Firstly, the election results for our new IFCN executive committee have been announced. Many congratulations to all those elected to what is a very strong new team. My particular congratulations to Professor Riki Matsumoto who has been elected new president IFCN. Member societies were faced with a choice of two exceptionally well-qualified candidates. Thanks to both for standing and to members for exercising their choice. Thanks also to Kim Zaiss and Professor Walter Paulus for their conduct of the election. IFCN does have a number of matters to attend to over the coming months so the new committee will have to hit the ground running as they say, or at least sit close to their Zoom monitors.
The full executive committee for 2026-2030, which takes over during the General Assembly of the ICCN in Cartagena, is:
Riki Matsumoto, Japan, President
Fitri Octaviana, Indonesia, Secretary
Andrea Antal, Germany, Treasurer
Jonathan Cole, UK, Past-President
Anita Kamondi, Hungary, EMEAC Representative
Claudia Paz, Chile, LAC Representative
Cecil Hahn, Canada, NAC Representative
Jeffrey Chan, Taiwan, AOC Representative
Robert Chen, Canada, Editor-in-Chief, Clinical Neurophysiology
Margitta Seeck, Switzerland, Editor-in-Chief, Clinical Neurophysiology Practice
The death was recently announced of Professor Ivan Rektor. Convener of the Brno European Congress of Clinical Neurophysiology 2015, and of the Brno ILAE schools on presurgical evaluation of epilepsy, he also served on the EMEAC board from 2015-2019 and the board of the Movement Disorders Society. He trained generations of Czech neurologists, was a proponent of strong relations between east and west Europe and one of the founding members of the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC). He helped establish epilepsy research and epileptic surgery in Czechia and other eastern European countries. Other research reflected the wide and humane range of his mind. He led research into the transmission of trauma among Holocaust survivors and their descendants, and then studied the psychological and biological impacts of war trauma on Ukrainian refugees. Some readers may also recall his work on the so-called ‘Mozart effect’, the antiepileptic effects of Mozart’s harmonies on the EEG, which was published in 2021. He will be missed with great affection and respect.
It is with sadness that I also announce the passing of our colleague David MacDonald. His work in Clinical Neurophysiology focused on Intraoperative Neurophysiology. He systematically studied optimization methods for Motor Evoked Potentials and Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in the operating room and was the lead author on key guidelines in our field. He was one of the founding members of the ISIN and served as the ISIN’s second president. His published works include the identification of rare uncrossed motor and sensory pathways, to recommendations for intraoperative somatosensory evoked potential recording. His colleagues will remember him for his deep passion for teaching and for his sense of humour.
Next was a visit to Aarhus for the first IFCN Movement Disorders Neurophysiology Teaching course, organized by Robert Chen and hosted by Hatice Tankisi. Over two days attendees enjoyed a rich banquet of Michelin starred speakers including Robert Chen, Antonio Suppa, Madelein van der Stowe, Anna Latorre, Francesca Morgante, Lorenzo Roochi, Josep Valls-Sole, Anita Kamondi, and Fleur van Rootselaar. The almost forty participants also had hands-on sessions and the opportunity to network with the experts and fellow participants.
Those present were unanimous in wanting to apply for Movement Disorders to become an IFCN Special Interest Group. Professor Chen and others applied to IFCN ExCo for this and I am delighted to say that it was approved as the ninth IFCN SIG.
It is always a pleasure to announce the Education and Research Fellowship winners each year.
The Education Fellowship winners are:
The Research Fellowship winners are:
Congratulations to all and best wishes for their stays. We hope to hear about their projects and may report back via our website. Thanks to the Education and Research Committees who spent a lot of time reviewing the applications, scoring them and then ranking them between each other.
The excitement is growing for the 34th International Congress of Clinical Neurophysiology in Cartagena, Colombia. Our scientific committee has put together a stellar program that you do not want to miss. We will hear from three clinical neurophysiology experts as our plenary lectures. They include Professor Marc Nuwer on ION, Professor Fernando Cendes on epilepsy, and Professor Claudia Summer on autoimmune nodopathies. Our pre-congress workshops cover a wide variety of topics from Brain Stimulation, Nerve and Muscle Excitability to AI in neurophysiology and EEG Basic and Advanced courses. We hope to see you there. Registration is still open.
I would like to officially announce that the 2026 IFCN General Assembly will be held on Friday, 11 September 2026 during ICCN. This is IFCN executive committee’s chance to update our member societies and others on our activities, and initiatives over the last year and to announce new programs, plans and projects. Equally the GA allows members the chance to feedback to the committee. This year, as mentioned above it also marks the transfer from one ExCo to the next.
This letter has been packed full of news, mainly pleasant, though with some sadness. The last good news for many readers is that this is my last president’s letter. With a new president, I become past-President, with some roles in our Bylaws, but also supposed to dispense sage advice when asked on ExCo. I thank everyone on our executive committee for stimulating times, and for teaching me always to expect the unexpected. Kim Zaiss and Kay Whalen at EDI have been invaluable in assisting our work. But really there are too many to thank without it becoming a poor imitation of an Oscar acceptance speech. In truth, the IFCN has grown over the last few years thanks to the work of a large number of people. In this letter I have tried to inform, and entertain at least a little, and to hope that somewhere out there in the internet’s furthest reaches someone might actually read it. Over the last few years, yes, there were long executive committee meetings, yes, we started new committees which needed yet more meetings, and yes, each day brought emails about various topics and events to try to sort out. But with these, I met so many experts in our specialty at a variety of meetings and was able to listen and enjoy their knowledge, their expertise and their enthusiasm. I shared congresses of chapters and national societies as they worked and played, demonstrating my ineptitude at karaoke and various dances along the way, but also – I hope – something of my enthusiasm for IFCN and for its role in enhancing our wonderful specialty. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege.
Warm Wishes,
Jonathan Cole