Prof. Anne Hege Aamodt discussed the perspective of challenges in Neurology in Norway. She is the President of the Norwegian Neurological Association and Consultant at the Department of Neurology, Oslo University Hospital. She has two children. She highlighted the importance to organize some specific neurology rota during the residency for female colleagues. She described her career pathway from being a medical student to become a Professor of Neurology in her own country. She highlight the current situation in Norway, which is very supportive for women. Prof. Kristl Vonck from Belgium highlighted how the own country plays an important role regarding the supportive environment with facilities that might help women to have a good life-work balance. Then, she spoke about her experience about daily life being a professor as well as a mother. She is the Head of the Department ‘Head and Skin’ at Ghent University in Belgium. Prof. Vonk highlighted the important to have a strict organization of the daily life to have moments to share with children and family and, then, have the possibility to focus on the work commitments. Prof. Alla Guekht spoke about the history of Neurology in Russia in t
he different historical periods. She described her family characterized by amazing female doctors starting from her grandmother, who was a Consultant Ophthalmologist. She is currently the Director of the Moscow Research and Clinical Center for Neuropsychiatry of the Moscow Healthcare Department and Professor of Neurology in the Russian National Research Medical University. Prof. Guekht said that the key helps in her career have been mixing science and clinic work, her education (coming from a females-working family; her mother and grandmother were medical doctors), the Russia culture. Moreover, she spoke about her mentors and how it is important to meet the right mentors at the beginning of the career. Interestingly, she discussed the situation for women during communism. The session ended with a productive discussion with the audience, which involved not just female neurologists but also some male neurologists. Participants shared their experience as Neurologist in different countries and how the challenges have been resolved to reach the own aims.
by Antonella Macerollo, Member of the EAN eCommunication Board
