Creation of the European Academy of Neurology

For many years people have asked why we have 2 annual European neurology congresses. The answer lies in history, although we have now agreed to hold only one each year. The European Neurological Society (ENS) (www.ens.org) was founded in 1986 by a group of neurologists who understood that Europe would become a major scene of clinical and academic neurology and that a European society of neurology could serve to promote the excellence of our work. The ENS was modeled after the American Academy of Neurology; teaching courses played a prominent role in annual meetings, in addition to general symposia and platform and poster presentations. The ENS model represented a deliberate break from national representation to individual membership, expressing the enthusiasm of individuals in clinical and experimental neurology and emphasizing individual expertise in neurologic specialties. The original goals have been met, thanks to the personal dedication of a few people from the initiation of the ENS: Professor Gerard Said, France (who was the secretary of the ENS for 20 years), the late Professors Anita Harding and P.K. Thomas, UK, Professor K. Toyka, Germany, and Professor A. Steck, Switzerland (the long-time treasurer). Starting with its first congress in Nice in 1986, the ENS has run successful annual congresses without intermission, the 21st being in Lisbon in 2011, with the next in Prague on June 9–12, 2012 (www.congrex.ch/ens2012). The ENS business has been governed by …