YES Regions

Regional Representatives

ILAE-YES relies on its six Regional Representatives to co-ordinate this diffuse participation and oversee the organisation of regionally accessible YES events. Regional Representatives are responsible for the organisation of regional ILAE events and activities and encourage recruitment of new YES participants from their region. The Regional Representatives work collaboratively with a network of National Liaisons from their region to ensure the goals of ILAE-YES are translated efficiently and effectively to all of our participants, regardless of their geographical location. Regional Representatives organise and chair regional YES general assembly meetings, actively manage national liaisons, organise regional conferences, and communicate with the regional ILAE commission.

Europe  |  Eastern Mediterranean  |  Asia-Oceania  |  Latin America  |  Africa  |  North America

Europe

YES Europe is building a regional network of national liaisons, assessing, understanding and addressing diverse educational needs as well as distributing existing educational and career development opportunities. The long-term goal is to assist in providing equal and high-quality educational and Career opportunities within European nations, as well as to improve Networking and scientific collaborations. In addition, YES Europe supports the initiation of national chapters. YES National Chapters in Europe include Italy, Finland, Russia, and the UK. The ILAE-YES Regional Representative for Europe is Caroline Neuray (AUT).

Eastern Mediterranean

YES Eastern Mediterranean (EM) increases public awareness and education of epilepsy through the provision of public educational activities, conferences and webinars, and promotes epilepsy awareness days. YES EM aims to establish a network of new candidates who are interested in the research and/or clinical care of people with epilepsy and provide opportunities to guide early-career development. The ILAE-YES Regional Representative for YES-EM is Sally Shaaban (Egypt).

Asia-Oceania

The YES Asia-Oceania (AO) region is working with national liaisons to map the educational and research related needs for young people involved in epilepsy research, practice and advocacy. Recently, a Japan chapter has been established and more countries are moving in the direction of becoming a national chapter in coming years. YES National Chapters in Asia Oceania comprise Japan, with an active local branch in Australia-New Zealand. The ILAE-YES Regional Representative for YES-AO is Ajay Asranna (IND).

Latin America

The YES Latin America (LA) region works with national liaisons to increase awareness of epilepsy and provide educational resources to its regional participants . YES LA has a regular calendar of webinars, scheduled into September 2021, that receive high engagement worldwide. The chapter is currently focused on several advocacy projects in the Central America region. Recently, participants of the YES-LA region successfully translated the paediatric epilepsy training course into Spanish, with aims to launch this mid-2021. The ILAE-YES Regional Representative for YES-LA is Diego Jiménez-Jiménez.

Africa

YES Africa collaborates with the Epilepsy Africa Alliance in hosting monthly webinars that focus on recent research and issues concerning the care of people with Epilepsy in Africa. YES Africa is building a network of young professionals, and through the use of the Slack regional channel, aims to facilitate inter-disciplinary interaction and peer support within the continent. The ILAE-YES Regional Representative for YES-Africa is Faith Mosha (South Africa).

North America

YES North America would like to establish a formal relationship with the AES and continue to expand participation. At present, they have currently submitted proposals for activities at the ILAE North American Regional Congress, which will take place in Toronto, Canada in September 2020. Proposed activities will include an organizational meeting and a career development session featuring successful early career speakers and panel development. It is also planned that this session will discuss career development in resource-limited countries. To overcome obstacles relating to participation recruitment encountered thus far, YES North America regional representatives will work with other regional leaders who have achieved success with recruiting participants to improve recruitment strategies, in addition to working directly with the AES. YES National Chapters in North America comprise YES-Canada. The ILAE-YES Regional Representative for YES-NA is Ruta Yardi (USA).

National Chapters

ILAE-YES already boasts an international participation of >1000 early career professionals with a shared interest in the care of people with epilepsy and/or epilepsy research. The dispersion of YES participants involves all six ILAE regions; namely Africa, Asia-Oceania, the East Mediterranean, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

National Liaisons

A YES National Liaison is a representative of YES to that country for a two year term, whose main task is to facilitate bilateral communication between the global YES organisation and their national ILAE chapter or similar organisations, and to disseminate information about YES and our activities that might be of interest to their peers in that country. Nominations for National Liaisons are co-ordinated by the YES Regional Representative.