Friday, July 21, 2017

Happy Teachers Will Change the World

Learning about Healthy Lifestyles, Stroke Prevention and Brain Impairment at the WSO Summer School

The Dubrovnik Summer School has become a regular feature on the World Stroke Organization educational calendar. The school, which takes place from June 5-9,  is a demonstration of the shared commitment of School Directors and WSO to the education of young stroke professionals thorugh the dissemination of knowledge and its application in their communities. 











The School is led by renowned experts: Prof. Roman Haberl from Munich, Prof. Kurt Niederkorn from Graz, Prof. David Russell from Oslo, Prof. Tatjana Rundek from Miami, Dr Hrvoje Budinčević from Zagreb and founder and coordinator of the program, Prof. Vida Demarin who take as inspiration the words of Thich Nhat Hanh: 'Happy Teachers Will Change The World'.

This year the Summer Stroke School was attended by 65 neurologists in training, clinical neurologists, academic neurologists, neuroscientists, other scientists and research associates, as well as general practitioners and other interested physicians. Most participants came from Central and Eastern Europe. 
The educational objectives of the course were to encourage cooperation and to promote exchange of knowledge and comparison of stroke data between participants from different countries. Lectures and workshops discussed all major aspects of stroke risk factors, as well as new insights in epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of stroke.
Some of the main themes were: carotid atherosclerosis and stroke, stroke mimics, cervical artery dissections, vascular cognitive impairments, monitoring the brain during surgery, stroke service in Europe, thrombectomy in rural areas, neuroimaging, atrial fibrillation and stroke, anticoagulant therapy, cryptogenic stroke, silent brain infarctions, critical issues in endovascular stroke treatment.
As brain diseases are increasing in number and became a major medical and public health and financial problem, learning objectives included other brain disorders as well: Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's dementia, migraine, multiple sclerosis, brain and art, including a series of interesting clinical cases .
Apart from excellent lectures given by course directors Prof.Vida Demarin, Prof.Kurt Niederkorn, Prof.David Russell and Dr.Hrvoje Budicevic, other  eminent lecturers held excellent lectures and workshops each in their area of expertise. An extraordinary contribution was given by Dr. Frank Kraus from Munich, who presented the Tempis Project (telemedicine project for integrated stroke care in the region of South-East Bavaria) and the most important themes of the ESO Congress held in Prague last month.
Dr. Gordian Hubert from Munich organized a great workshop about the organization of emergency care for stroke patients in some neighboring countries. Professor David Russell and Dianne Hanson held excellent ultrasound hands-on workshops. Professor Cristina Tiu from Bucharest and Professor Serefnur Ozturk from Ankara held interesting lectures and workshops with case scenarios. Professor Dragutin Kadojić from Osijek and Assistant Professor Marinko Dikanovic from Slavonski Brod gave significant contributions about the epidemiology of neurological diseases and the problems of diagnosis and treatment of stroke and complications. Hans van Elst showed the latest innovations in ultrasound.
The course allowed knowledge transfer between respected scientists from western countries and colleagues from Central and East European countries working with stroke. After the lectures, the late afternoons were reserved for a rich cultural programm with the goal to promote contacts and future cooperation between participants from various countries.

Feedback from the participants was excellent regarding the quality of organization, relevance of the course for their future work and selection of lecturers. The Summer Stroke School got very good media coverage this year as well, including the Croatian radio television, Dubrovnik Television (Dubrovnik TV), Radio Dubrovnik, Radio Ragusa and daily newspapers, raising stroke awareness in the general population and increasing the knowledge of stroke risk factors and warning signs.

Supporting and partner organisations

World Stroke Organization (WSO)
European Stroke Organization (ESO)
European Academy of Neurology (EAN)
World Federation of Neurology (WFN)
International Institute for Brain Health (IBRAIN)
University of Zagreb School of Medicine
Croatian Stroke Society
Central and Eastern European Stroke Society (CEESS)
Department of Medical Sciences of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Inter University Centre Dubrovnik

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