HISTORY | Pins

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Pakistan International Neuroscience Society: A brief history
The beginnings:
The first neurologist to complete their training and to practice in North America, to our knowledge, Professor Ali H Rajput come to Chicago in 1960 and completed his neurology fellowship in 1966. He moved to the University of Saskatchewan, Canada and eventually retired as distinguish professor and divisional chief of Neurology. He trained in movement disorders and epidemiology and is one of the leading senior experts to study the natural history of Parkinson’s disease.
Professor Teepu Siddique finished his training at the NIH and joined thefaculty at Duke University in 1981. His interest continues to be in the molecular genetics of neuromuscular disease, specifically ALS. Professor Masud Seyal finished his training, also at the NIH in electrophysiology, joined the University of California at Davis in 1982 and he continues to practice there.
Professor Asma Fisher (Teepu’s younger sister) trained as a pediatric neurologist at Wake Forrest and moved to Augusta in 1983.
Dr Dilwar Abbas moved to USA in the early 1980’s and after completing his residency, settled in Kansas where he continued to practice until recently.
Professor Ashfaq Shuaib completed his training in Cerebrovascular diseases in 1988 from Duke Univeristy and moved to Canada and recently stepped down as the Director of Neurology. He continues his research and practice as a stroke neurologist. We can add to the list two prominent neurosurgeons who have also over the years contributed to assisting Pakistani physicians in North America. Professor Ayoub Ommaya, a world renowned neurosurgeon is best known for inventing the “Ommaya reservoir” still used widely for brain tumor treatment and Dr Ghaus M Malik, who practices neurosurgery in Detroit and has helped a large number of Pakistani neurosurgical trainees over the years.
Five of us adult neurologists (Rajput, Siddique, Seyal, Abbas and Shuaib) first met for dinner at the American Academy of Neurology meeting in New York in 1987. The idea of a neurology society and the name Pakistan International Neuroscience Society (PINS) was the brainchild of and proposed by Professor Teepu Siddique. It took another 4 years for the first meeting to be held in Karachi at the Post Graduate Institute of Pakistan in 1991.

Growth over the years and educational activities
The meeting in Karachi was an important event. This was a combined meeting of the PINS members and local Pakistani neurologists. Professors Akhtar Ahmed and Hasan Aziz were our local hosts and we were first introduced to Drs Arsalan Ahmed at the meeting. He became a
prominent neurologist and very active member of PSN There was a palpable excitement amongst the attendees at bringing together for the first time such a large group of neurologists/trainees. Following the initial meeting in Pakistan, there were regular attempts to meet at the ANN annual conferences. Drs. Ismail Khatri and Zahid Cheema were very active in setting these dinner meetings mostly arranged and registered with AAN as affiliate meeting. Many of you will remember with fond memories of Dr. Ismail Khatri holding signs to encourage fellow Pakistani neurologists to the meeting room. The dinners were informal affairs and were a very welcome diversion from the busy activities of the conference.
Over the years PINS has been involved in annual meetings in Pakistan and together with the Pakistan Society of Neurology (PSN) and Pakistan Stroke Society (PSS) hosting annual PINS winter neuroscience meetings in Pakistan. Individual members of PINS have also welcomed young Pakistani physicians into their research laboratories and hospitals for observerships, electives and fellowships. The valuable contributions from PINS members have been very helpful for many of the trainees to obtain residency and fellowship positions in North America. As the number of Pakistani neurologists began to increase in North America over years, we
noticed an increase in the number of neurologists attending the dinner meetings.
First large and formal meeting of PINS was on side line of AAN in April 1999 Toronto Canada attended by Dr. Ashfaq Shuaib, Tippue Siddique, Mohammad Wasay and Zahid Cheema. There were meeting arranged and attended from 2000 to 2018 with exception of few years. Most of these meetings were arranged, registered with space and venues at AAN annual
meeting on personal initiative and expenses, One of the meeting in those meeting was in 2007 attneded by 40+ Neurologist. In early 2018 PINS Core Committee was established consisting of Zahid Cheema, Anwar Ul Haq,
Mohammad Yasin, Saud Khan, Shahid Rafiq, Danish Bhatti, Adil Malik and Ismail Khatri. This Committee had regular virtual meeting led the efforst to create charter and bylaws. PINS 2019 Meeting was in Philadelphia at AAN and was well organized and well attended. Outline of the charter and bylaws were approved and it was incorported in Oklahoma as PINS North America Association. As non profit entity bank account was established iin 2017. To encourage active participation of the neurologists, and to allow for the junior members to get familiar with the research of their senior colleagues, it was proposed that the formal meeting include presentations by more senior members. The PINS meeting agenda was circulated in advance, the date and time posted in the ANN calendar of events of the meeting and the name of the speaker and topic included in the announcements. Several members, including Drs Teepu Siddiqui, Ashfaq Shuaib, and Adnan Qureshi presented at these meetings. Dr Danesh Bhatti was very helpful with these new endevors. With the establishment of the bank account and tax exemption status established, Pakistani neurologists practicing in North America were encouraged to become active paid members. The annual membership fees were minimal (US$ 100 per year). The number of active members however very small in the initial formative years Professor Teepu Siddiqui led PINS as its president. This was followed by Ashfaq Shuaib and Drs. Cheema and Khatri remained very active with PINS annual meetings. There initial appointments were informal without elections. Election and Nomination consisting of Anwar ul Haq, Mohammad Yasin and Ismail Khatri held
the first elections were held in late 2020 and the paid membership elected the first PINS board which took the office in January 2021.The elected board members included, Dr Danish Bhatti (president), Tariq Jawaid (secretory) and Taimoor Khan (treasurer). The PINS Executive board had regular meetings and was involved in arranging the annual meeting of PINS at the AAN conferences.
Current Election Committee consisting of Anwar ul Haq, Mohammad Yasin and Zahid Cheema held 2 nd election in early 2023 consisting of the current board earlier this 2023. This tradition of elections every two years will, we hope, bring fresh members into the executive of PINS, expand active membership and improve the Society’s contribution to building Pakistani neuroscience capacity in North America.

Future

We estimate that there are in excess of 600 neurologists of Pakistani-decent in North Americain private practices and academic institutions. Pakistani neurologists excel in multiple sub-specialties and many are world leaders in their sub-specialties. We have tremendous potential
within us together to impact our presence within ourselves and in the larger medical society in North America and in Pakistan. As we look to the future, we will need to expand our active membership base and plan to have more active collaborations in multiple important endeavors.
The creation of a registry of memberships that include the member’s affiliation, area of expertise and location of practice is an important new initiative. We will also need to create an active list of members who are able to and willing to offer observerships, clinical electives and research positions to new physicians interested in coming to North America to start their carriers in Neurology. These initiatives can be easily created with very little efforts.
The AAN meeting is an important venue to hold our annual meetings. These meeting require structure, active planning and most importantly a wider participation from our membership. The activity and work of PINS however should not be restricted to meeting once a year but to
plan more frequent meetings that may some day be a platform for philanthropy, educational programs and research collaboration.

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