The Development of TCNS

The Taiwan Child Neurology Society (TCNS) was commenced as being one subdivision of the Taiwan Neurological Society in 1985. Before the year, children with all kinds of neurological diseases were managed mostly by the general pediatricians with limited diagnostic tools and knowledge. An outstanding and knowledgeable person, Professor Yu-Zen Shen, the former president and the founder of the Child Neurology Society, dedicated himself to the field of pediatric neurology with several championship records, such as the first one to diagnose phenylketouria(PKU), the first one to set up the pediatric electroencephalography (EEG) laboratory. His great achievements and amiable attitude attracted numerous fellows to follow him. However, to extend the pediatric neurology field was like a seed deeply sowing in his mind. With the encouragement and supervision of Professor Fukuyama, the former president of the International Child Neurology Association (ICNA), and Professor Tsu-Pei Hung (the president of the 6th Asian and Oceanian Congress of Neurology, Tapei, Taiwan ), Professor Shen successfully initiated the first Asian and Oceanian Association of Child Neurology (1 st AOACN) and propelled monthly scientific meetings to gather pediatric neurologists, neurosurgeons and trainees to discuss interesting cases and share unique experiences. The meeting not only acted as a platform for all participants to bridge one another, but also ignite the sparkle of state-of-the-art knowledge in the pediatric neuroscience, which was instructive and comprehensive to all participants. The success of the conference and the meeting inspired him to generate the TCNS. The Taiwan Child Neurology Society was founded with an initial enrollment of 70 members on June 8, 1996.

 

Missions

Missions of the society are to 1. attend scientific activities, 2. meet foreign visitors, 3. communicate with fellow colleagues from other parts of the world and 4. share scientific information with other physicians, researchers, and organizations, and 5. to cultivate excellent pediatric neurologists. Therefore, certification by the Board of Child Neurology was established at the 1985 for more uniform and the highest standards for candidates. Pediatricians who passing certification have meant that they have the clinical judgment, skills and attitudes essential for the delivery of excellent patient care. 

Academic and Educational Activities

The General Assembly of TCNS is held once a year, usually in May or June. More than 300 child neurologists in Taiwan attend the meeting each year. It is a 2-day symposium, the program includes research presentations, plenary lectures, and invited lectures. We invited multiple outstanding foreign speakers each year. The subjects of these papers and lectures encompass almost every aspect of child neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, rehabilitation medicine, and related basic sciences such as molecular biology, genetics, neurophysiology, neuropathology, neuroimmunology, and neuropharmacology.

Educational lectures were given by experienced child neurologists for fellows and young child neurologist annually. The topics of educational lectures includes current diagnosis and treatment for neurologic and developmental disorders in children as well as updates in basic neuroscience. Case conferences were held monthly in northern, middle, and southern of Taiwan, sharing distinct or educational child neurology cases.

Publication of its official journal in Taiwanese, “Newsletter of The Taiwan Child Neurology Society”, began on the 30th of September, 1996. The website of the TCNS was set up on March 1, 1999.

Promotion on Child Development

TCNS has been involved in child development since it was founded. Organized series of special lectures in the field of child development each year. Start from 2020, TCNS set-up the child development membership and started the board certification of child development specialist. We also welcome psychiatrist, therapeutist, and any person involved in the care of children with development problems to join our academic and educational activities in the field of child development and join us as child-development members.

Participation in International Societies

TCNS had also hosted many international congresses in child neurology. In 2015, TCNS hosted the 13th Asia and Oceania Congress of Child Neurology (AOCCN) in Taipei. More than six-hundred participants from 34 countries and regions joined the meeting, including 190 participants from Taiwan, and 448 participants from Japan, Mainland China, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Australia, United States, and Malaysia. In 2016, TCNS hosted the 15th Asian Oceanian Myology Center (AOMC) Annual meeting at the Microelectronics and Information Research Center, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan(May 26-29, 2016). More than three-hundred participants from 22 countries or regions attended the meeting, including participants from Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, United States, Australia, India, Singapore, Germany, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Mongolia, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Myanmar, Canada, Finland, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Russia.

In 2021, The International Symposium on Genetic Role of Neurometabolic Diseases with Infantile Epilepsy (ISGNIE 2021) and the 22nd Annual Meeting of Infantile Seizure Society, which will be hosted by TCNS on October 22 to 24, 2021 at the Taipei International Convention Center, Taiwan.

Goals and Vision

TCNS is not only a membership society, but also a pediatric neurolgists-led, non-profit, independent evaluation organization. Our accountability is both to the profession of medicine and to the public.