April 9, 2004
Proud of their work for the WFNS
Prof. Klaus R. H. von Wild (from the left) - Honorary Chairman of the WFNS Committee on Functional Rehablitation in Neurosurgery, with Professor Yoichi Katayama - the new Chairman of this WFNS Committee, and Prof. Takeshi Kawase - national Representative of the Japanese Neurosurgical Society WFNS and Chairman Department of Neurosurgery School of Medicine Keio University Tokyo/Japan.
Chairman meets Chairman
Franco Servadei (right) - Chairman of the WFNS Neurotrauma Committee, Ospedale M. Bufalini, Cesena/Italy, meets Klaus R. H. von Wild - Honorary Chairman of the WFNS Committee on Functional Rehablitation in Neurosurgery
April 7, 2004
"Via regia" to optimize diagnostics and therapy/rehabilitation of brain-injured patients
The AMN meeting in Brescia showed that a multidisciplinary approach is the future "via regia" to optimize diagnostics and therapy/rehabilitation of brain-injured patients. Very interesting presentations and - perhaps more important - vivid discussions between representatives of different disciplines and specialists in their field characterized this meeting. To give am example: Anatomical findings on dysphagia after removal of brain tumours which were presented by our research group seemed to have important implications for neurosurgeons who are thinking about how to remove such tumours best or how to develop devices which could stimulate swallowing in severely dysphagic patients. Some neurosurgeons discussed this topic with me.
The president of the AMN, George Prigatano, is the person of choice to give the AMN further impulses based on his experience with team approach in rehabilitation and his outstanding personality. The meeting organized by him in Phoenix/Arizona from November 11-13, 2004 will be an intensive practice-oriented course on neuropsychological and neurosurgical collaboration in the treatment of TBI patients and I recommend to everybody interested in this topic to participate.
Mario Prosiegel, MD, Director of the Neurological Hospital/Munich, Germany.
Founding member of the AMN
April 5, 2004
Farewell dinner in Brescia
The new elected AMN president Prof. George Prigatano (left) and congress president Prof. Giorgio A. Brunelli during the Farewell dinner of the First AMN Congress as Joint Meeting with the fifth Symposium on Spinal Cord lesions in Brescia/Italy.
The Italian main pastry cook
Signore Iginio Massari, maestro pasticcere, world champion and president of the Accademia dei Maestri Pasticceri d'Italia with his wife Mary Damiani Massari (left) and Professor Dr. Luisa Manini, orthpoedic surgeon, the wife of Prof. Brunelli, on occasion of the farewell dinner by AMN founding president Prof. Klaus R. H. von Wild arranged by Signore Massari at the Famous Restaurant Carlo Magno in Brescia.
April 4, 2004
Nobel Prize Laureate Montalcini
AMN founding president Prof. Klaus R. H. von Wild (left) with Prof. Dr. Rita Levi Montalcini and Congress president Prof. Giorgio Brunelli at Brunelli's home in Brescia. In 1986 the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 1986 jointly to the Italian developmental biologist Prof. Rita Levi Montalcini and the American biochemist Stanley Cohen with their discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF), respectively, who could show how the growth and differentiation of a cell is regulated. NGF and EGF were the first of many growth-regulating signal substances to be discovered and characterized.
Guest of honor: Sir Jacques Brotchi
Founding and past president of the WFNS Committee on Functional Rehablitation in Neurosurgery, Prof. Klaus R. H. von Wild (left) and congress president Prof. Giorgio Brunelli (right) with Sir Jacques Brotchi, Prof. of Neurosurgery. Sir Brotchi is the elected president of the World Feederation of Neurosurgical Societies and Coordinator of the WFNS Committees. The picture was taken on occasion of his participation in the 3rd WFNS Conference on Neurorehabilitation in Neurosurgery, in conjunction with the 5th Symposium on experimental spinal cord repair, Brescia, May 29.
April 3, 2004
First International Congress on Neurosciences and Rehabilitation in Brasilia
The International Center for Neurosciences and Rehabilitation of the the SARAH Network of Rehabilitation Hospitals hosts the First International Congress on Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, September 22-24, 2004. This event - supported by the World AMN (Academy for Multidisciplinary Neurotraumatology) - will be open to the national and international community and has the aim of promoting a rich and diverse meeting among researchers, scientists, professionals and students in the fields of neuroscience and rehabilitation. The official languages of the Congress are English and Portuguese. There will be simultaneous translation for the presentations, discussions and free paper sessions.
April 2, 2004

Yoichi Katayama - Chairman of the WFNS Committee on Functional Rehablitation in Neurosurgery
The president of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies , Professor Dr. Ed Laws, has appointed Professor Yoichi Katayama as new Chairman of the WFNS Committee on Functional Rehablitation in Neurosurgery. He will be successor of Professor Klaus R.H. von Wild. Yoichi Katayama is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo, and one of the 19 AMN founding members.

Klaus R. H. von Wild - Honorary Chairman of the WFNS Committee on Functional Rehablitation in Neurosurgery
On the meeting at March 29, 2004, in Brescia the delegates of the WFNS Committee on Functional Rehablitation in Neurosurgery have appointed Professor Klaus R. H. von Wild, AMN founding president, as Honorary Chairman of this WFNS Committee. Klaus R. H. von Wild is Professor of Neurosurgery, Medical Faculty University of Münster, and Professor for Functional Neurorehabilitation and Re-engineering in brain and spinal cord lesions at the International Neuroscience Institute INI Hannover.

April 1, 2004

The first AMN congress - a great success in Brescia
The purpose of the World AMN - Academy for Multidisciplinary Neurotraumatology - is the advancement of neurotraumatology in research, practical application and teaching. This aim is to be attained by the organisation of international congresses as well as participation in such events including regional and national workshops and educational meetings in all fields of neurotraumatology. The first AMN congress - as Joint Meeting with the fifth Symposium on Spinal Cord lesions in Brescia/Italy, March 26-29, 2004, was extraordinarily successful in respect of the active participation of all Academicians with own lectures of high quality and also regarding the social contacts between the scientists. The World AMN consists at the moment of the 19 founding members. In Brescia 12 further candidates were presented for their admission as AMN members.

George Prigatano - President of the World AMN (Academy for Multidisciplinary Neurotraumatology)
The AMN Executive Committee elected unanimously George Prigatano as president of the AMN. At the Annual Member's Meeting the election of Prigatano was unanimously confirmed. Professor George Prigatano, PhD, is Neuropsychologist at the Department of Clinical Neuropsychology of the Barrow Neurological Institute St. Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. George Prigatano is also Congress President of the Second AMN Congress , which will be held in Phoenix, November 10-13, 2004.