5-7 July 2012 Novosibirsk, Russia
by Pavel Pilipenko
The Teaching Course brought together leading neurologists of Germany, Russia, Greece, Czech Republic, Italy and Austria. More than 300 physicians were registered! – and that’s just only part of our participants, because we did not perform registration during the scientific sessions (despite the fact that we were expecting only 150 members, but in Siberia scientific events of such level are rare, and the opportunity to participate in the international conferences for physicians is very limited, so the Siberian doctors were very interested in participating in the RTC of EFNS).
Physicians from Siberian towns and villages participated: Voronezh, Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Ob, Barabinsk, Berdsk, Suzun, Toguchin, Nizhnevartovsk, Tomsk, Omsk, Kemerovo, Tatar, Iskitim, Kargath, Linevo, Cherepanovo, Novokuznetsk, Krivodanovka. Every day more than 200 people attended. At the end of the third day of the RTC, a Saturday and a warm summer day (…and that is so rare in Siberia!!) we had more than 120 people, which showed the interest of physicians in obtaining new information.
Welcoming remarks were made by the rector of Novosibirsk State Medical University – Prof. I.O. Marinkin and Prof. P. Kalvach – representative of the EFNS, the Head as well as by Prof. PI Pilipenko, on behalf of the local TC Committee.
Emphasizing the practical significance and the importance of such training courses, when possible discussion and exchange of experiences.
We covered the topics of main importance for Siberia (and for Russia as a whole): Stroke, Dementia, pain treatment and epilepsy.
We had beautiful lecture halls with high quality equipment, so that the participation in the TC was comfortable.
It was an unusual format of a conference for us – the first parts of the days were devoted to the lectures and in the afternoons we had active discussions in groups, which was highly appreciated by all participants, because it was a new and productive experience.
We also heard a report by the EAYNT President Edina Varga – it was very interesting for young neurologists of Siberia.
This Regional Teaching Course of the EFNS was held in a creative and friendly atmosphere. The second day of the course was concluded by a social event (musical concert of group “Markelov voices”).
Information, high level of lectures, practical importance, and informal approach were appreciated by our neurologists. The level of organization of the conference was also characterized as “high”.
On behalf of all the participants we would like to thank all speakers and those who participated in the organization, especially members of EFNS as well as of the local TC committee, who made possible such a great TC in our city, because all of them did a lot of work and passed all difficulties and we express hope for the possibility of such events in the future!
Pavel Pilipenko is Professor of Neurology at the Department of clinical Neurology, Faculty of Postgraduate Education at the Novosibirsk State medical University, Russia and Chair of the Local Organising Committee of the EFNS RTC Novosibirsk 2012.
