The 47th annual meeting of the Irish Neurological Association was held in Sligo on the 12th and 13th May 2011. This was the first time the INA meeting was held in Sligo. Yeats country provided a scenic background to this meeting, held in the Radisson Blu Hotel. There was a larger than expected attendence.

Presentations

There was a high scientific and technical standard of platform and poster presentations, with a total of 36 platform and 66 poster presentations. Presenters came from all over Ireland, as well as the USA, England, Scotland, and Nepal, with contributions from Australia, Hungary, Saudi Arabia Sudan, Belgium and Switzerland.

Callaghan Guest Lecture

The highlight of the meeting was the Callaghan Guest Lecture, delivered by Professor Allan Ropper, Professor of Neurology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard University, Boston. His talk was entitled “My Mistakes in Neurology”, and it was a fascinating insight into the working mind of one of the top Clinical Neurologists in the world. It was a true tour de force, followed by numerous questions by a captivated audience, with standing room only! We are very grateful to Professor Ropper for his thoughtful and insightful lecture.

Award Winners

There were 4 prize winners

• The Harold Millar Prize for best overall presentation at the meeting was awarded to Dr. Sinéad Murphy for her presentation "X-inactivation pattern in females with CMTX1"
• The John Kirker Prize for best epilepsy related paper was awarded to Dr. Mark McCormack for his paper "HLA-A*3101 and carbamazepine-induced hypersensitivity reactions in Europeans"
• The Prize for best Neurosurgical Presentation was awarded to Mr. Thomas Flannery for his presentation "Validation of an orthotopic model for studying glioma tumorigenesis – a pilot study"
• The Prize for best Poster presentation was awarded to Dr. Eavan McGovern for her presentation "A higher than expected prevalence of impulsive compulsive disorders in an outpatient population with Parkinson’s Disease".

Dr. Kevin Murphy, INA President 2011, presenting the John Kirker Prize for best epilepsy related paper to Dr. Mark McCormack, RCSI

INA Dinner

The annual INA dinner was held in the splendid setting of Markree Castle, and was enjoyed by all. Thanking Dr. Kevin Murphy, INA President 2011, for organising and hosting a most successful meeting, Dr. Bryan Lynch, the IICN Dean, noted that the outstanding venue and warm welcome together with Dr. Murphy's meticulous planning and direction had resulted in an outstanding meeting of high educational value.

Sponsors

The Institute is most grateful to all of the sponsors for their continued support of the INA meeting.

INA 2012

 
The meeting will take place in Cork next year under the joint presidency of Dr. Brian Sweeney and Mr. MJ O'Sullivan.