World Federation of Neurology (WFN) was formed in Brussels, Belgium, in 1957, as an association of national neurological societies. It is a UK registered charity with a mission to foster quality neurology and brain health worldwide through promoting global neurological education and training, with the emphasis on under-resourced parts of the world.
History WFN was founded during the Sixth World Congress of Neurosciences, and at the First International Congress of Neurological Sciences, held in Brussels in July, 1957. The original idea of the WFN arose during a dinner in Antwerp in 1955. Ludo van Bogaert (Belgium, 1897–1989), Armand Lowenthal (The Netherlands, 1919–2001) and Charles Poser (Belgium, 1923–2010) discussed the formation of a club consisting mainly of neuropathologists (named were Erna Christensen, Aagot Christie Löken, Willibald Scholz, Julius Hallervorden, Hugo Spatz, Georges Schaltenbrand, Ivan Bertrand, Jean-Emmanuel Grüner) and some neurologists (MacDonald Critchley, Raymond Garcin, Georg Herman Monrad-Krohn). The purpose was primarily to collect reprints and unpublished doctoral theses in a central location (e.g. the Institute Bunge). As the discussion progressed, they thought that the group should be expanded and that other specialists should also form such "clubs". After many talks, invitations were sent for a founding meeting to take place on 22 and 26 July 1957. A draft WFN constitution was prepared by Ludo van Bogaert, Houston Merritt, MacDonald Critchley, Auguste Tournay, Georg Schaltenbrand and Pearce Bailey, with Charles Poser as Secretary. The meetings were attended by 38 national delegates representing 29 national societies from Europe, Latin American (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Peru, Uruguay), USA, Africa (South Africa) and Asia (Iran and India):
Ludo van Bogaert was unanimously elected President of the new organisation. Pearce Bailey became Secretary-Treasurer General. There were four Vice-Presidents: Houston Merritt, Raymond Garcin, Kamil Henner and Shigeo Okinaka. An informal WFN Policy Committee was formed to consider the future policy of the new organisation. It consisted of WFN members from different countries. Among them were Macdonald Critchley, Eddie P. Bharucha (Bombay, India), Russell N. DeJong (Ann Arbor, USA), Georg Schaltenbrand (West Germany), Francois Thiébaut (Strasbourg, France), Oscar Montes Trelles (Lima, Peru), and Semen Aleksandrovich Sarkisov (Moscow, USSR). Because the term policy had different meanings in different countries, the Policy Committee was re-named the Steering Committee in 1969.
WFN Presidents According to the constitution and bye-laws, the president and the secretary-treasurer general should each serve for four years. Re-election is not allowed.
World Brain Day The concept of World Brain Day was born over a corridor conversation between Tissa Wijeratne, Mohommad Wasay and Vladimir Hachinski in 2010. It was formerly endorsed at the next Council of Delegates meeting with unanimous voting. WFN birthday, 22 July was selected as the Day of Brain, World Brain Day. Tissa Wijeratne and David W. Dodick, Co-Chair of the World Brain 2023-2026.
WFN Speciality Groups Van Bogaert and the leadership of the WFN realised the importance of creating groups of international leaders in various fields of neurology. These groups were called Problem Commissions. During the first years of its existence, the WFN economy of the WFN had been based upon generous support from the NINDB, a part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). From 1965, it was clear that no further funding for WFN activities would come from the US Government sources. At a meeting of the WFN Executive Committee (later re-named the Council of Delegates), past and present officers of the WFN with Chairmen and Secretaries of the Problem Commissions met in Geneva in July 1966. The Problem Commissions were re-named "Research Groups" and organised in the new Research Committee. The Secretaries of these Research Groups would now form the Research Committee. The hope was that each Research Group should bring money to the organisation. A few did, but many Research Groups were unable to support WFN financially. John Walton's idea was that some Problem Commissions – now Research Groups – might develop into international societies that could become corporate members of the Research Committee with the payment of an annual subscription that might improve the economy of the organisation. This proved to be a great step forward. But it took several years until it worked. In the meantime, the economic situation remained critical. By 1969, the income of the Research Committee was only sufficient to support the secretarial and administrative expenses of the Committee. No grants were available to the Research Groups to support their activities. By 2010 the groups were known as "Applied Research Groups" and in 2019 renamed to Specialty Groups.
World Neurology
World Neurology Journal WFN was not in a position to sponsor meetings of the Problem Commissions, who usually met during international congresses. In order to communicate with neurologists worldwide, an international journal was needed. The Problem Commissions published reports from their meetings in World Neurology, later in the Journal of Neurological Sciences. This formed a backbone of an international network of neurologists. Charles Poser had suggested to Ludo van Bogaert in March 1959 that WFN needed its own journal, both as a newsletter, for publication of research news, but also as a forum for the Problem Commissions, announcements of their meetings and reports from national and international meetings in neurology. Poser became the Editor-in-Chief, with van Bogaert and Pearce Bailey as Associate Editors. The first issue of World Neurology was published in July 1960.
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