by Martin Rakusa and Ulf Kallweit
Sleep disorders are an area, where doctors of different specialities meet. However, they are also that part of neurology, which is often overlooked. To strengthen connection between young neurologists and sleep specialists, Young European Sleep Neurologist Association (YESNA) was established in September 2014, during a joint sleep neurologist meeting of EAN and ESRS. YESNA is a part of the EAN Scientific Panel on sleep–wake disorders. Its main goal is to provide young neurologist better training and research opportunities.
At the first EAN congress in Berlin, young neurologist from 8 different European countries gathered together for the first business meeting. During the meeting, the YESNA’s chair Ulf Kallweit, and co-chair Mariusz Sieminski, presented recent work and future plans. In the past year, the German Sleep Society hosted the first YESNA workshop. The main topic of the workshop was narcolepsy, approx. 15 young neurologist have joined and actively participated in the event. Their feedback was very positive.
This year, the YESNA’s activity will be focused on raising awareness of sleep disorders. Encouraged by the successful first workshop, new teaching courses and plenary lectures at the national and international levels are planned. In addition, they will “wake” young colleagues with a survey on their curriculum, training possibilities and knowledge related to sleep neurology. Results will be presented at some of the future congresses.
The next European meeting will take place in Copenhagen, during the second EAN congress, where YESNA is looking forward to welcoming new members.
If you´re interested in YESNA, please contact “sp.sleep@eaneurology.org”.
Dr Martin Rakusa works at the University Medical Centre Maribor, Department of Neurology, Slovenia;
Dr Ulf Kallweit works at the University of Bern, Inselspital, Department of Neurology, Switzerland
