December 2021

Dear ANA members:

Holiday greetings to you in my final message of 2021. I hope this message finds you healthy and headed for holiday festivities, however you plan to celebrate! As we reflect on last month’s successful virtual Capitol Hill Day meetings with the American Brain Coalition (ABC), we’re all reminded that, with the burden of neurologic disease, it’s our duty to advocate for our field and our patients. This is what we do as leaders. I want to extend a personal note of thanks to you for your membership in ANA, contributing to the science driving the field forward.

It’s fitting that, as we prepare for year-end celebrations and look ahead to the New Year, the ANA is recognizing and celebrating the end of an era and looking ahead with excitement.

Special Thanks

Thank you to Clifford B. Saper, MD, PhD, FANA who has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Annals of Neurology for eight years and has shepherded our journal through new endeavors, which have included introducing a social media presence and developing new sections in the journal such as Neuro-Images and ANA Podcasts and Webinars. Today, the impact factor for the journal is a respected 10.422 and journal readership is up nearly 82%, from 697,000 readers in 2017 to more than 1.27 million today, thanks to Dr. Saper’s diligent work. I would also like to recognize the outstanding associate editors during his tenure and extend my thanks as we transition to a new editorial staff, led by Ken Tyler, MD, FANA from the University of Colorado. We’ll hear more about his plans for the future in an upcoming newsletter.

A Holiday Gift for You

We’ve had a successful rollout of the 18 SIG Series session recordings, to which members will have exclusive free access until October 21, 2022. These asynchronous activities took place outside of the main ANA Annual Meeting program and offer outstanding content on subtopics of neurology. Most sessions are available for CME credits; consider sharing them with your trainees and colleagues if they have not had the opportunity to explore the depth of programming the ANA provides! The ANA2021 Meeting Recordings Package is also now available for purchase via ANA OnDEC and as an ANA member you receive an exclusive discount. If you registered for ANA2021, you may access the videos free of charge.

We hope that we will be back in person for ANA2022 in Chicago, Illinois, October 22-25. Save the date, and watch the ANA website for updates.

Warmest wishes to you and your families for the holidays and a healthy 2022 to all,

 

Frances E. Jensen, MD, FANA, FACP
President, American Neurological Association

Arthur Knight Asbury, MD Professor of Neurology

Chair of the Department of Neurology

Co-Director Penn Medicine Translational Neuroscience Center

Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania