WELCOME MESSAGE (29 April 2021)

It is my pleasure and an honour to introduce you to ‘Young EPNS or YEPNS’!

The initiative to form a section of young EPNS members came from EPNS board and the founding meeting of the Young EPNS Committee took place on the 2 November 2020.

The Committee currently consists of 20 young EPNS members from all over Europe, very motivated to actively participate in reshaping ‘the existence’ and role of younger members in the Society. Our main objectives are:

  1. to make the EPNS known and familiar to every young professional starting out or already working in the field of paediatric neurology,
  2. to make the resources that EPNS already offers noticeable and available and enable young members to take the most advantage of them,
  3. to establish and develop missing resources targeting young members’ needs,
  4. keep the young EPNS community connected, on a professional and on a personal level.

This reinforces not just our own professional growth but the growth of the field of paediatric neurology in Europe itself which consequentially represents best possible future for our patients.

We are currently working on several projects – the first is the  EPNS JOURNAL CLUB  which will take place virtually on the 4th Wednesday of every other month at 17:00h CET. Another project which will be launched soon are the virtual  CASE DISCUSSIONS  which will take place in the alternate months to the Journal Club and will begin at the end of June 2021.

The YEPNS Instagram profile (young_epns) and YEPNS Facebook profile will go public in the next couple of days. The links to the profiles will be provided here as soon as they are available. Anyone interested can follow the profiles for notifications about upcoming YEPNS & EPNS activities, interesting journal papers,..; presentations of existing EPNS projects, activities with opportunities for YEPNS members (i.e. fellowships, training courses,..); calls for participation (journal club, case discussions, research projects,..) and similar content.

Besides our own projects, the number of agendas led by other EPNS board Committees that YEPNS members participate in is getting larger and larger. We are also excited about the YEPNS dedicated activities that will take place at the next EPNS Congress taking place 28 April – 2 May 2022. https://epns-congress.com/

If you are young and a member of EPNS, you are automatically a YEPNS member : )  Everyone is warmly welcome to participate in the ongoing activities mentioned above. If you feel that you would like to be even more proactive and join the Committee, do let us know and we will discuss where we can fit you.

If you are not already a member of the EPNS, please think about joining. Membership is open to all paediatric neurologists and colleagues in related fields. There are substantially discounted EPNS membership fees for trainees and it is very easy to join; all you need to do is complete the ONLINE APPLICATION FORM

For any questions, proposals, comments about YEPNS, we are available via e-mail: yepns@epns.info

We sincerely hope that YEPNS Committee’s work justifies the trust that was bestowed upon us and that the Young EPNS community becomes a living, breathing organism where young paediatric neurologists from Europe can easily find peers to discuss, collaborate and network.

With kind regards,

Jasna Oražem Mrak, Chair, Young EPNS

Introducing the YEPNS Committee members 

First Name Last Name country
Angel Aledo-Serrano Spain
Mikus Diriks Latvia
Thomas Foiadelli Italy
Giacomo Garone Italy
Ani Gevorgyan Armenia
Marta Gómez García de la Banda France
Petra Grdjan Stevanovic Croatia
Jelte Helfferich Netherlands
Karina Kersbergen Netherlands
Lelda Liepina Netherlands
Lela Lortkipanidze Georgia
Elena Michurina Russian Federation
Ibrahim Oncel Turkey
Jasna Oražem Mrak (CHAIR) Slovenia
Filipe Palavra Portugal
Marietta Papadopoulou Greece
Esra Serdaroglu Turkey
Joe Symonds UK
Tessa Wassenberg Belgium
Joachim Zobel Austria