Meeting Community Needs in Neurology: Insights from the Miami Neuroscience Symposium

Diego Torres-Russotto, MD

The 12th Annual Miami Neuroscience Symposium, held November 6-7th at Baptist Health, will allow neuroscience professionals to explore the most recent advancements in patient care, technology, and research. This symposium is an immersive educational event, led by experts who bring a wealth of knowledge through case studies, interactive sessions, and discussions on innovative therapies. With a curriculum designed to address the full spectrum of neuroscience—from emergency interventions to long-term rehabilitation—attendees will leave equipped with actionable insights for improved patient care.

In addition to learning new methodologies, this year’s symposium will focus on interdisciplinary collaboration, essential in managing complex neurological disorders. Sessions will delve into the latest diagnostic and therapeutic tools, address critical care and movement disorder management, and offer hands-on approaches to neurorehabilitation. It's an invaluable opportunity for healthcare professionals to network, exchange ideas, and refine their clinical skills for the future of neuroscience.

Prior to the meeting, Diego Torres-Russotto, MD, chair of neurology at Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute, discussed the planning process for the symposium, as well as the approach to delivering impactful information without overwhelming attendees. In addition, he highlighted the increasingly multidisciplinary nature of neurology, requiring collaboration across various specialties. Furthermore, he noted the significant strides made in emergency neurological care, with neurology becoming central to acute stroke care, epilepsy management, and other neurological emergencies.

NeurologyLive: What went into the process of deciding what needed to be covered at the Miami Neuroscience Symposium?

Diego Torres-Russotto, MD: We considered the needs of our community in terms of neurological disorders. Which diseases are common, important, and have therapeutic innovations that we need our physicians and providers to know.

How do you as a clinician balance teaching the right amount of information to students/attendees without overloading them too much?

We are very cognizant of the fact that a balance needs to happen. We do this in several ways. Start by ensuring the learning objectives are well-written and only include what matters. Then choose the right speaker and the appropriate content to be delivered. Lastly, we reduce the presentation time to the least amount possible, leading to the speakers having to prepare very succinct and useful presentations rather than long-winded philosophical discussions.

How has neurology become a more multidisciplinary specialty over the years?

Neurology relies on work as part of multidisciplinary teams due to the complexity of the care of our patients. We involve Psychiatry, PMR, Neurosurgery, Pain, PT, OT, Speech therapy, respiratory therapy, pulmonary, psychology, neuropsychology, neuroradiology, cardiology, primary care, ENT, and many more specialties that are critical to the team's success.

In what ways have the clinical community improved on the emergency management of neurological conditions?

In so many ways. Neurology is now in everyone's minds when it comes to stroke care. So much education has occurred in the community that time is brain and that any brain dysfunction should be considered a stroke and be taken care of, that neurology has appeared as a healthcare emergency key player. We also continue to make inroads into epilepsy management and the treatment of seizures. Lastly, many more neurological emergencies are presenting as headaches, bleeding, Guillain-Barré, and other acute neuropathies, etc. The field is growing to a point that now many neurologists (about 1 in 5) dedicate themselves exclusively to diseases of the nervous system that require acute inpatient care (such specialists are called neurohospitalists).