PREVIEW: The 4th Oxford Neurology Course

Conference details: 26th-28th June, 2013, Oxford, UK.

Report by: Ursula Schulz & Martin Turner, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Oxford University.

We are delighted to announce the 4th annual Oxford Neurology Course (ONC), which will run from 26th-28th June 2013 in St Anne’s College, Oxford. The ONC aims to mix up-to-date clinical neurology with some of the latest neuroscience. We wish to provoke thought and discussion as well as educate consultants and trainees, and the feedback from previous years suggests this is a successful strategy.

Recognising that consultant study leave is a precious commodity, we anticipate a sizeable 15 CME credits from the Royal College of Physicians, as in previous years. We invite only expert speakers to address our delegates, and try to offer them challenging titles.  We choose common clinical dilemmas, but also seek to ‘myth bust’. This year we continue to pose the big questions: “Is brain scanning necessary in the diagnosis of dementia?” and “W(h)ither the Neurologist?” In addition to direct practical hints, we provide an update on the science behind some of the more complex neurological disorders, this year addressing paraneoplastic disease and the inflammatory myelopathies, as well as gaining insight into neglect and impulsivity. We also have provocative guest lectures, one covering neuroscience ethics, the other asking if genetics will solve everything.

A regular slot is “Where Neurology meets…” which considers overlap with other specialities. This year it is Dermatology. A firm favourite of previous ONCs has been the “Best Of Oxford’s Grand Round”: three memorable cases hand-picked for their challenging and educational nature.

We hope that another major attraction will be the ambience. The ONC Dinner takes place in the historic dining hall of Trinity College, with pre-dinner drinks in the College Gardens. For those who want to see the many historic venues first-hand, the ONC ends with a Medical Walking Tour.

The opportunity for open and challenging discussion is central, and so we limit the number of delegates in the course to 70. We do hope that you will be able to join us.

The full course programme and registration is at www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/courses/onc (email: events@ndcn.ox.ac.uk)