Ep. 172: Brain health ambassadors: bridging advocacy and action into neurology

00:00:00: Welcome to EANcast, your weekly source for education, research, and updates from the European Academy of Neurology.

00:00:15: Hello, everybody.

00:00:16: Welcome to the EANcast on Brenel Tambassador, Bridging Advocacy and Actions into Neurology.

00:00:23: I am Mattilde Leonardo, Neurologist from Italy and the Chair of the Communication Committee of the European Academy of Neurology.

00:00:30: And I'm really pleased to welcome all of you.

00:00:33: to this cast that today is run with two brain health ambassadors joining me.

00:00:39: One is Sanya Gusevich.

00:00:40: She's from Montenegro and Simone Salema.

00:00:44: We'll introduce them better while I give you the floor.

00:00:47: And today we're here to discuss together with you the advantages of becoming brain health ambassadors, as well as why it is good to increase the number of brain health ambassadors in Europe and worldwide.

00:01:01: The European Academy of Neurology believes that brain health, it is certainly one of the objectives that we should pursue for improving the health of people with neurological disorders, but also preventing neurological disorders and increasing the attention to neurology, its needs as well as to the forces of neurology.

00:01:20: And to do this, we need to really bring into everything that can help us to increase the attention on neurology.

00:01:27: And we do believe that the WHO

00:01:29: global

00:01:30: action plan on epilepsy and other neurological disorders released in twenty twenty two by the WTO has been helping us to find a sort of common agenda worldwide that in Europe through EAN we are pursuing that is increasing brain health of everybody so as to increase the neurological health of those who are affected by neurological diseases.

00:01:53: I'm working on the issue of brain health together with the European Academy of Neurology in the brain health mission.

00:02:00: that is a mission that has been put together with many stakeholders.

00:02:03: I'm also working with the Italian Society of Neurology in the Italian brain health strategy and they're being collaborating to increase awareness about brain health.

00:02:13: This is why we have been launching three years ago the brain health ambassador, the training on advocacy and brain health that is taking place and the registration are just open and we'll end up on the thirtieth of November for lucky neurologies from all over Europe that could join the course and could become ambassadors like the two prestigious guests that I'm going to introduce, giving them the floor and telling us to tell us about their journey in becoming a Brenelt ambassador.

00:02:46: And what does it mean for them to be the first ambassador?

00:02:51: And it is the ambassador of the first class.

00:02:53: We are now opening in for the third class, Sonja Luzavic.

00:02:57: She is a neurologist with interest in epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.

00:03:02: But for us, She is the stellar neurologist that is bringing brain health in our country.

00:03:08: And I want you, Sonia, to tell us more about your journey and what you're doing for brain health in Montenegro.

00:03:16: Thank you, Matilde.

00:03:18: Being a brain health ambassador is, for me, a big privilege and also a very important role.

00:03:25: Because as a brain health ambassador, especially in a small country like mine, you start from ground zero.

00:03:33: And since we are now all, I hope, in the era of talking about brain health, because as you nicely said, every third person in the world will have some kind of neurological disorder.

00:03:43: And protecting on brain health, it's way important than just talking, as we are taught in our medical schools, about only treating the disease.

00:03:55: Talking about brain health here was very interesting.

00:03:58: It was challenging.

00:03:59: What the ambassador program gave me.

00:04:03: First of all, having EAN in the background is very important.

00:04:08: On the other hand, the program gave us tools and the program also helped me develop communication skills that I used in TV appearances and in communication with my colleagues.

00:04:24: helped me launch our Montenegro and Brain Health School Challenge, which is now ongoing, and it's been a really interesting experience.

00:04:34: Can you please tell us more?

00:04:35: what is the Brain Health School Challenge that you're launching in Montenegro, which is an initiative that has been launched also in other countries, but maybe, Sunny, you can tell us more.

00:04:45: what is the Brain Health School Challenge and how you're doing it in Montenegro.

00:04:50: Yes, Tycho said we are the fifth country now that is implementing brain health school challenge.

00:04:55: So it's for all students of elementary and secondary school and the way how they see brain health and what they can do for the brain health.

00:05:03: So I used the program from EAN to implement it here in Montenegro.

00:05:09: And it took a lot of time and a lot of organization preparation, a lot of meetings with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, with principals.

00:05:19: of schools with children, with parents, because we had to explain what actually the challenge is and why it's essential for children to be involved in this program.

00:05:30: I had to tell the children and the ministries why is brain health so important, so the EAN Advocacy Program really gave me the knowledge, the skills to do that, and on the other hand, I had to put this thought of brain health into small brains and hopefully I put some seeds and I'm very anxious to see the results of this competition in my country.

00:05:54: We come back to you later.

00:05:55: I want to give a voice now to the second ambassador.

00:05:59: That is Simone Salem.

00:06:00: Simone Salem is a neurologist from Italy.

00:06:03: He's great interest in public health and dementia and all related to the public health aspect of this.

00:06:10: But he is a brain health ambassador in another manner.

00:06:12: And it is a social brain health ambassador.

00:06:15: And I would like Simone to tell us about your journey to become brain health ambassador and what you're doing.

00:06:22: I would like to start from the social perspective, because for me, brain health is a societal goal.

00:06:29: Scientifically, it refers to the optimal functioning of the brain across the life course, maintaining cognition, emotion, behavior, and social connection, but beyond biology.

00:06:40: Brain health also reflects the conditions that allow people to achieve and preserve that potential, so education, social participation, equitable access to care, health environments, and the absence of stigma.

00:06:52: And in this sense, brain health is more than preventing diseases.

00:06:57: It's about creating systems, cultures, community that protect the brain's capacity to adapt and learn and connect.

00:07:05: And this is where it starts my journey in terms of science communication, a field I'm deeply passionate about.

00:07:15: It could be said that I'm deeply interested in everything a physician can do beyond the walls of the hospital.

00:07:22: So the broader impact medicine can have in communities policies and public awareness.

00:07:27: And in that sense, I'm now active on LinkedIn, where I regularly share insights from key documents, events and initiatives related to the mainstream brain health.

00:07:42: And the EIN advocacy course, the force served as an add-on to this personal trajectory, offering structured and methodologically accurate tools to what I have been exploring independently.

00:07:59: The course presentations helped me organize my communication strategies more effectively, tailoring them to different audiences from the general population to the decision makers.

00:08:10: And now I think I'm more effective in doing these science communication activities.

00:08:19: So you've been both presenting opportunities, but you know, the advocacy and training was only adding.

00:08:26: that is an attitude that you had even before.

00:08:29: So I do believe that the European Academy of Neurology is just giving some nudging to people that are already committed to neurology and neurological patients because of course the course spans through four months and there are one encounter per month that is lasting several hours in which we have different backgrounds while we do the course.

00:08:51: We try to increase the communication strategy as it was mentioned.

00:08:55: We try to increase also the collaboration across sectors because we want

00:09:00: our

00:09:01: neurologists in Europe become able to speak to politicians, as Sanya said, but also to relate to patients association, to the civil society.

00:09:12: We do think that the role of neurology has to go beyond the borders.

00:09:16: We want to build a professional network.

00:09:19: We think that the brain health ambassadors are becoming a community within EAN that is supporting the president, Elena Moro, and also the board and the brain health mission in trying to go beyond the borders of being in hospital and dealing with diseases but really making the health of the brains of European citizens broader.

00:09:39: and also we try to strengthen the leadership role.

00:09:42: and it is My question to you, Sanya, how did you play the leadership of bringing into a country that didn't have Brennell before, the Brennell topic?

00:09:53: And I will do Simone the same question to you.

00:09:55: How do you introduce Brennell in places where there is no Brennell knowledge or awareness?

00:10:01: How do you speak with either colleagues or others?

00:10:03: So, Sanya.

00:10:05: Thank you, Matilda.

00:10:07: As you said, it is challenging, especially when you start from ground zero, but my colleagues, younger colleagues, especially, were aware of brain health through the EAN different programs, and they were very supportive.

00:10:19: But one thing is when you talk about brain health in your hospital, within your colleagues, within your peers, but it is completely different when you want to translate this brain health into public approach and to address it to the public.

00:10:33: So I use, of course, the power of social media.

00:10:36: So I was on several TV shows, national and regional.

00:10:41: It was very, very challenging, but the feedback I got was very positive because people got very interested and the survey that was done by one of the broadcasting companies prior to the show showed that people were actually absolutely the general population unaware of what is brain health.

00:10:58: It was similar to mental health and they did not know what actually brain health meant.

00:11:05: The show was launched.

00:11:07: It reached in less than twenty-four hours, fifteen hundred viewers.

00:11:11: So the question was just pouring in and people were really interested.

00:11:14: And one very fun fact was when the Brain Health School Challenge started and I was on the national TV.

00:11:20: And there was one parent that said, wow, this is amazing.

00:11:24: I want this for my children.

00:11:25: But what about the adults?

00:11:27: Do you have any kind of this program for adults?

00:11:30: Because it would be very helpful for us as parents to support our children in this way.

00:11:36: So it was challenging.

00:11:38: And all the things I think that we got from the program, the communication skills, the way how to present this, let's say, all the new topic.

00:11:46: I mean, brain health is not extra new, but it's new.

00:11:49: for everybody else, but neurologists.

00:11:52: So bringing neurology to the public and raising awareness is very important.

00:11:58: And I think that this program is really giving, as you said, the dedicated neurologists a chance to actually spread our love and our wish to help increase the awareness that we could have a lower number of really, really rising problems like dementia, like strokes.

00:12:18: So because the motto of brain health is that you start taking care of your brain health till the day you're born.

00:12:25: So children should start it and then we will have hopefully generations with lower numbers of strokes, of dementia, of epilepsy, traumatic brain injury and so on.

00:12:35: Sanya, let's remember how many neurologists you have and how big is your country.

00:12:39: just for our audience.

00:12:41: What is the population of Montenegro?

00:12:43: How many?

00:12:43: We are very small.

00:12:44: From the last census is six hundred twenty three thousand.

00:12:48: inhabitants and we have public and government hospital less than thirty five neurologists.

00:12:55: so it's challenging but I hope that we will increase the number of neurologists especially when I talk to this brain health mission among young neurologists because we are not all here only in hospital only to deal with the disease but also to promote and tell our patients what they can do on daily basis on brain health.

00:13:15: Thank you.

00:13:15: Now Simone, you're coming from a country of sixty million inhabitants and more than four thousand neurologists.

00:13:21: What is your experience and how can others can be inspired by your journey?

00:13:27: Well, we can start from what brain health is.

00:13:32: to me that I think is a new lever for creating dialogue, so a concept that allows different sectors, disciplines and communities to speak a shared language.

00:13:43: It provides a common ground where neurologists, policymakers, educators, citizens can connect around the same goal.

00:13:51: And when introducing brain health in context where the concept is not yet familiar and I think Italy is yet such a context because a lot has been done in terms of cardiovascular risk factors or diseases awareness, but when you link, for example, smoking and brain health, then it is an entirely new field.

00:14:17: So when introducing this new construct in this context, I start from what people already understand and experience.

00:14:25: And I try to frame it not as a new or abstract idea, but as a continuum that connects to everyday health, behaviors, emotional well-being.

00:14:35: and cognitive assumption.

00:14:37: And this is from the brain health perspective, from the communication perspective and the advocacy course really taught us about it.

00:14:48: You have to be really strategic, strategic design of activities tailored to specific audiences, finding the right tone, the right format, the right channel to make ideas and information circulate effectively beyond the usual academic circles.

00:15:06: because I believe that scientific progress should not only translate into improve the clinical practice, but also into awareness campaigns for the general population and update the health policies that reflect new evidence.

00:15:20: So in other words, Communication is not a by-product of research.

00:15:25: It is the mechanism for which an evidence-based ecosystem can evolve into an equitable and sustainable way, ensuring that advances in neurology truly reach and benefit society as a world.

00:15:40: Did you find resistance even between your colleagues to speak about Brenelta?

00:15:44: Because the university background is not... creating a generation of neurologists dealing with brain.

00:15:51: How is this seen Simone between your colleagues?

00:15:56: Well, in my experience, one barrier that deserves attention, particularly in this domain of science, communication, science for policy, public engagement is the challenge of securing the necessary support to participate, meaning fully relevant events.

00:16:14: And this ranges from the former recognition that the time you devote to such activities is an integral part of professional responsibilities.

00:16:25: And we can also open an entirely new chapter about curriculum, because these are activities you really invest on, but then in terms of what really stands out in your curriculum, maybe we are not yet at the level of a real recognition of what you're doing, but then also in terms of practical economic support that helps offset costs which might otherwise remain entirely personal because we don't talk only about national events, but maybe international events.

00:17:05: So, find the right balance in terms of time, economic resources being at the right event, at the right time, with the right persons.

00:17:16: Thank you very much.

00:17:17: Speaking about resources, I will say that we know that our president, Elena Moro, has been launching the idea of enhancing neurology.

00:17:26: And she has been doing this also presenting the idea that all the members of the European Academy of Neurology that I invite to become an active member, an associate member are available to use all the training developed by the European Academy.

00:17:42: So there is also the training.

00:17:44: of many areas.

00:17:46: And we are introducing the training on brain health, which I think is something that is adding on to the knowledge about neurological diseases that we already had.

00:17:54: We're adding the knowledge of how to communicate brain health.

00:17:58: First of all, what is brain health and how we can communicate it to politicians and stakeholders.

00:18:04: The other thing is was the question, do you need previous experience?

00:18:09: This is one of the questions that comes up.

00:18:12: Do you need previous experience to become Brenelt ambassadors?

00:18:15: I want to comment about these questions that you receive.

00:18:17: I mean, many of the colleagues around Europe, they're asking, I mean, I'm not connected with advocacy.

00:18:24: How can I use it?

00:18:26: So as it is not just a title that you put in your curriculum, but we want really people doing things for Brenelt.

00:18:34: Sanya and Simone, what do you think?

00:18:35: I mean, if somebody has no experience about advocacy, how can this course be of any... I

00:18:43: think that you have to have passion and that you have to have love and persistence.

00:18:48: I'm absolutely aware that.

00:18:51: Not all of us do have a prior experience and not of all of us are extroverts.

00:18:56: not all of us like the attention because you definitely get into the attention when you talk about brain health but all of that is covered on the program.

00:19:05: so you do have.

00:19:07: you do get know how in communication and You you should train and you should use it because just like you said Simone and me we are both ambassadors, but we are both doing things for brain health on different levels.

00:19:22: So if you're not good in, for example, communicating with stakeholders, maybe you're good in promoting brain health to public health so you can give speech or you can communicate with the patient's organizations.

00:19:36: Or if you're not good with patient's organization, then maybe you're better in stakeholder position.

00:19:41: So if you have the passion, the willingness to change something, I think that you can definitely find a way how to enhance your skills.

00:19:50: skills, because you're not born with talents.

00:19:52: Maybe the lucky ones are, but you learn throughout your life.

00:19:56: So that's why I said at the beginning, the love, the passion and the persistence, the perseverance, and you will achieve it.

00:20:03: That is how I see it.

00:20:06: Well, I think that not necessarily you have to have a previous experience.

00:20:12: The EAN Ambassador program is designed for early career neurologists, researchers, trainees who show motivation.

00:20:19: and potential rather than requiring extensive prior experience.

00:20:24: But I totally agree that becoming an ambassador shouldn't be seen as something that you simply add to a curriculum.

00:20:32: It's not a credential, but a commitment.

00:20:34: It's a path for those who genuinely feel the need to engage beyond their usual professional boundaries to connect science and people and to bring neurological knowledge into real life context.

00:20:47: not everyone necessarily needs to take this route.

00:20:50: And that's perfectly fine.

00:20:53: And EAN offers several alternative training pathways that may fit different goals better.

00:21:00: That said, I think that what matters for this particular program the most is having a clear interest in communication.

00:21:08: and in advocacy in engaging different audiences and also having initiatives.

00:21:15: So showing that you've already tried to engage with others, share knowledge, raise awareness, even on a small scale, local projects, online communication, or even teaching.

00:21:27: So I thank you both because you really showed what it is to be the voice of neurology, to speak about better neurological care for all those who can deserve it and they should have it.

00:21:40: and I really invite all those who want to be the voice of neurology and brain health to join the course but also to speak with our ambassadors that are available all over Europe.

00:21:51: Their presence is now in more than forty eight countries and I'm very proud about this because it is a community of neurologists within the largest European community of neurologists, that is the European Academy of Neurology.

00:22:04: We invite everybody, not only to be an associate member, because if you are a member of your national society, you are an associate member.

00:22:11: We have more than forty-four thousand associate members of the European Academy.

00:22:17: But we want you to become an active member of the European Academy of Neurology.

00:22:21: becoming a member of the certificate panels, becoming a member of those initiatives that can help neurology to go beyond the borders.

00:22:30: And the brain, it is important whether healthy or not, because brain health doesn't mean a brain without diseases.

00:22:37: It means a brain that is able to fulfill the highest possible goals, despite... having diseases.

00:22:44: So we are working for this and I think you had the opportunity to listen to two fantastic ambassadors.

00:22:49: Thank you, Sanya, for being with us.

00:22:52: Thank you, Simone, for being with us.

00:22:54: I really hope that your experience is taken by many others and that we show all the best as the best brain health ambassadors that EAN can proudly say.

00:23:01: we have been contributed to train in our work to increase brain health all over, starting from Europe.

00:23:08: Thank you very much both.

00:23:10: and see you soon.

00:23:11: Thank you.

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