREPA) of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) leading the course on non-epileptic paroxysmal disorders and the course on epileptic syndromes. I contributed with academic lectures to several International Courses on Epilepsies.
I participated as invited speaker to several national and international congresses.
I am recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the Commission of European Affair of the International League Against Epilepsy (2016) and of the “John Stobo Pritchard Award” from the International Child Neurology Association (ICNA) (2020).
I am currently Chair of the ILAE Task force on Nosology and Classification, and since 2020 member of the Global Advocacy Council of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE).
I am representative of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Europe and of the Italian Chapter of the ILAE.
Vision
I admire the ICNA mission, and I spent the past years focusing my activities on didactic purposes trying to improve the knowledge of child neurology. I believe my education and experiences will allow me to make immediate contributions and further the success of ICNA activity. I have a strong interest in working for a nonprofit organization in a capacity that deals with health and educational activities.
This interest led me to pursue different didactic activities in the fields of epilepsy, both as student and as teacher. In this role, I collaborated with other colleagues to plan, coordinate, and implement a variety of events that benefited the child neurology community. I will be able to meet the time demands with the support of the team members and scheduling all the data collecting tasks.
My core strengths include but are not limited to the following: providing professional, accurate and independent advice on the management of projects with the aim of improving the knowledge and the health care also in low-income countries, trying to work together with patient’s advocacy groups around the world.
To achieve sustainable growth, I might imagine a vision with clear goals to continually improve all aspects of the information and knowledge in child neurology mediated by ICNA. I am incredibly excited about the possibility of starting this work with the ICNA. Thank you for your time and consideration.