First in-person INA Annual Meeting since Covid-19 deemed a great success

Irish Neurological Association, 58th Annual Meeting, Ormonde Hotel Kilkenny, 12-13 May 2022.

The 58th Annual Meeting of the Irish Neurological Association (INA) was held in the Ormonde Hotel Kilkenny on the 12 and 13 of May 2022, with an attendance of approximately 140 doctors. 

The meeting was the first in-person annual meeting for the INA since 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, and the excitement and enthusiasm at having a face-to-face-meeting was clear among the delegates with a lively upbeat atmosphere. 

INA President Dr Paul Crowley, Consultant Neurologist, St Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny, praised the high-quality of the trainee research presentations and described the meeting as a “fantastic event”. 

He said this was enhanced by the choice of location, given Kilkenny is a very cultural and artistic city where it was possible to walk everywhere from the meeting’s city centre location. 

Speaking to the Medical Independent (MI), Dr Crowley said a particular highlight was an outreach neurology/neuroscience day the INA held for local transition year secondary school students, which featured presentations from neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropathologists, neuroscientists, and neuropsychologists, with a prize for the best questions. There was also a special session for trainees at the meeting, which he said went very well. 

Dr Crowley especially praised the “fantastic” Noel Callaghan Guest Lecture given by Prof Atte Meretoja on stroke. 

“His comments about stroke being done better by neurologists has always been a concern to us,” Dr Crowley said. 

“The 320 versus 61 [the number of neurologists in Finland versus Ireland] is the issue. We are concerned we [neurology] have lost doing it; we have lost the resources around that, and the concern is we might lose the same with dementia and neurodegeneration. These are big things, and in Europe they are all done by neurologists, whereas because we have such limited scope numbers wise, we’ve lost them and it is a great shame as they are very important neurological diseases,” Dr Crowley told MI. 

For more information on the INA Annual Meeting, see www.iicn.ie.