The 77th American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Conference Meeting was held on 5th to 9th April 2025 in San Diego, California USA. It attracted over 18,000 attendees from all over the world with multiple speakers showcasing their research work at various levels of neuroscience, academic neurology and clinical neurology. The conference this year had a major emphasis on Advocacy in effort to address health equity challenges globally. The key note speakers included leaders in health advocacy from the US and Asia. The conference was also the platform for the launch of the first-ever Global Advocacy Leadership Program (GALP) which is a 1 year remote fellowship in health advocacy for Neurologists from all over the world. The GALP fellowship is a result of a joint-effort involving the AAN and the World Federation of Neurology (WFN).
Dr Mashina Chomba, a Zambian Neurologist and PhD student on the NeuroSolve project, was among the attendees this AAN meeting in San Diego and is one of the regional fellows for the inaugural GALP fellowship. Aside from Chairing a session on Neuro-infectious diseases – focusing on neurological parasitic, amoebic and fungal diseases – Dr Chomba gave a podium oral presentation on the ongoing NCC work in Zambia, including the NeuroSolve project. In his talk Dr Chomba spoke about the importance of understanding factors that contribute to treatment outcomes in NCC and the many opportunities that studies such as NeuroSolve will provide to answer these questions. Key to this is understanding best anti-parasitic drug choices, monitoring treatment response using serology and other biomarkers and determining patient factors such as HIV status that may impact outcomes.
The meeting provided an opportunity for networking and discussing potential collaborations with researchers in the field of neuro-infectious diseases from North and South America as well as India. Great enthusiasm on learning the future findings of the NeuroSolve project were expressed during and after the talk and the impact that the NeuroSolve project will have on NCC treatment was highlighted on one of the largest stages of neurology research.
In the pictures below: Dr. Mashina Chomba giving his presentation in San Diego
