Chapter Spotlight: Qatar

Qatar epilepsy chapter is a very dynamic chapter in this part of the world! Its members (Dr Hassan Al Hail, President; Dr Boulenouar Mesraoua, vice president; Dr Gonzalo Alorcon, Treasurer;  Dr Tage Eldin, general secretory; Dr Gayane Melikyan, vice secretary) accomplished the following:

At the the country level, the chapter was able to:

1) Create and implement a Comprehensive Epilepsy Program for the past 5 years
2) Diagnose and treat people with epilepsy (PWE ) in a a two-bed Epilepsy Monitoring Unit they opened 2 years ago
3) Manage and treat PWE at an out patient epilepsy clinic (open 5 days /week ) they opened 2 years ago
4) Create a weekly Neurophysiology Educational rounds on Tuesdays from 8AM to 9AM for the past 2 years
5) Establish an Epilepsy Educational Program (EEG reading, EMU rounds, teaching session) for the Epilepsy fellows
6) Be the recipients of 2 Research Grants on Epilepsy (on cEEG monitoring =750.000$ for 3 years and on epilepsy treatment = 250.000$ for 3 years)
7) Organize and Lead a very successful yearly Epilepsy Symposium for the past 11 years
8) Start in 2018 a Yearly Epilepsy School involving epileptologists from the region and from elsewhere
9) Open in the very near future the Qatar International Bureau of Epilepsy following the recommendation of Pr Martin J Brodie , President of the International Bureau of Epilepsy

At the International level, the chapter’s members were able to:

10) Successfully and actively participate at the International Epilepsy Conference over the past year: 2 chapter’s members (Dr Boulenouar Mesraoua and Dr Gonzalo Alorcon ) managed to be speakers during the 32nd International Epilepsy Congress, September 1-5, 2017, Barcelona Spain
11) Be actively involved in the ILAE regional commissions or CEMA (Commission on Eastern Mediterranean Affairs on Epilepsy) where one of its member, Dr Boulenouar Mesraoua is an elected member and holds the position of chief of the epilepsy epidemiology section.

Submitted by,

Hassan Al Hail ,
Qatar Chapter President

Boulenouar Mesraoua
Qatar Chapter Vice President

Dr Gonzalo Alorcon
Treasurer

Dr Tage Eldin, general secretary ,
Dr Gayane Melikyan, vice secretary

June 2018