Neurology and the community.

Abstract

Neurology has a proud tradition, built on the established principles of medicine, the scientific method of the 17th century and the clinical approach of the French and later the English schools of neurology in the 19th century and the first half of this century. In the post World War II era neurology was advanced by the development of neurological training centers, the discovery of new pharmacological and neurosurgical therapies, and most recently by in the exciting advances in neurogenetics. These changes have broadened and advanced the scope of our discipline by focusing on the disease processes that affect the nervous system. I would like to suggest an additional conceptual framework to broaden it further. That concept is a population health perspective that should place our various approaches in closer relationship to the communities they serve.