| Commission
Members
Svein Johannessen - Norway, chair
Emilio Perucca - Italy, secretary
Meir Bialer - Israel, treasurer
Michel Baulac - France
Christian Elger - Germany
Alla Guekht - Russia
Kristina Malmgren, Secretary, European Advisory Council (EAC) -
Sweden
Federico Vigevano, Chair, European Advisory Council (EAC) - Italy
AND:
Santiago Arroyo, Subcommission on Bursaries, Madrid - Spain
Antonio Gil-Nagel, Subcommission on Congress Evaluation, Madrid
- Spain
Peter Wolf, Chair, European Epilepsy Academy (EUREPA) - Germany
Martin Brodie, ILAE Regional representative - Scotland
Giuliano Avanzini, ILAE President - Italy
Mission
To stimulate and coordinate all aspects of epileptology across
Europe, including organising the European Congress on Epileptology
Subcommissions
Bursaries, Madrid congress
Chair: Santiago Arroyo
Congress evaluation, Madrid
Chair: Antonio Gil-Nagel
Central/Eastern Europe
Chair: Alla Guekht
Working Group on Development of Quality Care
Chair: Peter Wolf
Meetings
9 March 2002, ILAE Office, Brussels
27 July 2002, San Servolo, Venice
10 October 2002, Madrid
Reports and Guidelines
- Steps Taken to Improve Quality of Scientific Presentations
at European Epilepsy Congresses. Congress Evaluation Report from
Madrid is in progress.
- Bursary Commission Report. The Commission on European Affairs
had established a bursary fund of EUR 50,000; 58 bursary applications
were received from 31 countries, and the available budget permitted
the funding of all applications. The Bursary Award Symposium was
very successful and well organised.
Publications
Subcommission on European Guidelines (1998-2001).
Flink R, Pedersen B, Guekht AB, Malmgren K, Michelucci R, Neville
B, Pinto F, Stephani U, Özkara C. Guidelines for the use of
EEG: commission report. Commission on European Affairs: Subcommission
on European Guidelines. Acta Neurol. Scand. 2002; 106:
1-7.
Malmgrem K, Flink R, Michelucci R, Neville B, Pedersen B, Pinto
F, Stephani U, Özkara C. The provision of Epilepsy Care across
Europe (submitted).
Summary of Activities
European Congresses
2002. The 5th European Congress took place in Madrid, with
Martin Brodie and Antonio Russi co-chairing the International organising
committee and José Serratosa chairing the Scientific Advisory
Committee. There were Bursary Awards (CEA fund of EUR 50,000) and
one European Epileptology Award (EUR 10,000, funded by CEA). A successful
congress with more than 3000 participants.
2004. The 6th European Congress will be held in Vienna.
Svein Johannessen and Gerhard Bauer are co-chairing the International
Organising Committee and Christoph Baumgartner is chairing the Scientific
Advisory Committee.
2006. The 7th European Congress will be held in Helsinki.
Other Activities
European Advisory Council (EAC) (Chair: Federico
Vigevano) - report following.
European Epilepsy Academy (EUREPA) (Chair:
Peter Wolf) - report following.
The Subcommission on Central/Eastern Europe. A plan is set out in
areas related to education, quality care, and research.
Working Group on Development of Quality of Care. The initial task
is to contact national European ILAE chapters enquiring about availability
and/or needs of tertiary care centers, then evaluate responses,
consult with relevant third parties and develop a project aimed
at establishing a model tertiary care epilepsy center or unit in
an under-served European country or region.
EURAP. THE CEA supports the international Registry aimed at assessing
the comparative teratogenic risks of prenatal exposure to different
antiepileptic drugs. The project is chaired by T. Tomson. Over 2,000
pregnancies have been registered to date.
Plans for 2003-2004
Final evaluation of organisation and scientific presentations
in Madrid.
Continue with plans for the Vienna congress.
Establish a system for CME credits.
Continue with plans for subcommissions activities.
Date: 28 November 2002
Report by: Svein I. Johannessen, Chair
Eurepa
Three Executive Board meetings were held during
this year. The Executive, which had conducted the Academy since
1996, met twice: on 22 June in Frankfurt, and on 5 October in Madrid.
Following the elections, the new Executive had a constituting meeting
in Madrid on 6 October.
Important resolutions taken this year
were the acceptance of transitional rules for certification, and
the decision to develop curricula for professions allied with medicine
(PAMs). For the latter project, a steering committee is being established
to which the European IBE chapters by invitation delegated two members,
Eva Johnsen (Norway) and Mike Glynn (Ireland).
The elections in Madrid were conducted by the
three ex officio members of the Executive (i.e., the Chair of the
EAC and the Chair and Secretary of the CEA), they being the only
three persons not eligible. They invited the members to nominate
candidates for the five offices. A surprisingly broad response indicated
the high interest in the Academy's agenda. Candidates who stood
for election had the possibility to present themselves to the General
Assembly on 5 October in Madrid where the elections took place.
The elections resulted in the following new Executive
Board:
Chair: Peter Wolf - Germany
Vice Chairs: Giuliano Avanzini - Italy, and Martin Brodie - Scotland
Secretary General: Janet Mifsud -Malta
Treasurer: Michel Baldy-Moulinier - France
Ex officio members:
Federico Vigevano - Italy
Svein Johannessen - Norway
Emilio Perucca - Italy
A new Scientific Advisory Board also
had to be elected. A reduction in size had been decided by the Executive.
The members of the old SAB were informed about this decision, and
asked if they desired to stand for reelection. To the names of those
who responded in the positive, nominations by the Executive Board
and the General Assembly were added, whereafter 16 candidates stood
for voting. The vote resulted in a SAB of the following 10 members:
Athanasios Covanis - Greece
Walter van Emde Boas - Netherlands
Alla Guekht - Russia
Günter Krämer - Switzerland
Jerzy Majkowski - Poland
Kristina Malmgren - Sweden
Cigdem Özkara - Turkey
Perrine Plouin - France
José Serratosa - Spain
Chahnez Triki -Tunisia
At a brief constituting meeting in Madrid, the new SAB elected
Walter van Emde Boas as their Speaker.
Membership: The elections attracted several European
ILAE chapters to join the Academy, and now 33 of the 37 European
chapters are members. Individual membership increased to 272, mostly
in response to the educational seminars in Madrid.
Courses: The educational programme in 2002 consisted
of 5 courses organised by Eurepa and 19 other certified courses.
We held educational courses both at the IBE congress "Epilepsy
and Society" in Lloret de Mar, and at the ILAE congress in
Madrid. The latter comprised two series of breakfast seminars in
English and a half-day course in Spanish.
Trainers: The third Train-the-Trainers course
was held in Bethel on 10-13 January with 16 participants from 12
countries. Charlotte Dravet and Perrine Plouin received the trainer
status in recognition of their longstanding commitment to epileptological
education. With these additions, we have now 47 certified trainers
from 23 countries and covering 20 languages. Recently, the trainers
were asked if they were also available as tutors for the development
of distance education, and the answers already received indicate
that many of them are indeed willing to participate in this new
project.
Regions: The development of epilepsy academies
in other regions is underway. Their relation to Eurepa needs careful
consideration.
Asia/Oceania is at present the only region where the regional
commission has already decided to establish an academy. A subcommission
has been set up to work out the details.
Meantime, a francophone section of Eurepa was founded
in Montpellier on 11 November 2002, and a Comité d'organisation
was appointed consisting of the following colleagues:
Michel Baldy-Moulinier - France
Guy Farnarier - France
Lamine Guèye - Senegal
Najib Kissani - Morocco
Baba Koumaré - Mali
Perrine Plouin - France
Chahnez Triki - Tunisia
The primary objective of this section is the development of quality
education in the French-speaking countries of North and West Africa.
This should be considered as a first step in a development that
will hopefully lead up to an African Epilepsy Academy.
Peter Wolf, Chair
European Advisory Council
Federico Vigevano, Chair
Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital
00165 Rome
Italy
Phone: 0039-06-68592262
Fax: 0039-06-68592463
Email:
Dr. Kristina Malmgren, Secretary
Epilepsy Research Group
Institute of Clinical Neuroscience
Sahlgrenska University Hospital
SE- 413 45 Göteborg
SWEDEN
Phone: +46 31 342 27 63
Fax: +46-31 342 24 67
Email:
From 2001 until 2005, EAC will be presided over by Federico Vigevano
as Chair, and Kristina Malmgren as Secretary. It is their intention
to continue with the projects begun by Svein Johannessen and Peter
Halasz.
EAC intends to involve the European Chapters to a greater extent
in the organisation of the European Congress and to ensure that
the conferences reflect the expectations of the majority of delegates.
To this end, all the European Chapters were invited to submit proposals
for the main topics for the next European Congress in Vienna. Not
many proposals were received, but they were useful for selecting
the themes.
The EAC Meeting was held on 10 October in Madrid, in the presence
of delegates from twenty European countries.
EAC is part of the European Triangle and, therefore, works closely
with the Commission on European Affairs and with EUREPA. Hence,
EAC supports and participates in the initiatives of these two organisations,
such as the preparation of guidelines and educational programmes,
directed in particular to countries in Eastern Europe, as well as
multinational research projects, such as the European Pregnancy
Registry (EURAP).
In preparing for this EAC meeting, the Chair contacted all the
European Chapters asking for information about areas of special
needs at the respective national levels as well as any perceived
obstacles to European collaboration. The few answers received emphasised
the needs of educational programs in addition to the economic problems
in Eastern Europe and the need for more professional collaboration
within Europe.
The EAC intends to follow these suggestions in order to encourage
contacts among the various countries and exchange of opinions.
In the future, a regional convention of the European Chapters will
be convened at each European Epilepsy Congress.
Federico Vigevano, Chair
European Advisory Council of ILAE
Kristina Malmgren, Secretary
European Advisory Council of ILAE
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