President’s meeting overview

Irish Neurological Association, Annual Meeting, Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, 2-3 May 2024

Irish Neurological Association President Prof Francesca Brett outlines some highlights of the Association’s Annual Meeting, which took place recently in her home city of Kilkenny.

Kilkenny was chosen as the venue of the 60th Annual Meeting of the Irish Neurological Association (INA)as it is a great place for a conference, and a beautiful city, with wonderful venues, which are all within walking distance. The hotel was chosen as it worked so well for Dr Paul Crowley’s meeting in 2022.

The Presidential reception was held on Wednesday 1 May in Butler House, Kilkenny.

Brief updates in the major subspecialties

The outline of the excellent meeting held in Kilkenny in 2022 and organised by Dr Crowley was followed.  Before each scientific session the chair of the meeting gave a brief update on recent advances in their area of interest. Sincere thanks to Profs Danny Costello, Tim Lynch, and Conor Fearon; and Drs John McConville and Melanie Lang-Orsini. 

Neurology specialist registrar training session

This was the brainchild of Dr Tudor Munteanu and his colleagues. This year Dr Martin O’Donnell led this session focusing on, among other things, the transition to consultant. 

Meeting dinner in Langton’s set theatre

This was well attended. The highlight was the musical ensemble with Donal Costigan, Mairead Phillips, and the Burnchurch band members.

Noel Callaghan Guest Lecture

The Noel Callaghan Guest Lecture, honouring Dr Noel Callaghan, the first neurologist appointed in Cork, loyal supporter of INA meetings, and an excellent undergraduate and postgraduate teacher, was given by Dr Guido Giunti, Digital Therapeutic Lead at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), on ‘The neurology patient journey and artificial intelligence’. 

Presidential symposium on AI

The Noel Callaghan Lecture was followed by a Presidential symposium, chaired by Dr Hugh Kearney, Consultant Neurologist, St James’s Hospital, Dublin, and TCD; and included Prof Richard Reilly, School of Medicine and Engineering, TCD; Dr Giunti; and Dr Melanie Lang-Orsini.

The topics addressed were clinical applications, legal and ethical considerations, challenges, and future developments. This was followed by a panel debate.

Closing comments

It was great to get colleagues together for a stimulating and lively ‘in-person’ meeting.  The attendance and participation of all colleagues was much appreciated. The content, variety and presentation style of the platform and poster presentations were of a very high standard. Competition for the prizes was very keen and the awards were well deserved. Not a single speaker went over time! The poster area was well-attended and the expert-led poster tours were popular. The full two-day programme allowed for more presentations. 

The INA meeting awards were as follows:

1. Harold Millar Prize for best overall presentation was given to Dr Michael Gilligan, for the presentation on ‘Paraneoplastic calmodulin kinase-like vesicle-associated protein autoimmune encephalitis’.

2. John Kirker Prize for best epilepsy presentation was given to Dr Husain Mallala for the presentation on ‘Patient journey and clinical outcomes of paediatric epilepsy surgery in CHI-Crumlin’.

3. Mark Gibson Prize for best movement disorder presentation was given to Dr Esther Macken for the presentation on ‘The first report of myoclonus and putaminal cysts in Salla disease – the phenotype expanded’.

4. Best neurosurgical presentation was given to Dr Clodagh O’Keeffe for the presentation on ‘Weight gain and charge efficiency in deep brain stimulation therapy: An investigative analysis’.

5. Hugh Staunton Prize was given to Ms Beibhinn Wilkins as the best intern or medical student presentation. Her presentation related to the ‘Impact of the revised 2021 WHO brain tumour classification of neuropathology practice’.

6. Highly commended as the best intern presentation was Ms Samar Alyousif for her presentation on ‘Psychosocial impact of tremor severity in Parkinson’s disease’.

7. John Lynch Prize for best poster presentation was awarded to Ms Bianca Castelli for her poster on ‘Measurement of chitinase-3-Like-1 in serum and saliva and its correlation with hand dexterity in a multiple sclerosis cohort’.

8. Highly commended posters were:

i) Ms Siobhan Collins for her poster on ‘The clinical utility of electroencephalography in acute symptomatic seizures related to alcohol withdrawal and illicit drug use/withdrawal’.

ii) Dr Ciara Gorman for her poster on ‘Neurophysiological assessment of patients with hereditary TTR amyloidosis: Experience from an Irish tertiary centre’.

iii) Dr Sophie Longstaff for her poster on ‘Diffuse ganglioneuromatosis in neurofibromatosis presenting with volvulus’.