The College of Medicine, University of Lagos held the 2023 edition of its International Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Society-African Section (MDS-AS) School for Young Neurologists between Monday, December 11 and Wednesday, December 13, 2023 at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.
This annual School is an opportunity for young neurologists (neurology specialist trainees and neurologists less than 5 years post-training) who are interested in specializing in Movement Disorders to receive in-depth instruction from internationally-recognized Movement Disorders experts. This year, the experts consisted of six (6) in-person Faculty (Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa) and three (3) virtual Faculty (Canada, Greece and Italy).
The three members of Faculty from Nigeria include:
- Dr Oluwadamilola Ojo, Associate Professor, Neurology Unit, College of Medicine, University of Lagos (Course Director)
- Prof. Njideka Okubadejo, Professor, Neurology Unit, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Lagos (Faculty)
- Prof. Ademola Oremosu, Professor, Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine University of Lagos (Faculty)
During the 3-day programme, forty-one (41) participants from nine (9) countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Togo, Mali, Kenya Senegal and Zambia) received lectures and intensive training on Parkinsonism and Parkinson’s disease, hyperkinetic movement disorders – tremor, dystonia, myoclonus, and chorea. In addition, there were sessions on paediatric movement disorders, eye movement disorders and gait disorders.
The first day ended with a video-session dinner where participants presented interesting cases of movement disorders while the second day featured an afternoon block of clinical examination rounds where participants, grouped in threes, rotated between three (3) patient stations – Station 1 (Parkinson’s disease, mixed phenotype and akinetic-rigid phenotype), Station 2 (Chorea and Generalized dystonia) and Station 3 (Ataxia) where they had the opportunity to appreciate the phenomenology of these conditions and observe an expert’s approach to the evaluation of a person with movement disorders.
