A Great Year for NCS
By Jose I. Suarez, MD
I feel honored and privileged to write my first
column as 2018-2019 president of the board of
directors of the best professional society there
is: the Neurocritical Care Society (NCS). I again
thank Gretchen Brophy for everything she did for
NCS during her tenure, and I hope to maintain
the standard of excellence she provided. In the
next year, my vision is to continue our efforts
for membership growth, support and enhance
our research endeavors, advocate for NCS,
cement our multidisciplinary culture, buttress
our Neurocritical Care journal and solidify our
global presence, and hold a strategic planning
meeting. I will strive to foster an atmosphere
of mutual respect and transparency among our
multidisciplinary membership.
I started my tenure on the heels of a very
successful 2018 Annual Meeting. We had the largest
attendance thus far in the setting of a multicultural and multiprofessional scientific agenda. We
heard from our Japanese-, Portuguese-, and Spanish-speaking members in their primary language
about neurocritical care advances in their regions. In addition, we had two co-located meetings:
The Fifth Neurocritical Care Research Conference and the International Cortical Spreading
Depolarization Symposium. Overall, the scientific content of the 16th Annual Meeting matched
its theme “Neurocritical Care Without Borders.”
As I write this column, there are several important events happening that are news worthy.
The Neurocritical Care Interest Group of the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia
and New Zealand, our global partner Down Under, have organized a successful three-day
neurocritical care extravaganza in Sydney on Nov.14-16, 2018. The meeting is set to take place
at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. The gathering is composed of a one-day “Brain:
Neurocritical Care Symposium,” followed by a two-day ENLS and neurosimulation course. In
other international news, the 2018 Asian Chapter Meeting and the Korean Neurocritical Care
Society Winter Symposium is taking place in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 14-15. NCS officers and
representatives from Korea, Japan, India, Nepal, Australia, the Philippines and Singapore will be
speaking at this important gathering. In addition, preparations are under way for the regional
meeting of the Middle East Chapter in Dubai in the spring of 2019 and the South American
Chapter in Buenos Aires in the fall of 2019. In the U.S., the American Board of Psychiatry and
Neurology (ABPN) is continuing the development of the written cognitive examination for the
board certification in neurocritical care for physician neurointensivists and has started the process
of selecting members of the writing committee. Indeed, neurocritical care and NCS are clearly
growing, expanding and exploding in all world regions except Antarctica.
As we prepare for the holiday season at the end of 2018, we must reflect and be thankful for
all that has been accomplished by NCS and its wonderful and dedicated multiprofessional
members. However, we also need to think about our challenges ahead. We need everyone’s
help to continue
our growth. Please
volunteer during
the NCS Get
Involved Campaign.
Volunteer committee
appointments has
already started.
Our diversity is our
strength. We need
and we want you to
participate. Please
join NCS leaders
and help lead
the way.
NCS Leadership
2018-2019
Officers
Jose I. Suarez, MD, FNCS
President
Mary Kay Bader, RN, MSN, CCNS,
FNCS, FAHA
Vice President
Wade Smith, MD, PhD, FNCS
Treasurer
Panayiotis N. Varelas, MD, PhD, FNCS
Secretary
Gretchen M. Brophy, PharmD, BCPS,
FCCP, FCCM, FNCS
Immediate Past President
Board of Directors
Yasser B. Abulhasan, MBChB, FRCPC
Jordan Bonomo, MD, FCCM
Marion Buckwalter, MD, PhD
Theresa Human, PharmD, PhD,
BCPS, FNCS
David Hwang, MD
Sayona John, MD, FNCS
Sang-Bae Ko
Nerissa U. Ko, MD
Pedro Kurtz, MD, PhD
John J. Lewin III, PharmD
Sarah Livesay, DNP, RN, ACNP-BC,
CNS-BC
Chad Michael Miller, MD
Paul A. Nyquist, MD
Kristine H. O’Phelan, MD
Soojin Park, MD, FNCS
Gisele Sampaio Silva, MD
Susan Yeager, NP, RN
Executive Director
Sharon Allen
Editor-in-Chief
Neurocritical Care
Michael Diringer, MD
Neurocritical Care Society
330 N. Wabash Ave., Suite 2000
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: (312) 321-5159
Fax: (312) 673-6759
Website: www.neurocriticalcare.org
Email: info@neurocriticalcare.org
PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
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