Editorial introductions

Abstract

Current Opinion in Neurology was launched in 1988. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The field of neurology is divided into 14 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Stefan KlöppelStefan KlöppelProf. Stefan Klöppel studied medicine at the University Medical Centers in Freiburg, Germany, and Vienna, Austria. He specialised in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Medical Centers in Hamburg, London and Freiburg. He was head of the Memory Clinic in Freiburg and of Freiburg Brain Imaging. In December 2016, he became Chairman of the University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry at the University of Bern (Switzerland). His research aims to improve imaging based diagnostics in dementia and to develop individualised non-pharmacological treatments of cognitive impairment. Per SvenningssonPer SvenningssonPer Svenningsson is Professor in Neurology at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. He received his MD and PhD from Karolinska Institutet in 1998. He then did his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of the Nobel laureate Paul Greengard at the Rockfeller University, USA, between 1999 and 2003. His studies concerned GPCR neuropharmacology and signal transduction and included the discovery of p11 as an important modulator of serotonin neurotransmission. He performed his residency in Neurology at Karolinska University Hospital and became Professor in 2012 and senior physician in 2016. His research interests include GPCR pharmacology, Parkinson's disease both its motor and non-motor aspects and atypical parkinsonism. Studies are conducted both in preclinical models and in specimens from patients. The goal is to identify novel targets for improved diagnostics and pharmacological receptor-based treatments. Biochemical, histological, pharmacological, molecular biological and behavioral techniques are used. At the clinical side, he is conducting clinical trials with therapies aiming to slow down progression of Parkinson's disease or to treat debilitating symptoms of the disease. He has published more than 200 articles. Since 2014, he is member of the Nobel Assembly annually awarding the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Steven J. FruchtSteven J. FruchtDr Frucht is currently Professor of Neurology and Director of Movement Disorders at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, USA. He has devoted his career to the care and management of patients with movements disorders, particularly those with rare or treatment refractory hyperkinetic movement disorders. He has published over 180 PubMed referenced papers, written two books, and lectured more than forty times at the International Movement Disorders Congress and American Academy of Neurology annual meetings. Among his research accomplishment, he was the first to describe sleep attacks as a side effect of dopamine agonists in Parkinson's disease, to define the metabolic topography of posthypoxic myoclonus, and to demonstrate the efficacy of sodium oxybate in a variety of alcohol responsive hyperkinetic movement disorders. He has published extensively on the phenomenology of dystonia, including musicians’ dystonia and other unusual focal task-specific dystonia. He has helped to train more than thirty fellows, many of whom have pursued careers in academic movement disorders. Doris A. TraunerDoris A. TraunerDr Doris A. Trauner is a Distinguished Professor of Neurosciences at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, USA. After earning her medical degree at the Medical College of Virginia, Dr Trauner completed an internship and a residency at UC San Diego, followed by a fellowship at the University of Chicago, USA. She is board certified in pediatrics, child neurology and neurodevelopmental disorders. She has held a joint appointment in the UC San Diego Neurosciences and Pediatrics Departments since 1977 and served as the chief of pediatric neurology from 1981 to 2015. She has served on numerous national and local committees, including as chair of several national and UCSD committees. She has received numerous awards, most recently the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Child Neurology Society. Dr Trauner's research focuses on the cognitive consequences of conditions that alter brain development early in life, including both structural and metabolic disorders. She studies children with neurodevelopmental, genetic and metabolic disorders. She has over 200 publications including research articles and book chapters, as well as two books. Dr Trauner also teaches undergraduate and graduate students, medical students and residents. In addition, she maintains an active clinical practice in pediatric neurology, with clinical interests encompassing the entire spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorders, language impairment, developmental delay, neurobehavioral disorders and epileptic behavior syndromes.