2024 CNS Research Day

On Tuesday, June 11th, 2024, the Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences will host its 21st annual CNS Research Day. The full-day event features a series of poster and oral presentations from our residents, graduate students, PhD candidates and postdoctoral fellows. We will also host a distinguished researcher who will present the keynote address. Attendees of the event are the Department’s faculty, including neurosurgeons, neurologists, affiliated radiologists, pathologists and imaging researchers.

King's University College

266 Epworth Avenue, London, ON N6A 2M3

CNS Research Day will be held at the Kings Centre (Main level map, Lower level map).

Free parking is available. The closest parking lot is P3 (map).

Schedule of Events

8:00 - 8:20 a.m.	Registration and Continental Breakfast	Garron/Spriet Lounge
8:25 - 8:35 a.m.	Opening Remarks Dr. David Steven, Richard and Beryl Ivey Chair, Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences	Kenny Theatre
8:40 - 9:35 a.m.	Keynote presentation Advancing the treatment of stroke Dr. Michael Hill, MD, MSc, FRCPC, (FESO FAHA FCAHS FRSC O.C.) Calgary Stroke Program, Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Hotchkiss Brain Institute University of Calgary	Kenny Theatre
9:40 - 9:50 a.m.	Refreshment Break	Garron/Spriet Lounge
9:55 - 11:05 a.m.	Oral Presentation Session #1 A series of 5-minute presentations. Each presenter will be allotted 3 minutes for questions.	Kenny Theatre
11:10 - 11:30 a.m.	Oral Parallel Poster Session #1 A series of 2-minute presentations. Q&A will commence during the refreshment break	Basement Classrooms KC 005 & KC 006
11:35 - 11:45 a.m.	Refreshment Break (continued) Poster presentation Q&A	Garron/Spriet Lounge
11:50 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.	Oral Presentation Session #2 A series of 5-minute presentations. Each presenter will be allotted 3 minutes for questions.	Kenny Theatre
1:05 - 1:45 p.m.	Lunch	Garron/Spriet Lounge
1:50 - 3:00 p.m.	Oral presentation Session #3 A series of 5-minute presentations. Each presenter will be allotted 3 minutes for questions.	Kenny Theatre
3:05 - 3:35 p.m.	Oral Parallel Poster Session #2 A series of 2-minute presentations. Q&A will commence during the refreshment break.	Basement Classrooms KC 005 & KC 006
3:40 - 3:50 p.m.	Refreshment Break Poster presentation Q&A	Garron/Spriet Lounge
3:55 - 4:15 p.m.	Closing Remarks and Awards Dr. Elizabeth Finger, Research Director, Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences	Kenny Theatre

Attendee Registration

Registration for this event is now closed. Please consider attending next year!

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Michael Hill is a Professor for the Departments of Clinical Neurosciences, Community Health Sciences, Medicine and Radiology at the University of Calgary. He is also Director of the Stroke Unit for the Calgary Stroke Program, Alberta Health Services.

Dr. Hill completed undergraduate training at McGill University in biochemistry and went on to the University of Ottawa medical school. He trained in internal medicine at the University of Ottawa and received his FRCPC (Internal Medicine) in 1997. Subsequently, he completed a neurology residency at the University of Toronto and received his FRCPC (Neurology) in 1999. Dr. Hill moved to Calgary to undertake a stroke fellowship and clinical epidemiology training at the University of Calgary and was appointed to faculty in 2001. He then completed his MSc thesis in 2003, and is currently Director of the Stroke Unit at the Foothills Medical Centre, Calgary Health Region.

Dr. Hill’s research interests include stroke thrombolysis, stroke epidemiology, and surveillance and clinical trials. He is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) and holds the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Alberta/NWT/Nunavut professorship in Stroke Research. He holds and has held operating and clinical trials grants from the CIHR, Heart & Stroke Foundation of Alberta/NWT/Nunavut and from various industry partners as well as NIH (NINDS). Dr. Hill has also received a number of awards, including the Barnett, The Pessin Award and the ARP merit award and the Performance Recognition award for his role in research and his outstanding publication record.

Learn more.

Judges

CHRYSI BOGIATZI
Dr. Chrysi Bogiatzi is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, Western University since 2022 and she is leading the National Neurosonology Journal Club at the Canadian Stroke Consortium since 2021. Dr. Bogiatzi earned her medical degree at the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece, followed by a 2 years hands-on training in clinical Neurosonology, under the supervision of Dr. Georgios Tsivgoulis. She then completed a 2-year Masters Degree in Clinical Epidemiology at Western University, followed by 3 years research experience as a research associate in clinical trials in stroke prevention, under the supervision and mentorship of Dr. David Spence. Her Neurology residency was completed in 2021 at McMaster University, followed by 1-year clinical stroke fellowship at the University of Calgary. Dr. Bogiatzi has experience in transcranial and carotid ultrasound, clinical epidemiology and clinical trials, ischemic stroke subtypes, effects of intestinal microbiome in risk of stroke, stroke prevention and acute stroke management.

SEBASTIAN FRIDMAN
Biography not available at this time.

TENEILLE GOFTON
Dr. Tenielle Gofton completed medical school at Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada) followed by Neurology residency training at Western University. She has dual fellowship training in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (New York, New York, USA) and in Neurocritical Care and Electroencephalography at Western University. Dr. Gofton is currently an Associate Professor at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry (Western University) in the Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences and has been a faculty member since 2012. She is the acting director of the Neurocritical Care fellowship training program. Dr. Gofton has been an invited speaker at national and international meetings and has received research grant support from national funding agencies. Her research interests and publications are on topics in Neurocritical Care and neuropalliative care. In neurocritical care, Dr. Gofton’s research focuses on disorders of consciousness, status epilepticus and neurophysiology as it relates to deceased organ donation. In neuropalliative care, Dr. Gofton investigates challenges and barriers to initiation of neuropalliative care, neuropalliative care in serious neurological illness and neuropalliative education for trainees.

JOSEPH MEGYESI
Dr. Joseph Megyesi received his MD from Western University in 1985. He then completed a comprehensive surgical internship and a Master's degree in Biochemistry, also at Western University. He did his neurosurgical residency at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where he also received his PhD degree in Experimental Surgery. As part of his training, Dr. Megyesi completed a fellowship at Harvard University. Dr. Megyesi joined the Clinical Neurological Sciences Department at Western University in 1998 and specializes in neurosurgical oncology. He is chairman of the Scientific Program Committee at the Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation, sits on the Continuing Professional Development Committee at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and is past-chairman of the board of the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada. He is currently Professor in the Division of Neurosurgery at Western University.

MARYAM NABAVI-NOURI
Dr. Maryam Nabavi-Nouri joined the Department of Paediatrics and Clinical Neurological Sciences at Western University as an assistant professor in October 2018. Dr. Nabavi-Nouri received her medical degree from Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran in 2009. She completed her paediatric neurology residency at the Hospital for Sick Children/University of Toronto in 2016. Through a fellowship grant from Canadian League against Epilepsy, she finished her Neurophysiology/Pediatric epilepsy fellowship at University of British Colombia with a focus on pediatric EEG interpretation and epilepsy surgery evaluations. She is pursuing a Masters in Clinical epidemiology through London School of Health of Tropical Medicine. She is expanding the pediatric epilepsy research program focusing on multi-center studies to understand the pathophysiology of autoimmune causes of epilepsy, while improving diagnostic accuracy, access to disease-modifying therapies, and patient outcomes. Her research interests further include medically refractory epilepsy, epilepsy surgery, epidemiological studies in epilepsy and global burden of neurological disorders.

STEPHEN PASTERNAK
Dr. Pasternak received his S. B. Degrees in Chemical Engineering and in Life Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He completed the MD/PhD program at McGill University, Montreal, earning his PhD in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery in 1994 and his M.D. C.M. in 1995. Dr. Pasternak then completed his Neurology residency at the University of Toronto Fin 2000, followed by Post-Doctoral training in Cell Biology at the Hospital of Sick Children in Toronto and Fellowship training in Cognitive Neurology at the University of Toronto. Dr. Pasternak joined the Department in 2004 and specializes in Cognitive Neurology.

Important Dates

January 2024 Abstract submissions open
March 28th Abstract submissions close
Early May Notification to presenters of oral/poster acceptance
June 11th Research Day!

Abstract Submission Guidelines

Eligibility Requirements
Must have an author or contributor who holds a membership in CNS.
Abstracts should be no longer than 350 words and utilize the headings described below.
The presenter of all abstracts must be a trainee (for example, a undergraduate, graduate or medical student, resident, fellow).

Basic Information
Abstract Title, First Author, Additional Author(s) and Research Supervisor

Abstract Submission Criteria/Format
*based on the JAMA Structure for Abstract Submission

Importance:	The abstract should begin with a maximum of two sentences explaining the clinical (or other) importance of the study question.
Objective(s):	State the precise objective or study question addressed in the report (e.g. "To determine whether..."). If more than 1 objective is addressed, the main objective should be indicated and only key secondary objectives stated. If a priori hypothesis was tested, it should be stated.
Design and Participants:	Describe the basic design of the study and include the specific study type (e.g. randomized clinical trial, cohort, cross-sectional, etc.) and intervention where applicable. State the clinical disorders, important eligibility criteria, and key socio-demographic features of patients (or other study participants). The number of eligible participants and how they were selected should be provided, including the number approached but who refused or were excluded. For selection procedures, these terms should be used, if appropriate: random sample (where random refers to a formal, randomized selection in which all eligible individuals have a fixed and usually equal chance of selection); population-based sample; referred sample; consecutive sample; volunteer sample; convenience sample. If matching is used for comparison groups, characteristics that are matched should be specified. In follow-up studies, the proportion of participants who completed the study must be indicated.
Results:	Summary demographic information (e.g. characteristics such as sex and age) and the number of study participants should be reported in the first sentence of the Results paragraph. The main outcomes of the study should be reported and quantified, including the final included/analyzed sample. When possible, present numerical results (e.g. absolute numbers and/or rates) with appropriate indicators of uncertainty, such as confidence intervals. Use means and standard deviations (SDs) for normally distributed data and medians and ranges or interquartile ranges (IQRs) for data that are not normally distributed. Avoid solely reporting the results of statistical hypothesis testing, such as P values, which fail to convey important quantitative information. For most studies, P values should follow the reporting of comparisons of absolute numbers or rates and measures of uncertainty (e.g. 0.8%, 95% CI −0.2% to 1.8%; P = .13).
Conclusions and Relevance:	Provide only conclusions of the study that are directly supported by the results. Give equal emphasis to positive and negative findings of equal scientific merit. Also, provide a statement of relevance indicating implications for clinical practice or health policy, avoiding speculation and overgeneralization. The relevance statement may also indicate whether additional study is required before the information should be used in clinical settings.