Speakers
Keynote Speakers
Professor Hugh Bostock, University College London
Hugh Bostock is Emeritus Professor of Neurophysiology at the Institute of Neurology, University College London. After graduating in chemistry at Oxford, he moved to UCL, where he obtained his Ph.D. in neurophysiology, and then to the Sobell Department at the Institute of Neurology in Queen Square. He was awarded a personal chair by UCL in 1996, elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2001, and awarded the Grey Walter Medal of the British Society of Clinical Neurophysiologists in 2009. His research has mainly been concerned with how the electrical properties of axons depend on the different ion channels in the nodal and internodal membrane, and their changes in disease. About 20 years ago, the focus of this work shifted from animal models to non-invasive recordings in humans, and with Australian colleagues he has recently revived nerve excitability testing as a clinical tool for studying membrane function in patients.
Professor Alastair Compston, University of Cambridge
Alastair Compston is Professor of Neurology, Head of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences in the University of Cambridge, and co-chairman of Cambridge Neuroscience. He qualified from the Middlesex Hospital Medical School (UCL) in 1971, and trained in neurology at the National Hospital, Queen Square. Appointed as consultant neurologist to the University Hospital of Wales in 1982, and professor of neurology in the University of Wales from 1988, he moved to Cambridge in 1989 where he is a professorial fellow of Jesus College. Alastair Compston is president of the Association of British Neurologists (2009-2010); Editor of Brain (from 2004); and, amongst other elections, a Foundation Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Germany and former president of the European Neurological Society. His research focuses on the clinical science of human demyelinating disease with contributions to the genetic epidemiology, immunology and neurobiology, and treatment and repair of multiple sclerosis. Alastair Compston is author of more than 650 publications, and editor of McAlpine's Multiple Sclerosis. He received the Sobek Foundation International Research Prize (2002) and the Charcot Award of Multiple Sclerosis International Federation (2007) for contributions to the study of multiple sclerosis. Amongst other named lectures, he has delivered the Langdon Brown (1989), Croonian (2004), Bradshaw (2007) and Fitzpatrick (2010) Lectures of the Royal College of Physicians of London.
Dr Stephen Sergay, Tampa Neurology Associates
Dr. Sergay was born in South Africa and received his medical training at the Witwatersrand University Medical School in Johannesburg where he also served his internship. He completed his neurology residency training at the Harvard Longwood Program in Boston and subsequently served as a neurologist at the Lahey Clinic Foundation in Boston and was an instructor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School before moving to Tampa, Florida in 1980. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He was Medical Director of the Neurodiagnostic Laboratory at Tampa General Hospital from 1984 to 1998. He has been President of the American Academy of Neurology (2007-2009) and is currently on the Board as Past President, and is a Trustee on the Board of the American Academy of Neurology Foundation. He has previously served the Academy in several positions, including Chair of Strategic Planning and as Director of American Academy of Neurology Enterprises, Inc. and has been the recipient of the American Academy of Neurology Presidential Award of Recognition. He has chaired the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties. He has served the World Federation of Neurology as the U.S. delegate, and has been the WFN Regional Director for North America and has served on its Education Executive Committee. Dr. Sergay is married and has three daughters.
Dr Greg Worrell, Mayo Clinic
Gregory A. Worrell received his Ph.D. in Physics from Case Western Reserve University and M.D. from University of Texas, Galveston. He completed his Neurology and Epilepsy training at Mayo Clinic, where he is now Associate Professor of Neurology. He is a member of the IEEE, American Neurological Association, Academy of Neurology, and American Epilepsy Society.
His research is integrated with a clinical practice focused on patients with medically resistant epilepsy. The current focus of his research is the use of large-scale system electrophysiology, brain stimulation, and data mining to identify and track electrophysiological biomarkers of epileptic brain and seizure generation.
Invited Speakers
Dr John Archer
Dr Archer is a Senior Lecturer Medicine the University of Melbourne, Epileptologist and head of EEG laboratory Austin Health, and research fellow Brain Research Institute / Florey Neuroscience Institutes. Current research interests include EEG/fMRI.
Prof Alan Barber
Professor Barber is a neurologist and stroke sub-specialist. He graduated from the Otago Medical School and completed his neurology training in Auckland, New Zealand in 1997. He received a PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2000. His thesis examined the role of diffusion- and perfusion-weighted MRI in identifying patients with the potential to respond to acute stroke therapies. He returned to New Zealand in 2001 and has established a stroke unit at Auckland City Hospital. His research interests include the use of advanced neurophysiology and MRI techniques in stroke. He was appointed the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand Professor of Clinical Neurology at The University of Auckland in 2008, and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Brain Research in 2009.
Prof Simon Broadley
Professor Simon Broadley is Dean and Head of the School of Medicine, Griffith University. He also works as a Senior Staff Specialist in Neurology at the Gold Coast Hospital. Professor Broadley undertook his undergraduate degrees at the University of Manchester before completing his basic physician training in Liverpool and advanced training in neurology in Bristol. As part of his advanced training in neurology Professor Broadley completed his studies for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in to "The Genetics of at Complex Trait: Multiple Sclerosis" at the University of Cambridge under the Guidance of Professor Alastair Compston. During his advanced training Professor Broadley spent time at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Professor Broadley was a foundation member of the School of Medicine faculty at Griffith University after moving from Adelaide in 2004. Since arriving at Griffith, Professor Broadley has been instrumental in setting up the Griffith Medical Program through his role as Coordinator of Years 3 and 4, and more recently as Deputy Head of School. His promotion to Head of School is a natural extension to his previous roles and represents a challenge which he relishes. Professor Broadley continues to contribute to the neurological service at Gold Coast Hospital through the MS Clinic and general neurology service. His research interests include the epidemiology and genetics of MS as well as clinical trials of novel therapeutic agents for multiple sclerosis.
Prof Edward Byrne, Monash University
(EG Robertson Lecture)
Professor Byrne has had an active career in clinical neurology and basic neurological research. He received his MBBS with first class honours from the University of Tasmania in 1974 and moved to Adelaide the following year, becoming Neurology Registrar in 1977. During the years 1980 - 1982, he was the Muscular Dystrophy Research Fellow at Queen Square in London. In 1983, he returned to Australia as the Director of Neurology at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne and from 1992, was Professor/Director.
Ed was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Melbourne in 1995. He was the Founding Director of the Melbourne Neuromuscular Research Institute and the Founding Director of the Centre for Neuroscience and Professor of Experimental Neurology at the University of Melbourne. As Director of the Centre for Neuroscience, he played a major role in driving the establishment of Neurosciences Victoria and Neurosciences Australia. He is a Board member of BUPA Pty and Cochlear Pty Ltd and immediate past Editor-in-Chief of the Internal Medicine Journal.
He is a member of the Neuromuscular Steering Group of the World Federation of Neurology. He was Secretary General and Chair of the program committee of the 9th International Neuromuscular Congress. He has served as a Governor of BHP Billiton Charitable Trustees and Board Member of Baker Heart Research Institute, Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Science, McFarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research, Monash Institute of Medical Research and Southern Health. He was awarded the Queen's Square prize for Neurological Research (1982), the Bethlehem Griffiths Research Medal (2003) and the Sir Louis Pyke Award for contribution to Multiple Sclerosis (2004). He was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2006 Australia Day Honours List. Professor Byrne was Dean of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University then Executive Dean of Biomedicine, University College London and Head of the Royal Free University College Medical School and Vice Provost at University College London. He commenced at Monash University as Vice-Chancellor and President on 6 July 2009.
Prof Helmut Butzkueven, The University of Melbourne
H Butzkueven is a Multiple Sclerosis Neurologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Director of MS services at Box Hill Hospital. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Florey Institute and an Honorary Associate Professor in the Centre for Neuroscience, University of Melbourne. His basic science research interest is the characterization of molecular and cellular CNS responses to autoimmune injury in animal models of MS. He leads a number of human studies, particularly focusing on large-scale MS epidemiology, development of new biomarkers for axonal degeneration in MS and understanding the effects of MS risk genes.
Since 2005, he has been chief investigator of the international MSBasis study (MS incident cohort study (50 MS centres, 22 countries, 2110patients) and, since 2004, the Chairman of the MSBase Foundation (www.msbase.org) providing a seminal contribution to this global online MS cohort study with more than 13500 patients enrolled (54 centres, 27 countries). He is currently supervising a research team of 12 people including research assistants, graduate students, a research officer and clinical fellows.
Mark Cook
Currently Professor and Director of Neurology at St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, Professor Mark Cook is a neurologist specialising in the treatment of epilepsy.
After completing specialist training in Melbourne, he undertook an MD thesis at Queen Square, London. He returned to St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne to continue his interest in epilepsy, and has formed a large research group with a broad range of interests across epilepsy, neuromuscular disease, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease.
Clinical and basic science research concerning Epilepsy and Neuromuscular disease is carried out at in the Neurology Department at St. Vincent's Hospital, and has recently extended to neurophysiological studies in kindling models of epilepsy. Research grants are held across all of these areas, including NH&MRC and ARC funding currently.
Apart from his responsibilities within the hospital, Professor Cook is an editor of Epilepsia, sits on several advisory boards and is the chairman of Neurosciences Victoria Scientific Review Committee. He is an author of seven book chapters, and over 200 published peer reviewed original papers and published abstracts.
Prof Stephen Davis, The University of Melbourne
Professor Stephen Davis is Professor of Neurology at the University of Melbourne, Director of Neurosciences at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Head, Comprehensive Stroke Centre at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He is the current President of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists and a Past-President of the Stroke Society of Australasia. He was the first co-chair of the Australasian Stroke Trials network and has extensive experience in stroke trials. He is a board member of the World Stroke Association, an Associate Editor for the journals Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases. He was given the MJ Eadie Award in 2004 by the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists for career achievements in Neuroscience research. He was given the Minister's award for outstanding individual achievement in the Victorian Public Healthcare awards in 2008. He holds an NHMRC program grant in stroke, has co-authored 3 books, numerous chapters and over 300 peer-reviewed papers. His major research interests are clinical trials in acute stroke therapies, stroke prevention trials and the use of neuroimaging in the selection of acute treatments.
Dr John Fink
Dr John Fink is a Consultant Neurologist at Christchurch Hospital and Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Otago, Christchurch. He is co-director of the Christchurch Hospital Acute Stroke Unit and Honorary Medical Director of the Stroke Foundation of New Zealand. Dr Fink was a graduate of Otago Medical School in Dunedin in 1991. He trained in Neurology in Christchurch and in Auckland and attained FRACP in Neurology in 2000. He was awarded the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand's VJ Chapman Fellowship to complete a research and clinical fellowship in Stroke at Harvard University and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston under Professor Louis Caplan. He returned to Christchurch in October 2001 and established the Stroke Thrombolysis Service at Christchurch Hospital in March 2002. Dr Fink is a mountain bike and road cycling enthusiast and has an interest in neurological disorders affecting both elite and recreational cyclists.
Prof Richard Gerraty
Richard Gerraty is a neurologist at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. He combines stroke patient care with clinical research and is an active member of a number of state and national bodies charged with improving the care of stroke patients. He was recently appointed as a Professor of Medicine at Monash University, and the inaugural Victor Smorgon Chair of Medicine at Epworth Healthcare.
Dr Michael Halmagyi
Dr Michael Halmagyi is staff neurologist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and clinical professor at the University of Sydney. His clinical and research interests concern disorders of the vestibular system. He graduated in medicine from the University of Sydney in 1971, trained in clinical neurology at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and in neuro-otology at the National Hospital Queen Square from 1977 to 1979. He has been made a member of the American Neurological Association, of the German Neurological Association and of the Australian Society of Otolaryngology. He has trained neuro-otologists from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Austria-Hungary, Japan, Singapore and the United States. Last week he came 3rd in the Balmoral Beach Club Sunday swimming race.
Peter Hand
Peter Hand trained in Medicine at Monash University and the Alfred Hospital. His neurology training was undertaken at the Alfred Hospital and as overseas fellow in neurology at the Radcliffe Infirmary Oxford, UK. Following completion of his neurology training, he undertook clinical research in stroke at the University of Edinburgh. His MD thesis focussed on clinical and radiological assessment of the patient with suspected stroke ("Brain Attack"). On returning from overseas he was appointed to consultant positions at the Alfred Hospital and the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He is now Deputy Director of Neurology and Co-Head of the Stroke Care Unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Melbourne. Outside of medicine, his interests include red wine, cycling, postmodern literature and contemporary Australian art.
Prof Malcolm Horne, The University of Melbourne
Malcolm Horne is Deputy Director of the Florey Neurosciences Institute and a consultant Neurologist specialising in Parkinson's Disease at the St. Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne. His research inte rests relate to various facets of Parkinson's Disease and Motor Neurone Disease. These include studies into the cause of PD including genetics, the repair of the brain damaged by PD, measuring PD and the normal and disordered function of dopamine in the brain. Interest in MND relate to how molecules such as SOD1 and TDP-43 are pathogenic in PD.
Dr Andrew Hughes
Dr Andrew Hughes is consultant neurologist and neurorehabilitationist at Austin Health in Melbourne. He is head of the Movement Disorders program. He is also active in the clinical neurology and stroke services as well as in neurological rehabilitation. He has extensive experience in clinical research into movement disorders and more generally in areas of degenerative Neurology. In addition he has a wide experience in the use of Botulinum toxin in the treatment of focal dystonia and spasticity. He is former president of the Movement Disorders Society of Australia, a director of the Parkinson's Victoria Brain Bank, a member of the scientific advisory committee of Parkinson's Australia and on a number of pharmaceutical industry advisory boards.
Prof Trevor Kilpatrick
Trevor Kilpatrick is a Professor of Neurology and Director of the Centre for Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne, is the leader of the MS Division at the Florey Neuroscience Institutes and is a neurologist and Head of the MS Unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Professor Kilpatrick graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Melbourne in 1982 and then went on to specialise in neurology. He undertook graduate studies at The University of Melbourne and gained a Doctor of Philosophy in 1993. Appointments at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies (La Jolla, USA), Institute of Neurology (London, UK) and The National Hospital and Moorfields Eye Hospital (London, UK) followed. He returned to Melbourne as the Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellow at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research and as the Head of the Melbourne Multiple Sclerosis Research Unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Professor Kilpatrick has been the recipient of the Sunderland Award (1994), AMRAD Postdoctoral Award (1995), inaugural Leonard Cox Award (2000), Bethlehem Griffiths Research Foundation Award for Medical Research (2004) and more recently, Professor Kilpatrick and his MS Group were awarded the Australian Museum's Jamie Callachor Eureka Prize for Medical Research (2008) in recognition of their extraordinary contribution to medical research into multiple sclerosis.
Professor Kilpatrick has published widely with a most notable publication in 2009 in the prestigious journal, Nature Genetics. His current research interests include the neurobiology of multiple sclerosis, neural precursor cell biology and the study of genetic and environmental factors that contribute to MS.
Dr John King, The University of Melbourne
John King graduated MB.BS from the University of Melbourne and then spent 6 years at the Royal Melbourne Hospital training in general medicine and neurology. During this period he received an MD for research on malignant hyperpyrexia and FRACP. He undertook further postgraduate neurological training at the National Hospital, Queen Square, London and then Fellowships at the University Hospitals of Cleveland and the University of California San Francisco. His initial research interests were in neuro-ophthalmology, particularly in idiopathic intracranial hypertension and more recently in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
He is a member of the Department of Neurology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital where he has been involved in clinical neurology, teaching and research. He is a past President of the Australian Association of Neurologists, Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne.
Prof Jeannette Lechner-Scott
JLS graduated from University of Heidelberg in Germany in 1990 and finished her PhD on pain pathways in the rat in 1991. She trained at the University Hospitals of Freiburg and Basel. In Basel she was part of one of the largest Multiple Sclerosis centres in Europe under the guidance of Prof. Ludwig Kappos. During this time she not only published extensively in the field of MS, but also several genetic studies involving myotonic dystrophy, CADASIL and CMT. She participated as a co-investigator in several international studies, some of which she functioned as an international trainer for disability assessment (EDSS). She also developed a distance assessment scheme for MS known as EDSS by phone, which has been validated in a multi-centre trial. The EDSS training, which was developed in Basel has become the standard scoring system of MS disability for every clinical trial and is easily accessible on the net. Since arriving in Australia she has initiated a multidisciplinary MS clinic for Northern New South Wales. As a founder member of the ANZGene consortium she took active part in the GWA study as well as gene expression and microRNA expression analysis in different disease courses of MS. Another research focus is cognition in MS, where she could demonstrate that an audio recorded cognitive screening tool is a sensitive and specific assessment of this important symptom in MS.
Dr Arun Krishnan, University of New South Wales
(Leonard Cox Lecture)
Arun Krishnan is Senior lecturer in Neuroscience at the Translational Neuroscience Facility, University of New South Wales and Consultant Neurologist at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney. After completing his clinical training in Neurology, he undertook further training in clinical and research neurophysiology, under the guidance of Professor Matthew Kiernan. He has received a number of research awards including the ANZAN Young Investigator Prize in 2003 and the J.G Golseth Young Investigator Prize of the American Academy of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine in 2004. In 2006-7 he was appointed as the ANZAN Overseas Fellow to Queen Square and returned to Australia to take up an NHMRC Career Development Award at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute. His major area of research interest is in the investigation of ion channel dysfunction in neurological disease, with a particular focus on metabolic neuropathies.
A/Prof Paul McCrory
Paul McCrory is a neurologist, epidemiologist and sports physician. Separate to his work as a neurologist at Box Hill Hospital in Victoria, he has worked extensively in sports medicine as team doctor for Collingwood Football Club (for 15 years including the 1990 premiership), as a doctor at the Sydney Olympics and in Formula 1 motor racing. He currently has a key role advising the IOC, FIFA, the Jockey Club (UK) and the International Rugby Board on policy formulation and rules related to sports-related head and spinal cord injury which is his main research focus. He is the immediate past-president of the Australasian College of Sports Physicians and is an Associate Professor and NH&MRC Principal Research Fellow at the Centre for Health, Exercise & Sports Medicine at the University of Melbourne and has honorary appointments at the Florey Neurosciences Institute and the Brain Research Institute
Prof Garth Nicholson, University of Sydney
(MJ Eadie Lecture)
Professor Garth Nicholson, is professor of molecular biology and neurogenetics at the University of Sydney. He is director of the Department of Molecular Medicine at Concord Hospital and scientific director of the Northcott Neurobiology Laboratory at the ANZAC Research Institute. His research group specializes in finding the molecular causes of neurodegenerative disorders of the spinal cord and peripheral nerve. His laboratory has been responsible for locating the gene defects in many neuropathies, with publications in leading international scientific journals. His laboratory first found the chromosomal location of hereditary sensory neuropathy (HSN1) and later found the mutated gene. In 2006 his laboratory first showed that TDP-43, a protein that accumulates in dying motor neurones, was mutated in familial motor neurone disease (MND or ALS) and is therefore likely to be part of the cause of MND. As a result of these discoveries he has established new methods for the diagnosis and management of these diseases. He has assisted the establishment of patient support groups. He is now testing a new therapy for HSN1 based on the specific defect in cell biology caused by HSN1 mutations.
Prof Terence O'Brien, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, The University of Melbourne
Terence O'Brien (MBBS Melb. MD Melb. FRACP) is The James Stewart Professor of Medicine and Head of The Department of Medicine, The Royal Melbourne and Western Hospitals. He is also Head of the Epilepsy Program and consultant neurologist at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. He leads a large translational research team undertaking both basic studies, involving animal models, and clinical studies. He is a specialist in both neurology and clinical pharmacology, with particular expertise in epilepsy, anti-epileptic drugs and in-vivo imaging in animals models and humans. He did his clinical and research training at St. Vincent's and Royal Melbourne Hospitals in Melbourne, and then the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA (1995-1998). He has published approximately 150 peer-reviewed original papers in leading neurological, pharmacological and imaging journals, over 500 abstracts and 10 book chapters.
Phil Parkin
Philip Parkin is a full-time consultant neurologist at Christchurch Hospital. He has been Clinical Director of the department of Neurology since 1994 and has been active in a number of national neurological organisations over a number of years, including a 20-year term as Councillor of the New Zealand Neurological Foundation and member of its Scientific Advisory Committee. He regards his interests as covering the breadth of Clinical Neurology and lists music and the keen spectator pursuit of motor sport amongst his non-neurologic interests.
Prof John Pollard
John Pollard is Emeritus Professor of Neurology at the University of Sydney. He is a Director of the Brain & Mind Research Institute and Co-Director of the Nerve Research Foundation at the University. Prof Pollard is a member of the Steering Committee of the Neuromuscular Group within the World Federation of Neurology and a post Board Member of the Peripheral Nerve Society. His major interests are the pathogenesis and treatment of inflammatory demyelination both within the peripheral and central nervous systems.
Dr Stephen Reddel
Dr Reddel is a staff specialist neurologist at Concord Repatriation & General Hospital Sydney, and consultant neurologist at the Brain & Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney. He trained in neurology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, and at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, and has a PhD in the immunology of the Anti-Phospholipid Syndrome.
He runs clinics in neuroimmunology, myasthenia gravis and neurogenetics, and provides AChR and MuSK antibody assays. He has active research programmes in myasthenia gravis, examining the function of anti-MuSK antibodies and toleragenic approaches in myasthenia; and in neurogenetics including the muscular dystrophies and inherited ataxias.
Dr Barry Snow
Barry Snow is a Consultant Neurologist at Auckland City Hospital. He trained in Neurology in Auckland then spent 8 years as a Fellow then Assistant Professor at UBC, Vancouver as Clinical Director of a PET programme focussing on research into Movement Disorders. He leads the Auckland Movement Disorders Clinic and continues a research programme in Parkinson's disease.
Prof Elsdon Storey, Monash University
Professor Storey was appointed as Professor of Neuroscience at Monash University (Alfred Hospital campus), Director of the Van Cleef Roet Centre for Nervous Diseases, and Head of the Neurology Unit, Alfred Hospital in 1996. He commenced clinical neurology training in the UK and completed it in Melbourne, before undertaking postdoctoral studies in the neurochemistry of Huntington's disease at Massachusetts General Hospital, where his interests in neurogenetics and behavioural neurology were kindled. He returned to Australia in 1991 to work on Alzheimer's disease with Professor Colin Masters. He started neurogenetics clinics at RMH and St. Vincent's (expanded to the Alfred in 1996), and has been Neurologist to the Memory Clinic at Caulfield Hospital since 1997. He is a Neurology Co-Editor of the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience and a Board Member of Neurosciences Victoria and the Bethlehem Griffiths Foundation.
Elizabeth Walker
After undergraduate training in medicine at the University of Tasmania, Elizabeth trained in neurology at Auckland Hospital. Post graduate training consisted of an EEG/epilepsy Fellowship, followed by EMG training at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester Minnesota. She then returned to Auckland and has been a member of the Department of Neurology, as well as head of Clinical Neurophysiology and a member of the Epilepsy Surgical Group.
Elizabeth has had an active interest in epilepsy and helped to set up the national centre for surgical treatment of epilepsy at Auckland Hospital.She has been involved in a number of Clinical and drug trials in epilepsy. She is actively involved in the New Zealand epilepsy community, and is currently the secretary of the New Zealand Branch of the International league Against Epilepsy. She has an active interest in the management of pregnant women with epilepsy.
A/Prof David Williams
David graduated from Monash University in 1995. He trained in neurology in Melbourne and as a Research Fellow at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London from 2003 to 2006. During that time he worked at the Queen Square Brain Bank with Prof Andrew Lees and completed a PhD at University College London on "Clinical, pathological and biochemical diversity in progressive supranuclear palsy". He has been awarded the American Academy of Neurology Founders Prize (2004), Movement Disorder Society Junior Award (2004), The Queen Square Prize (2007) and the Leonard Cox award (2007). David works at the Van Cleef Roet Centre for Nervous Diseases, Monash University and is Director of The Movement Disorders Program at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. His team's current research interests include deep brain stimulation, atypical parkinsonism and clinicopathological correlations in Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders. He holds several national and international research grants and is involved in collaborations with teams in Sydney, London, Italy and North America.
Awards & Lectures
Awards
James McLeod Advanced Trainee Award
Must be current Neurology Registrar
James Lance Young Investigator Award
PhD student
There is an award each for Poster and Platform in each category.
Leonard Cox Award:
The Leonard Cox Award is open to ANZAN members who received their Full membership within the last ten years. For the 2010 award this means that the candidate must have attained their membership (and FRACP or equivalent) in May 2000 or later and have produced a significant body of scientific work. The application is by submission of a curriculum vitae and a description of up to two pages of the nature of their work, its scientific significance and its likely contribution to the field of neurology. The successful applicant will be chosen by the ANZAN Scientific Programme Committee and invited to present the work as a half hour lecture at the ASM.
Applications for the Leonard Cox Award should be sent to:
The Honorary Secretary
ANZAN
145 Macquarie Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000
AUSTRALIA
Lectures
E Graeme Robertson Lecture
Prof Edward Byrne, Monash University
In 1976 the Council of the Australian Association of Neurologists, as the Association was then known, decided to fund an invited annual lecture in honour of E Graeme Robertson at each Annual Scientific Meeting of the Association. The first E Graeme Robertson Lecture was given in Hobart in 1978. There was a lecture given in each subsequent year with the exception of 1998 when unforseen circumstances prevented the lecturer from giving his presentation.
Mervyn J Eadie Lecture
Prof Garth Nicholson, University of Sydney
The Mervyn J Eadie Lecture was introduced in 2001 to honour members who have made a significant contribution to the neurosciences. Prof Mervyn Eadie is a distinguished neurologist, neuropharmacologist and author in Queensland. He has contributed to the Association in many
ways, in particular as the editor of "Clinical and Experimental Neurology", and the co-author of "Neurology in Australia" and "A Directory of Neurology in Australia". Prof Eadie also wrote the "The Flowering of a Waratah - A History of Australian Neurology and of the Australian Association of Neurologists"
Ian MacDonald Lecture
Prof Alastair Compston, University of Cambridge
Ian McDonald was an outstanding academic neurologist, a true friend of many in this Association, a mentor and supporter of trainees and someone whose passing will be greatly missed by all neurologists in Australia and New Zealand. The Ian McDonald lecture has been introduced to honour his enormous contribution to world neurology, and reflect the great warmth felt towards him by so many ANZAN members.