2021 Elections: President Candidate Statement

Ryuji Kaji MD PhD

For the cause of World Federation of Neurology in this Challenging Time

It has been my privilege and pleasure to serve as the First Vice President of the WFN during an unprecedented time of worldwide crisis caused by the pandemic, which has altered the way we conduct the business as the new normal. We are at a turning point in modernizing the structure and function of the Federation to meet the new demands. I am proud to be nominated as a candidate for the Office of President at this important juncture.  

As a graduate from Kyoto University in 1979, I started my professional career as a neurologist studying in the US as a clinical fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. After returning to Japan with my mentor, Prof. Jun Kimura, to teach at our Alma Mater, I first described the use of IVIG to reverse muscle atrophy in multifocal motor neuropathy, an ALS-like disease.   

Encountering a patient with task specific dystonia, while doing EMG, I became interested in movement disorders, and our group has found new genes causing dystonia.  In 2000, I was elected as a member-at-large for the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology (IFCN), which I served till 2006. I organized, with IFCN support, a symposium to develop a guideline for early diagnosis of ALS, now adopted as Awaji criteria (an island of Japan).

From 2006 till 2013, I was elected twice as a Trustee of WFN under Prof. Aarli and Prof. Hachinski. First, I chaired the membership committee, successfully soliciting six new member societies. Second, I led Asia Initiative to vitalize Asian Oceanian Association of Neurology (AOAN), which now serves as a model of regional organizations in all continents with the help of Prof. Shakir.  In 2017, I was elected as First Vice President, and have since assisted Prof Carroll in organizing the congresses and promoting the education of neurologists globally, a major thrust of WFN objectives.

If elected president, I would like to move forward on several initiatives. We must seek to achieve greater worldwide recognition of our discipline and make the prevention and treatment of neurologic conditions the number one priority of governmental medical policies. Specifically, we should encourage and assist the education of young neurologists in developing countries. In undertaking these goals #1) I will abide by the basic mission of WFN to ‘foster quality neurology’, #2) I will review the regional representations of Trustees to make all the continents fairly represented with the best use of co-opted positions and #3) I will make the regional liaisons stronger by closer contacts with the presidents and delegates of our member societies. 

I have learned from the fellow Trustees how to accomplish the best consensus with proper balance of assertion and compromise. I believe that it will take a team effort to successfully run an international organization.  It is my sincere hope that together we can achieve our objectives and further improve the value and prestige of WFN.

Respectfully submitted,

Ryuji Kaji, First Vice President