American Neurological Association’s First-Ever All-Virtual, Interactive Meeting Attracts Record Attendance from 47 Countries With Special Focus on Early Career Researchers

Newswise — The 145^th Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association, its first-ever virtual, interactive event, was attended by 1,421 members and guests from 46 countries and the U.S.A., a greater number than attended any Meeting in recent years. The five-day program which ran from October 4, 2020 through October 9, 2020, featured 67 sessions, with a strong focus on the ground-breaking science being conducted by the Association’s early-career members.

“This year, we added four Emerging Scholar sessions and highlighted the work of our junior and early career members with the Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholars symposium,” explained ANA2020 Meeting Chair Conrad “Chris” Weihl, MD, PhD. “These symposia were very well-received and well-attended, reflecting the excitement in the research community for this work.

“In addition, the Meeting showcased an extensive number of poster abstract submissions, all of which demonstrated that extraordinary work is taking place at all career levels across all subspecialties, and reaffirming that ANA is committed to fostering and advancing academic neurology and neuroscience,” Weihl noted.

The Meeting featured 18 Special Interest Group (SIG) Networking sessions this year, which provided an opportunity for members at all career levels to benefit from an exchange of ideas and exploration of the newest science in their respective fields. Also new this year was a Social Justice Symposium, which took place the day before the official start of the meeting, and featured an in-depth exploration of such topics as the impact of social determinants of health, adverse health outcomes for people of color, and health-care policy. In addition, participants participated in interactive breakout sessions designed to develop actionable steps to address inequity within academic neurology and neuroscience.

Members responded enthusiastically to the virtual, interactive format, commenting on the opportunities for networking that were still core to ANA’s strong tradition of fostering relationships within the neuroscience and neurology research and educational communities. “As an assistant professor, I look to ANA for opportunities for mentorship and networking that can help advance my career, and I wasn’t sure this could be accomplished in a virtual setting,” said Elizabeth Silbermann, MD  “But there were a surprising number of virtual sessions that allowed us to gather and discuss the topics we would be exploring in a live meeting setting. It was a great experience, and I ended the Meeting with a number of professional contacts I’m excited to reach out to again.”

Following the Annual Meeting, ANA announced the recipients of the Poster Awards, and the Emerging Scholar Awards.

ABOUT THE ANA

The American Neurological Association is a professional society of academic neurologists and neuroscientists devoted to advancing the goals of academic neurology; to training and educating neurologists and other physicians in the neurologic sciences; and to expanding both our understanding of diseases of the nervous system and our ability to treat them.

For more information, visit www.myana.org or follow @TheNewANA1 on Twitter, @AmericanNeurologicalAssociation on Facebook, or @ananeurology on Instagram.   

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