Neurology gathering to be held next month

The Annual Meeting of the Irish Neurological Association promises to be a must-attend event for specialists in the field

The 62nd Irish Neurological Association (INA) Annual Meeting will take place on 14–15 May at Clontarf Castle Hotel, Co Dublin.

As ever, the meeting, which is hosted by the Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience (IICN), will examine up-to-date advances in clinical neuroscience and present opportunities for connection and communication among all delegates.

Proceedings will begin on Thursday 14 May with an opening address from the President of the INA, Prof Norman Delanty. Prof Delanty is Consultant Neurologist at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.

After graduating from University College Cork in 1988, Prof Delanty trained in general medicine in Cork and Dublin before completing a neurology residency at Cornell Medical Centre, New York, US. He then moved to Philadelphia to complete a Fellowship at Penn Epilepsy Centre, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. In 2000, he returned to Dublin to take up his position as consultant at Beaumont.

Prof Delanty is also Clinical Professor at the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences and a funded investigator at the Science Foundation Ireland-funded FutureNeuro Research Centre at the RCSI.

Prof Delanty has been active in many translational research projects. He initiated the Irish epilepsy DNA biobank and collaborates nationally and internationally with other investigators.

His current interests include precision therapy in the genetic epilepsies.

Prof Delanty was the clinical instigator in the development of an epilepsy electronic patient record, which is now used on a national basis, and also helped establish the Irish epilepsy and pregnancy register.

In 2009, he received an International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Ambassador for Epilepsy Award. He is a past-President of the Irish Chapter of the ILAE and co-hosted the joint scientific meeting of the UK and Irish Chapters of the ILAE held in Dublin in October 2016. He is a member of both the ILAE genetic literacy commission and the ILAE climate change commission. He was also a member of the scientific organising committee of the International Epilepsy Congress held in Dublin in September 2023.

Speaking before the meeting, Prof Delanty said: “In keeping with previous meetings, the individual sessions will be chaired by leading people in the area who will introduce each session with a synopsis of recent developments. Trainees are encouraged to present at the meeting and there are multiple prizes in different categories…. I look forward to welcoming you all to Clontarf Castle in May and thank the IICN for their support.”

In keeping with previous meetings, the individual sessions will be chaired by leading people in the area who will introduce each session with a synopsis of recent developments

Programme

Following the opening address, the first session of platform presentations will commence. Across the two days of the meeting, the presentations will deliver updates on various sub-specialties within neurology. They will include: Neuroinflammation and autoimmune disorders/resources and society; stroke and neurovascular/neurogenetics; neurosurgery/movement disorders; neuromuscular disorders/epilepsy; and headache/dementia and neurodegenerative disease.

In addition to the platform presentations, there will also be a poster-viewing session on each day. These will consist of expert-led poster tours across different specialist areas.

The first day will end with the AGM of the IICN, which will be followed by the INA drinks reception and dinner.

Noel Callaghan Guest Lecture 

One of the highlights of the meeting, the Noel Callaghan Guest Lecture, will take place on Friday 15 May. This year’s lecture will be delivered by Prof Paul Boon, Chair and Senior Professor of Neurology at Ghent University Hospital and Director of 4Brain at Ghent University, Belgium. He is an internationally recognised expert in neurostimulation and neuromodulation for epilepsy and related co-morbid disorders, such as cognitive decline and depression.

The title of Prof Boon’s talk is ‘The burden of neurological disorders and the importance of brain health related to epilepsy’.

After completing studies at Ghent University Medical School, Belgium, and Yale University Medical School, US, Prof Boon became a faculty member in the Department of Neurology at Ghent University Hospital in 1990. He established the epilepsy monitoring unit at the hospital, and expanded facilities for patients with epilepsy and neurological sleep disorders. He also founded a clinical and experimental laboratory for translational brain research (4Brain).

In 1994, Prof Boon was awarded a PhD for his doctoral thesis ‘Refractory lesional epilepsy, clinical and neurophysiological localisation’. Prof Boon has been a full Professor of Neurology since 2007. He has assumed various leadership positions such as Chair of the Department of Neurology, and Chair of the Division of Head, Movement and Senses, both at Ghent University Hospital, and Research and Developement Director and strategic advisor to the board of directors of Kempenhaeghe, Heeze, the Netherlands.

In 2019, Prof Boon was appointed Professor of Neuromodulation at Eindhoven University of Technology. Prof Boon has also served as President of the European Academy of Neurology.

He has more than 600 publications in peer-reviewed international journals, including The Lancet,  the New England Journal of Medicine, and Nature.

Before the close of the meeting, winners of the awards for the best presentations will be announced (see below).