The concept of the EPNS Visiting Teacher initiative:  A volunteer professor / senior/ distinguished member of the EPNS, who is a recognised expert in a certain field, visits a nominated host centre in a country in Europe which is classified by the World Bank per capita income group 1, 2 or 3 for a short stay of intense teaching. This should be a new collaboration, and the scheme does not apply to programmes which have already been established. Travel and stay will be supported by EPNS. It may be considered that these visits will take place annually thereafter, if the first visit proves to be a success. Future visits will not be funded by the EPNS, and the local centre should establish a sustainable source of funding for the future.

1 EPNS Visiting Teacher was awarded for 2022:

Kazakhstan: Professor Rudy Van Coster from Belgium visited two cities in Kazakhstan: Nursultan on 19-29 May 2022 and Almaty on 24 May 2022.

We are delighted to share this report about the visit from Dr Raushan Kenzhegulova

Dr. Rudy van Coster, came from Belgium. He is a high-class specialist. He gave 4 excellent, comprehensive lectures in Nursultan and 1 lecture in Almaty. Dr. Rudy consulted 5 children with severe forms of neurological diseases. He gave the direction in which we should go in order to examine patients and make a diagnosis. During the classes, clinical cases of patients, children with neurometabolic diseases were discussed. There were 116 registered participants in the city of Nursultan, of which 50 became new members of the EPNS. About 40 doctors were present in the city of Almaty. Dr. Rudy emphasized the genetic testing of children with severe neurometabolic and epileptic diseases. Unfortunately, we still have difficulties in molecular genetic diagnostics in Kazakhstan. Therefore, Dr. Rudy’s lecture on clinical manifestations and instrumental methods of examining curable metabolic diseases was the most valuable. The event was held in the city children’s hospital of the city of Nursultan and the city of Almaty. The management of both hospitals, as well as the head of the department Zaira Tynybayeva, the head of the department Lepesova Marzhan, the head physician of the hospital Gulnara Erezheevna helped to carry out the event

Dr Raushan Kenzhegulova from Kazakhstan