Kyoto, Japan, 12 September 2017 – The Japanese City of Kyoto will host the XXIII World Congress of Neurology (WCN 2017), the world’s biggest and most important international neurology event. Thousands of participants from around the globe are expected to attend this major scientific meeting which will be held at the Kyoto International Conference Centre from 16 to 21 September 2017. More than 300 renowned invited speakers from all fields of neurology will lecture on latest developments in their fields of expertise - among them three Nobel laureates: Prof. Edvard Moser from Norway, Prof. Susumu Tonegawa (Japan/USA) and Prof. Shinya Yamanaka from Japan.
The WCN 2017 is organized by the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) and co-hosted by the Japanese Society of Neurology, the Asian and Oceanian Association of Neurology.
The timely Congress motto is “Defining the Future of Neurology”. The Congress provides an impressive overview of the achievements of modern neurology, a medical discipline which will gain more importance not just in view of demographic developments.
“At the WCN 2017 new data on the prevalence and economic consequences of brain diseases will be presented. The burden of neurological conditions is far higher than the number of respiratory ailments, gastrointestinal disorders or malignant tumours. And it is set to increase dramatically in the years to come”, says WFN President Prof Raad Shakir.
“Many people all over the world have either no access or only inadequate access to neurological care. We must therefore be very vocal in our support for more global cooperation in research as well as training and continuing education”, according to WFN Secretary General Prof Wolfgang Grisold.
Against the background of a dramatic increase in neurological diseases on the global scale the World Congress of Neurology will feature important topics, such as new data on the availability of neurological services throughout the world, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, epilepsy, neuromuscular disorders, headache, environmental neurology, Zika, gene therapy, palliative care, as well as advances in neuroimaging to name just a few. The programme also includes a special Patients Awareness Day.
“It was the WCN held at Kyoto in 1981 that greatly contributed to the development of the Japanese Society of Neurology JSN and the Asian and Oceanian Association of Neurology AOAN”, says Congress President Prof Hidehiro Mizusawa from the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry in Tokyo, Japan. “Therefore, WCN 2017 which is being held at the very same venue, is a historic meeting which will again serve as a springboard to strongly advance the Asia Initiative of WFN for worldwide advancement of neurology in both scientific and clinical aspects.”
There are several reasons, according to Prof Mizusawa, why brain diseases and the future direction of neurology should be given high priority: “Neurological diseases concern brain, cerebellum, spinal cord, muscles as well as peripheral, somatic and autonomic nerves. And they are related to almost all physiological functions”, the WCN Congress President says. “There is a very wide variety of disorders involved – chronic and acute, curable and intractable, as well as common and rare ones. And we need to consider that – in particular due to demographic developments – there is an ever growing number of patients involved.” Among the important topics that a truly globalized neurology needs to concentrate on in the future is a better understanding of the molecular and environmental basis of brain health during the entire life, Prof Mizusawa underlines. “Controlling environmental stress will be among the key factors to promote lifelong brain health.
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