KARACHI, Dec 20: A 2-day conference on “Advances in neurology” will be held at Aga Khan University (AKU) from Dec 23.

The event will bring together Pakistani neurologists established in North America with their local counterparts, to discuss clinical progress in the field.

The university’s chief of neurology, Dr Shahid Baig, says such a conference provides an ideal forum for specialists to keep abreast of their field while developing collaborative linkages for research and training.

The meeting is being organized by Dr Saad Shafqat, assistant professor of neurology at the AKU.

The organizing committee includes, Prof Ashfaq Shuaib , University of Alberta, Canada; Prof Rashid Jooma, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre; Dr Sarwar Siddiqui, Civil Hospital; Dr Shaukat Ali, the JPMC; and Dr Baig.

The topics to be covered include, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, muscular diseases and a lethal form of brain haemorrhage, subarachnoid haemorrhage.

A session will focus on innovations in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain, a diagnostic technology at the heart of modern neurology practice.

About half of the speakers have been invited from North America. They include, Dr Zeba Vanek from University of California, Los Angeles; Dr Kazim Sheikh from John Hopkins University; Dr Tahseen Mozaffar from University of California, Irvine; Dr Naveed Yousuf from Central Illinois Foundation and Prof Shuaib from Canada. Dr Zafar Sajjad and Dr Mohammad Wasay will also speak.

The concluding talk, “Reflections on neurology in Pakistan,” will be delivered by Prof Akhter Ahmed, founding chairman of the neurology department at Civil Hospital.—APP