Echoing the president of the child neurology society, Jonathan Mink, these are exciting times for child neurology and neurodevelopmental pediatrics. It is a time of much change in applicants to residency training programs, in training programs (since we are now a core residency), in genetic diagnoses of neurological disorders, and in treatment of these disorders in children. It is time to prepare for what appears to be a very bright future for our field.
In keeping with this bright future, it is time to elect new leadership of the PCN. Our PCN presidential candidates, Dr. Karen Keough and Dr. Tim Lotze, represent a next generation of leaders of our profession, and their willingness to serve as president of the PCN should be applauded. I hope that every program that is eligible to cast a vote will do so for these candidates. Typically the election is concluded with a minority of programs voting (1 vote per program); let us resolve that this is the year with 100% of the programs voting for the future of child neurology and neurodevelopmental pediatrics.
Also, in looking to the future, it is time to rewrite the by-laws of the PCN. The PCN leadership has drafted an extensive by-law revision that recognizes the present electronic communication, voting and meeting capabilities that could not have been foreseen by our predecessors who authored the original by-laws. This by-law revision will be posted for comments, reviewed by the Child Neurology Society lawyers, and voted upon at the PCN meeting Monday, October 15 at the Child Neurology Meeting in Chicago (location TBA, 2:00-5:00 pm).
Finally, I believe that you will enjoy the content of this year’s PCN meeting. Dr. Rejean Guerriero from Washington University will discuss changing priorities of applicants to child neurology and neurodevelopmental training programs. Dr. Don Gilbert of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital will discuss a phone call coverage system that frees residents in their child neurology program from the burden of outside phone calls at night in their busy child neurology practices. We are fortunate to have Ms. Louise Castile, Executive Director for the ACGME to talk about the implications of the designation of child neurology as a core residency. One of those implications is that our programs can now sponsor subspecialty training in Epilepsy, Neurophysiology, and other areas. Dr. David Urion from Boston Children’s will discuss repatriating subspecialty training programs into child neurology and neurodevelopmental training programs.