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Published: 20 October 2019

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I have served as an elected member of the ICNA Executive Board for three consecutive terms beginning in 2002. I have sincerely appreciated working with an exceptional team of highly dedicated & talented board members as well as interacting with remarkable international colleagues at Congresses and learning of the enormous challenges faced in resource-poor countries. It is therefore a truly great honour to be nominated for President-Elect of ICNA which I accept with deepest commitment and sincere gratitude.

Mission statement: I have the audacity to believe that children everywhere can have excellent neurological care for their development; education and culture for their minds; and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits and a peaceful world in which to live with no limitations on their imagination or potential.

My overall future vision for ICNA is an exponential and global expansion of our members and of the interactive collegial links and networks between developed and resource-poor countries for

1. the global promotion of excellence in clinical care to children with neurological diseases
2. the expansion and widespread dissemination of tailored educational tools (courses, talks, books, internet-based learning) for child neurologists and allied health professionals, and
3. the fostering of evidence-based clinical and fundamental basic research between regions for increased understanding of specific disease pathophysiologies to provide the foundation for the development of both novel and improved preventative measures and therapies. 

With these three strategies, in the aggregate, we will endeavour together to enhance the neurological potential and quality of life of children, in as many regions as possible, in the hopes of reducing the overall global burden of neurological diseases. Each of these goals will be individually tailored toward the self-defined needs and resources of on-site caregivers, educators and researchers attending children with neurological problems, by carefully observing, listening to and understanding the local needs in resource-poor countries in order to work together toward solutions and optimal effectiveness both locally and internationally.

ICNA is also ideally placed to coordinate multi-centre studies and trials of rare neurological conditions across the world which would provide data for evidence-based management of these disorders. ICNA may also foster and facilitate the formation of new regional societies. These are the exceptional roles which ICNA is uniquely qualified to serve and ones which importantly would transcend all boundaries and borders.

Synopsis (see full statement attached for detailed specific initiatives)

My past experience/contributions to the clinical, education and research goals of ICNA have included the following.

1. I have had considerable experience in the organization and running of international congresses and was honoured to serve as Scientific Chair of the first ICNA Congress in Africa in 2010 (Cairo, Egypt) which was internationally recognized for its high scientific caliber, enhanced collegial interactions and new research networks. In this process, I was privileged to work with and forge strong collegial ties with our gracious Egyptian hosts and local African and Middle Eastern colleagues. Our scientific program template from the ICNC 2010 has since been adopted for future ICNA congresses. I previously served as Scientific Co-Chair of the ICNA Congress in Montreal 2006, am currently ICNA Scientific Co-Chair for the future ICNC in Brisbane 2012, and have been part of a small working group for the development of a transparent and standardized Congress bid template for Child Neurology Societies making future bids for ICNA Congresses.
2. I was privileged to assist in the historic inauguration of the first African Child Neurological Association (ACNA) founded by Dr. Andre Venter and Dr. Ahmed Raouf Ibrahim and to run the election of the first ACNA executive which was officially constituted during the 2010 ICNA Congress.
3. I have served as a member of the ICNA Research Task Force since 2002 to promote research collaborations between developed and resource-poor countries and for the identification of 12 research training positions in established clinical and basic research centres (Europe, North America, Australia, South Africa) for child neurology trainees from resource-poor countries and have recently been appointed as Chair of this Research Task Force.
4. As member of the Education and Training Committee to promote Child Neurology education globally through congresses and symposia, we have supported traveling fellowships for trainees to gain exposure to specific training with the explicit intention of applying the acquired skills on their return to their centre of origin.
5. For the new and exciting ICNA intitiative which has been the launch of our state-of-the-art, web-based electronic publishing environment known as ICNApedia, I was pleased to serve as Chair of the Chief Editor Search Committee (2004-5). We developed the scored template for candidate evaluation and coordinated the international search and electoral process. I further served as Chair of the Oversight Committee (2005-6) to oversee and to be advisory to the early development of ICNApedia.

My current initiatives and advocacy to expand ICNA’s global clinical networks, research and education include the following.

1. As Chair of the Research Task Force (Nov. 2011), our new initiative involves the development of seed grants for ‘snapshot’ epidemiological studies to capture pilot data on the global burden of neurological morbidity, quality of life and mortality in resource-poor countries relating to major treatable neurological diseases (e.g. malaria, Tb, HIV, neurocysticercosis, etc.). This pilot data could then be specifically amplified through applications to major funding organizations (e.g. Gates Foundation, WHO, NIH) to support large scale epidemiological studies. The ultimate goal would be the identification of the primary obstacles to health care delivery and the generation of recommendations for targeted improvements in site-specific health care policy based on epidemiologic data in  conjunction/complementation with local health care services and infrastructure (Health Policy Level). The pilot proposal would consist of 2-3 month foreign fellowships for local or international trainees who would be linked to established investigators at target sites for the given disease where study ethics approval and robust epidemiological study design would be in place.
2. For future ICNA Congresses, I strongly advocated for selection of an economical, ongoing professional congress organizing company to provide continuity of essential core information (e.g. membership, attendees, speakers, templates, sponsors) and to interact with local organizers in order to reduce time ‘reinventing the wheel’, particularly in view of our shortened intercongress time frame of 2 years. This is currently underway. 
3. For ICNApedia, which is now our major portal for communication and information delivery and has been the result of tremendous hard work by a dedicated team which has been unfunded, I advocated for seed financial support from ICNA which was granted and for future ongoing large-scale support from industry via established fees for advertising which would be a potential major source of income for both ICNApedia and ICNA. 
4. To increase ICNA membership, I strongly supported Dr. Ken Mack’s proposal for the removal of financial obstacles of ICNA membership dues to promote global and far reaching membership, particularly from resource-poor countries, with membership based solely on eligibility criteria for ICNA. Fiscally, the small income from ICNA dues minus the fee collection costs would be greatly outweighed by income from our now q-2 yearly congresses and by future potential advertisement income generated by ICNApedia.
5. To increase IRCN book access and reduce publishing costs, I strongly supported the option of e-IRCN books on line in addition to the option for printed books as requested.

My proposed future directions include the following

1. Promotion of Clinical/Research Consortia between resource-poor and developed countries for linking significant populations of patients with unique diseases (e.g. neurodegenerative, genetic, infectious, etc.) in resource challenged regions with research laboratories in developed regions having highly specialized expertise for diagnostics (e.g. genetic mutation analysis) and potential in vitro and in vivo research development of novel treatment strategies which could then be effectively translated back to affected patient populations. These links could be established through a clinical research portal on ICNApedia
2. Development of consensus statements for best Standard of Care Practices for given neurological diseases on ICNApedia or provision of links to existing sites
3. Development of discipline-specific teaching courses which could be given locally on site with case reviews by experts or electronically on ICNApedia
4. Development of point and counterpoint discussion on ICNApedia by experts debating opposing views on controversial topics in Child Neurology
5. Development of virtual congresses by video telecast or DVD.

Summary: I envision ICNA as a core nucleus, based on a ‘Round Table’ model, which equitably unites the six major geographic regions through its representatives on the Executive Board, with radiating initiatives to promote the formation of clinical, education and research networks between developed and resource-poor countries on a global scale to enhance both the neurological care of children worldwide as well as the formation of interactive and dynamic collegial relationships between neurological caregivers and investigators which would enrich us all.

Ingrid Tein BSc, MD, FRCP (C)

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Biju Hameed

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Published: 10 October 2019

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Dear Dr Singhi

Thankyou. Your decision has been recorded successfully

Best wishes
ICNA

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Biju Hameed

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Published: 08 October 2019

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Candidate details can be accessed here