Dear Colleagues – Winter 2018

By Gary Clark, MD

Gary Clark, MD

This is a most remarkable time to be a child neurologist and a neurodevelopmental pediatrician. New treatments for here to fore untreatable and fatal neurological diseases have been championed, new genetic tests allow us to identify the cause of neurologic disease in ever increasing percentages of children, and the demand for clinical research to prove efficacy and safety of new, sometimes invasive, interventions and treatments is increasing. So how do we prepare our trainees and our training programs for the present and the future of a dramatically changing field?

I propose that we spend some time during the PCN Meeting in Chicago on October 15 talking about changes to programs that can help prepare for this future. In the past, the CNS has had a core curriculum that we have all been able to modify and utilize in our training programs. It is time for an update to that curriculum.

Our bylaws have not been modified since the inception of the PCN; it is time to update those Neurology too. Proposed changes include formalizing the reality of online elections, recognition of neurodevelopmental pediatrics as part of our membership and charge, and the inclusion of program coordinators as non-voting associate members.

The proposed bylaw changes will be announced in the spring and subsequently voted upon on-line along with the election of a PCN President-elect. Two very capable program directors have been nominated to run for this office – Karen Keough and Tim Lotze – both of whom are currently serving as Councillors on the PCN Executive Committee.

Professors of Child Neurology Board Members: (L-R) Drs. Karen Keough, David Urion, Tim Lotze, Steve Leber, Gary Clark.

So, please look for the announcement for this election and please participate in the election! Typically, only a minority of programs participate and therefore a minority determine the future of the PCN. Let’s change that in this election cycle and prove that we all want a stake in the remarkable future of our profession.