Abstract
Focus on child and adolescent headache
My journey with migraine started as a sufferer when I was a medical student at University of Jordan. A few years later, I worked with Ian Forsythe in Leeds (UK) who introduced me to his research on paediatric migraine. As a paediatric neurology trainee in Cardiff (UK) with Sheila Wallace, epilepsy became my main focus, but when I moved to Aberdeen George Russell took me back to headache, where I gained my Doctorate degree in Medicine (DM) researching the epidemiology of headache in schoolchildren. I started a headache clinic at the Royal Hospital for children in Glasgow in 1996, which gave me a clinical and research platform to further study clinical characteristics of different headache disorders and syndromes related to migraine.
In the UK, like other places, headache in children is under-diagnosed and under-treated. Education, training and networking were badly needed. I ran a series of headache symposia and teaching sessions within the annual conferences of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, British Paediatric Neurology Association (BPNA) and British Association for the Study of Headache. I wrote and edited “Childhood Headache” (2002 and 2013) and co-edited “Headache in Children and Adolescents: A case-based approach” 2016. I developed web-based headache teaching modules and contributed to the development of the BPNA’s Childhood Headache Teaching course (CHaT), now in its sixth year, benefiting over 500 paediatricians.
On an international level, childhood headache has gained recognition thanks to many eminent clinicians and researchers and I am honoured to chair the IHS Child and Adolescent Standing Committee (CASC), following in the footsteps of Professors Cicek Wöber-Bingöl and Vincenzo Guidetti. During the past 5 years, I have overseen an increased presence of children’s headache at the IHS congresses, and CASC took an active role in networking and promoting childhood headache education in conferences across the world including Brazil, USA, UK, India, Dubai, Russia, Morocco and Egypt.
Supported by the IHS Board and local professional organisations, CASC ran a large and well-attended conference on childhood headache in Chisinau, Moldova, in May 2018. The conference consisted of lectures and workshops given by international speakers and local experts addressing scientific and practical issues. A similar conference is planned for March 2019 in Turkey and further initiatives will be explored to visit other countries where needs are identified.
In supporting research, CASC contributed and facilitated projects with “Lifting The Burden – the global campaign against headache” in order to study the impact of headache in children and adolescents in different parts of the world.
CASC, working with the Clinical Trials Committee over the past year, has developed guidelines to help researchers conducting drug trials in the prevention of migraine in children, using evidence-based recommendations and best practice where available. The guidelines went through a rigorous consultation process and will shortly be published in Cephalalgia.
Chair, Child and Adolescent Standing Committee (CASC), International Headache Society; Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, UK
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Global perspectives on headache: Education and research are the medicine of the future
I am an MD, PhD, neurologist from Barcelona, Spain. There, I am in charge of the Headache and Neurological Pain Clinical Unit at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain, and the Headache Research Laboratory at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR), which is a part of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. I am the Past Coordinator of the Spanish Headache Study Group of the Spanish Neurological Society (gecsen.sen.es). I am also a member of the American Headache Society.
I was educated around the world, after winning several grants that allowed me to do preclinical research and clinical fellowships both with Dr Stephen Silberstein at the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and with Professor Peter Goadsby in University College London and University of California at San Francisco.
My research focuses on improving the quality of life of patients suffering from headache by increasing our understanding of headache pathophysiology, especially migraine, providing innovative therapeutic strategies. I am a member of the International Headache Genetics Consortium. I have received funding from Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (ISCIII), the La Marató de TV3 Foundation, the Migraine Research Foundation and la Caixa Foundation to develop translational research projects, as well as being a principal investigator in clinical trials. I am also an editor for several journals specialising in headache. I am the founder of a website, www.midolordecabeza.org, which focuses on headache for both patients and physicians in the Spanish-speaking community. I spend my life educating students, residents, fellows, neurologists and headache specialists on headache.
I believe in the IHS’s purpose and values. I was a member of the IHS Junior Subcommittee from 2002 until 2011. Nowadays, I am a part of the IHS Board of Trustees, IHS Clinical Trials Guideline Committee and the IHS Women’s Leadership Forum.
As a trustee, I intend to potentiate headache by facilitating cooperative research projects across borders, promoting adequate education in headache, increasing interest in headache amongst new generations, increasing social awareness of headache, and working on international relations, giving visibility to young researchers and clinicians.
I have lived and trained in Europe, Israel and the United States, speaking six languages and with an understanding of different cultures. I believe that my international background and education will help bridge cultures, and give a new focus to research and health care systems.
Headache Clinical Unit, Neurology Department, Vall d'Hebron University Hospital; Headache Research Group, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Research, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
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