Dr. Avindra Nath provides a special report on what clinicians need to know about neurologic symptoms and complications of COVID-19 in a SPECIAL REPORT podcast for the Neurology Podcast.

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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Academy of Neurology has cancelled the AAN Annual Meeting originally scheduled to take place April 25 - May 1, 2020 in Toronto.  In interest of public safety the AINA Annual Meeting scheduled for April 27, 2020 has also been CANCELLED. 

Dr. Seemant Chaturvedi and Dr. Pooja Khatri have been appointed as Associate Editors for the journal STROKE by the incoming editor-in-chief Dr. Ralph Sacco. STROKE is an official journal of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. Dr. Chaturvedi is Greenebaum Endowed Professor of Neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Dr. Pooja Khatri, MD, is the Director of the Acute Stroke Program for the University of Cincinnati Stroke Team and  Professor of Neurology at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

We are delighted to bring to our members the opportunity to endow a scholarship award for young Indian Neurologist coming to train in America under the AINA-IAN Neurology Observership program. These Observerships have become very popular and the program has been there for a couple of years. The idea is to train young Indian Neurologists in advanced neurological care so that they can go back and improve care of Indian patients.

Under this program four young Indian neurologists come for Observership training to the USA. The Indian Academy of Neurology (IAN) sponsors their air tickets and AINA pays each of them $1,000.oo for their expenses. It is this $1,000 per candidate, that AINA is responsible for, is being converted into an opportunity to endow as a scholarship award.

Opportunity – Endow a named Scholarship award for young Indian Neurologists.

Opportunity to Name the Scholarship Award – You can name the scholarship you fund after your parents, mentor, family, etc. (subject to approval by AINA Board).

Duration – Your sponsorship will be for 10 years.

Total cost of sponsorship for one Scholarship Award- $15,000.oo (Fifteen thousand dollars).

Total number of Scholarship Awards available for sponsorship – 4 (four)

To start us off, our current AINA President has endowed one scholarship, so now 3 are available for sponsorship. They will be allocated on a first come first serve basis. So, we encourage you to sponsor and help this laudable service to the people of India by AINA. Please contact our President Dr Sanjay Pratap Singh with any questions at sanjaysingh@creighton.edu .

Drs. Chaturvedi and Yavagal spoke at a comprehensive stroke update in Bengaluru and Chennai. The program also marked the 40th TS Srinivasan oration, which will be delivered by former AAN President Ralph Sacco, MD.

Rohan Arora, MD, director of stroke at Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Forest Hills, has been elected as a Fellow of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA), one of the world's most eminent organizations of cardiovascular and stroke professionals. This prestigious fellowship recognizes physicians, scientists and health care professionals who have made a major contribution to the field of cerebrovascular diseases.

This year, Dr. Arora is the only Northwell Health physician to be awarded this recognition. He will be honored at the AHA’s Annual Distinguished Scientists Reception on November 17 in Philadelphia, PA.

To be considered for the AHA/ASA fellowship, a candidate must make meritorious contributions in stroke by meeting the following criteria: a demonstrated ongoing interest and contributions after completed training in cerebrovascular disease through research, education or care of stroke patients; authored work in stroke publications over the past 24 months; proven leadership in the stroke community; trained stroke physicians or allied health care professionals; participated in stroke presentations at national, local or international level; and, provided significant volunteer service to the AHA/ASA.

“I am delighted to have been selected as an AHA/ASA Fellow,” said Dr. Arora. “This recognition would not have been possible without immense support from my stroke team at LIJ Forest Hills, North Shore University Hospital and the Katz Institute for Women’s Health. Stroke awareness is the first step to stroke prevention and early treatment.”

About Dr. Arora

As LIJ Forest Hills’ director of stroke, Dr. Arora has been at the forefront of ensuring the most up-to-date stroke treatments and delivery of high-quality stroke care. In his role as training director of ACGME vascular neurology (stroke) fellowship, the program has expanded from one to three spots every year.

Dr. Arora performs a leading and critical role in the advancement of new stroke treatments as a principal investigator and site leader for stroke trials, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Arora serves as a reviewer of scientific manuscripts for professional journals, including Stroke, The Neurologist, Journal of Neurology, and the Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases. He has authored numerous articles and has been an invited speaker for his work on “Stroke in Very Elderly” and “EMS Pre-hospital Notification for Stroke” at professional conferences such as the International Stroke Conference, European Stroke Organization, Indian National Stroke Association and the American Academy of Neurology.

Dr. Arora is an active interviewer and blogger of the “Blogging Stroke” section of the American Heart Association’s Stroke Journal. He is also founder of the “Stroke Nurse Practitioner (NP) Mini - Fellowship” program where he mentors NP students from the Molloy College of Nursing.

For the full article, please click here.

We invite neurologists in training to apply for the AINA Neurology Trainee Award. The deadline for application is March 23, 2020. Any in-training neurologist of Indian origin and who is also a first or senior author on an abstract accepted to the American Academy of Neurology meeting is eligible for the award. You must be physically present at the AINA Annual meeting to receive the award.There will be three award winners based upon a review team. The top three abstracts will receive $500, $250, and $100, respectively, and a recognition plaque at the AINA meeting in Toronto.

PRAKASH KOTAGAL, M.D., FAAN, FAES

I am indeed very grateful to be chosen for the AINA Lifetime Achievement Award.  More than any one individual, this award highlights the work of AINA members in advancing patient care, teaching and research by neurologists of Indian origin in the United States, India and elsewhere. 

Prakash Kotagal received his medical degree from the University of Madras, India. He trained in Pediatrics at St. Louis University, Pediatric Neurology at Cleveland Clinic Foundation, followed by fellowship training in Clinical Neurophysiology & Epilepsy at the Cleveland Clinic as well as Sleep Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is Professor of Neurology at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and Staff Physician at Cleveland Clinic in the Pediatric Epilepsy Section.

Dr. Kotagal is an author on 122 papers, 17 editorials/letters and 41 book chapters. He also edited the textbook: The Epilepsies: Etiologies & Prevention. His research interests include: Pediatric Epilepsy and Epilepsy Surgery, Seizure Semiology, Neurostimulation, New Antiepileptic Drugs and the Relationship between Sleep & Epilepsy.

Dr. Kotagal served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology and is on the editorial boards of several journals. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Epilepsy Society. He is President-elect of the Association of Indian Neurologists in America (AINA).

AINA extends sincere congratulations to Dr. Kotagal for his lifetime of great work! Dr. Kotagal will be recognized at the 37th Annual AINA Dinner Meeting in conjunction with AAN's annual meeting.

AINA-Epilepsy had their 11th Annual meeting on December 8th in Baltimore, during the American Epilepsy Society meeting.

About 100 attendees were present at the meeting, both from the United States and India. The meeting discussed important issues regarding collaboration between US epileptologists, it also discussed other issues important to the Epilepsy communituy here in the US. US-India collaboration was also discussed. The leaders of the Indian Academy of Neurology and the Indian Epilepsy Society attended the meeting. They spoke highly of the current collaboration between AINA & IAN, particularly the Observership training program for young Indian neurologists. This program has been much appreciated in India. The efforts to plan the service projects for the underserved here in the US and in India were also reviewed at the meeting. See below photos from the event.

AINA Executive Committee member Seemant Chaturvedi, MD received the Stewart J. Greenebaum Endowed Professor of Stroke Neurology position at a recent Investiture ceremony held at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Chaturvedi is pictured with Neurology Department Chairman Dr. Peter Crino (left) and SOM Dean Dr. Albert Reece (right).