An article published recently in Cephalalgia Reports by Laura Schulte and colleagues notes that analysis of the 'Game of Thrones' series reveals that some characters survive head trauma. Read more here

IHS is pleased to announce the 2019 Trustee election results

President-elect: Cristina Tassorelli (Italy)

Trustees: Fayyaz Ahmed (UK), Gianluca Coppola (Italy), Alexandra Sinclair (UK)

Congratulations to the successful nominees, and thanks to the other candidates for standing.

There was a 47.5% turnout so thank you also to all IHS members who voted.

On July 22, the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) is partnering with the International Headache Society (IHS) to support the highly anticipated 5^th Annual World Brain Day. This year, World Brain Day is dedicated to raising awareness for the most common brain disease in the world—migraine. Through this initiative, we are working alongside more than 120 organisations worldwide, to stop the stigma and build awareness around migraine.

Migraine is More than Just a Headache

Migraine affects one in seven people and, together with other headache disorders, is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide," explained Prof. Tissa Wijeratne, World Brain Day Chair.

"Lack of research support for and publications in the field of migraine from low to middle-income countries is disappointing and alarming. This is where nearly two-thirds of the world's population live. The situation in high-income countries is still in tremendous need of progress."

Despite its pervasive impact, migraine continues to be vastly under-recognised, underdiagnosed and under-treated. Due to a lack of education in headache medicine, it's not uncommon for health care providers to lack the tools necessary to diagnose and effectively treat patients. As a result, the majority of sufferers are not receiving the help they need.

"Migraine receives less research funding than all of the world's most burdensome diseases," said Prof. Wolfgang Grisold, the WFN's Secretary-General. "Driving awareness will help the scientific community to more effectively advocate on behalf of this vast population of patients in need."

Migraine is a disabling neurological disease. It is characterised by severe head pain, cognitive impairment, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, vertigo, and sensitivity to light, sound, and touch. It is also highly associated with other diseases such as stroke, heart disease, epilepsy, depression, chronic pain, among others. In order to help patients find relief and improve their quality of life, early diagnosis and access to effective treatment are vital.

"Providing patients with appropriate, evidence-based care would dramatically move the needle on the global burden of migraine," says Wijeratne. "There is a need for improved standards of care so that all can access safe treatment regardless of financial situation, gender, culture or location."

The Painful Truth About Migraine

The key to driving improvements in migraine care is spreading awareness. This year, World Brain Day is taking to social media to ask people all over the world to share their Painful Truth about migraine using the hashtags #worldbrainday and #thepainfultruth.

Throughout June and July, we are asking patients from around the world to share 'The Painful Truth' about migraine on social media. By encouraging people to speak up, we hope to elevate the patient voice and bring visibility to an invisible illness.

Patients, health care professionals, advocates and caregivers are all encouraged to also attend the World Brain Day webinar that will take place on in July to share more information about migraine. During the 60-minute presentation, key migraine experts from around the world will offer vital insights on the disease, as well as outline a strategy to raise the bar on patient care regardless of age, gender, culture or location.

Partnering to Influence Change

To help ensure that this is one of the most impactful World Brain Days to date, WFN is partnering with national neurology associations, leading migraine and headache organisations around the world to share the message.

"The concerted actions of professionals and patient advocacy will help in providing the best therapies available to the many," says International Headache Society President Lars Edvinsson. "There is a new class of effective and specific prophylactic medications directed toward the CGRP system that are already on the market and showing good responses. With further novel specific therapies on the way, the time to make a difference is right now."

Additionally, World Brain Day will be broadly promoted alongside the American Migraine Foundation (AMF) in a prominent ad displayed in New York's Times Square during Migraine and Headache Awareness Month in June.

"Nearly 380,000 pedestrians enter Times Square daily, hailing from all corners of the world," said David Dodick, MD, Professor of Neurology at Mayo Clinic, Chair of the American Migraine Foundation and Immediate Past-President of the International Headache Society. "There is no better place to spread the word about a disease that knows no borders than one of the world's most international locations."

The annual World Brain Day takes place on July 22 and is devoted to a different topic each year. The choice of date was no coincidence: the WFN was founded on July 22, 1957. It's only fitting that WFN recognises its 62nd year of action by focusing its efforts on fighting a problem as pervasive and debilitating as migraine.

"It's imperative that the world understands the physical pain and societal impact of migraine," said WFN President Prof. William Carroll. "The World Federation of Neurology stands beside the more than one billion people living with migraine."

Guidelines for controlled trials of preventive treatment of migraine in children and adolescents, 1st edition, is now published in Cephalalgia and freely available

The Migraine Research Foundation (MRF) and the Association of Migraine Disorders (AMD) announce the opening of a joint Request for Proposals for migraine research grants. MRF is committed to discovering the causes of migraine disease and improving its treatments, and AMD has a particular interest in better understanding migraine variants. We are looking for projects that will help sufferers by advancing our ability to understand and treat migraine. As a result, we provide seed money grants for basic and clinical projects that will lead to better treatment and quality of life for sufferers of migraine disorders.

More information in the attachment!

Deadline for applications: 2 August 2019

The 3rd headache conference of the Middle EASt and North Africa (MENA) region was held in October 2018 in Cairo, Egypt. The conference was also named the second African headache conference and the first Egyptian Headache conference, to encourage local and regional events in the headache field. The conference was under the auspices of the International Headache Society. Professor Ramez Reda Moustafa reports,

The IHS Guidelines for controlled trials of acute treatment of migraine attacks in adults, 4th edition is now published in Cephalagia - online first doi.org/10.1177/0333102419828967

See the publication and all IHS Guidelines and the ICHD in the Guidelines section of the website

A collaborative group of clinicians and researchers from the IWK Health Centre and Dalhousie University are testing two free online programs designed to help individuals better understand and cope with headaches! They are seeking participants with headaches or migraines, who are 14 to 40 years of age, and who have a smartphone. Participants can take part from home or on the go, they are recruiting worldwide, and participants will be compensated for time and effort in the study. Please visit https://mywhi.ca for more information and share this information with your young patients.

It is with great sadness I inform you Jim Lance passed away peacefully on 20 February 2019 surrounded by his family. His contribution to headache medicine in particular is a legacy of his great life, experienced to the full. The Western Health- University of Melbourne- Latrobe University Annual Lance Goadsby Symposium and Oration named in his honour since 2018 ( http://www.westernhealth.org.au/AboutUs/News/Pages/Migraine_Annual_Symposium_2018.aspx) will continue to remind us of his great joy encouraging young people into research and headache medicine .
Professor James Waldo (Jim) Lance was born in Wollongong in 1926. He completed his medical degree at the University of Sydney in 1950 and began his clinical work as a resident medical officer at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (1950-51). Cutting his residency short, Professor Lance took up a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) fellowship at the University of Sydney (1952-53) to work towards his Doctor of Medicine (MD, awarded 1955). In 1954 he travelled to London, England to train as a neurologist and accepted a position as assistant house physician at the National Hospital in Queen Square. Upon his return to Australia Professor Lance combined teaching and clinical practice with appointments as tutor at St Paul’s College (1956-60), visiting lecturer at the University of Sydney (1956-62), superintendent at the Northcott Neurological Centre (1956-57) and honorary assistant physician at Sydney Hospital (1956-61) and St Luke’s Hospital (1957-61).
In 1960 Professor Lance once again left Australia to follow his passion for research work at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He returned to Australia as the founder of the Department of Neurology in the newly established medical school at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He remained at UNSW throughout his professional career starting as senior lecturer (1961-63), then Associate Professor (1964-74), Professor of Neurology – Personal Chair (1975-92) and most recently as Emeritus Professor. Concurrent with his research, Professor Lance continued his clinical practice at the Prince Henry and Prince of Wales Hospitals where he was Chairman of the Department of Neurology (1961-92) and foundation Director of the Institute of Neurological Sciences (INS, 1990-91)
He was former President of the Australian Association of Neurologists and the International Headache Society (1987-1989), and in 2015 was awarded an IHS Special Recognition Award.
His funeral will be held at St Michaels Church Vaucluse on Monday 25 February at 2.00pm
Professor Tissa Wijeratne
Course Director
Annual Lance-Goadsby Symposium and Oration

The Spanish translation of the ICHD-3 is now available in the Guidelines section of the website.

Headache Update 2018 was held in Mumbai, India, in December.

The Objective of the Meeting was to cover the recent advances in ‘Headache Medicine’. The event was largely case-based and included a special session on ‘Controversies in Headache’. Local and international faculty including IHS present and past leaders presented a variety of topics to the 300 attending delegates.

Dr Ravishankar's report including photos from the meeting can be found below.