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Medical Neuroscience at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) 2023 Washington DC, USA

Before the annual meting

I was invited by prof. White to attend the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in 2023 (SfN2023). Flying from Netherlands to the United States to attend a conference opens the possibility to add a vacation in the States to the trip.

Before the conference I and my husband Hans had a wonderful trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains. We had a great time. Highlights were: the beautiful fall colours, the Foxfire Museum, the Cumberland Gap, the impressive Appalachian Mountains and the kind and above all the friendly people we met.

The annual meeting SfN2023

Meeting Venue SfN2023

About 25,000 people attended the meeting from November 11th until November 16th in Washington DC. As a result Hotels are fully booked and so are restaurants.  Therefore you have to make reservations well in advance. Attendees were everywhere. For example: Travelling back to the Netherlands in the subway to Dulles airport, a fellow traveller asked Ellen if she had been to the conference (she seemed familiar, which seems peculiar when there are so many visitors). He had been to the meeting, had presented a poster, and was full of it. On the plane to the Netherland there were quite some poster tubes around. Ellen asked two of their carriers to which meeting they had been; it was SfN2023.

SfN meetings are the largest events for neuroscientists in the world. There are Poster Sessions, Nano-, Mini-symposia and Symposia among other events like Clinical Roundtable meetings, Socials, Professional Development Workshops, and much more. Continue reading “Medical Neuroscience at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) 2023 Washington DC, USA”

Medical Neuroscience: 10th anniversary. The course continues to inspire

The start

Medical Neuroscience starts in 2013. The first time professor White ran the course was in 2013, so our course is celebration its 10th anniversary.  As course on the brain, full of valuable information, images and resources  Medical Neuroscience  has started to inspire many.

Professor White created the course to share the medical neuroscience and clinical neuroanatomy that is taught in most medical schools around the world. Duke University commemorates this achievement in an article in the online news service, Duke Today: “A Decade of Global Reach, From Len White’s Backyard“.

Continue reading “Medical Neuroscience: 10th anniversary. The course continues to inspire”

www.medicaleuroscience.nl at SfN2021

Visiting the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience 2021

Ellen has a track record of representing www.learnmedicalneuroscience.nl at annual meetings of the Society for Neuroscience.

At SfN2017 prof. White presented a poster on MOOCs for Medical Education for which Ellen was co-author (see Medical Neuroscience on the annual meeting Society for Neuroscience 2017)

At SfN2019 Ellen participated in the annual meeting again (see: Visiting the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience 2019)

In 2020 we prepared  a poster for presentation at SfN2020 in Washington D.C. ( see: Website for distance learning in Neuroscience). We were not able to present the poster as the meeting was canceled due to the developing pandemic of COVID-19.

Continue reading “www.medicaleuroscience.nl at SfN2021”

Prof. White receives a national Distinguished Teaching Award

AAMC Awards – Leonard White, PhD from AAMC on Vimeo.

National Distinguished Teaching Award

Professor White has received numerous teaching awards by Duke University. See for example: Prof. White wins Duke University teaching award again.

This time he receives a national teaching award. The national Distinguished Teaching Award by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), the 2021 Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award. With this award (only received by 4 individuals each year) the AAMC draws the attention to outstanding contributions to medical education made by gifted teachers (2021 Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award See their press release

The learning community of our MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) ‘Medical Neuroscience’ really benefits from Prof. White’s educational skills and the effort he takes to facilitate learning neuroscience for students outside the academia. The AAMC recognizes this and on their press release we read:

..” White created and teaches “Medical Neuroscience,” a medical school-caliber online course that has been experienced by over 500,000 learners from more than 190 countries since it began in 2013. The course was named one of the “Top 50 Free Online Courses of All Time” by Class Central….

Prof. White during a hangout session with learners ‘Medical Neuroscience

Continue reading “Prof. White receives a national Distinguished Teaching Award”

New Mentor for Medical Neuroscience

New Mentor for Medical Neuroscience: Giulia Petitto

by Ellen Vos and prof. White

Our Mentor team has been enriched with a new member: Giulia Petitto. We are delighted to introduce you to Giulia and welcome her to our team.

Piocture of Skype Len. Giulia and Ellen
Prof. White, Giulia and Ellen at a recent Skype meeting

Giulia  studies Psychology at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (online at the moment).  As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic she currently resides in Venezuela, where she was raised.

Giulia’s Notebook

Giulia took the course Medical Neuroscience (Coursera) in 2019-2020 . To support her own learning she kept detailed hand-written notes and illustrations (pictured below). She  used these notes to study for a neuroscience exam at her current University. She found her notes so useful that she decided to share them with other learners in Medical Neuroscience. Continue reading “New Mentor for Medical Neuroscience”

Website for distance learning in Neuroscience

Tool for distance learning : www.learnmedicalneuroscience.nl

Distance learning  is happening all over the world at the moment.  Many people are studying neuroscience online, perhaps for the first time. Our website is a valuable tool for learning neuroscience when distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This website was designed to support learning the MOOC Medical Neuroscience. However, it can also serve very well students in many other neuroscience or neurology classes.

Pandemic permitting, we (Ellen and prof. White) are going to present a poster focusing on the website www.learnmedicalneuroscience.nl at the 2020 Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience that is planned in Washington October 24-28.

In this poster we are showing the wealth of resources on the site and the way the website can support distance learning. Below is an early draft of our poster.

Draft poster www.learnmedicalneuroscience.nl for SfN2020

Continue reading “Website for distance learning in Neuroscience”

Covid 19 : Free access to Sylvius.

Oxford University Press gives free access to books and journals during the COVID-19 pandemic- (offer has expired)

Oxford University Press (OUP) made all resources on SARS-CoV-2, the new corona virus causing COVID-19, freely accessible to all working to address the pandemic.
Many universities around the world have moved all courses online because of COVID-19. To help students who may be displaced from their books, OUP is giving free access to books and other educational material to support distance learning. This includes Professor White’s textbook, Neuroscience, Sixth Edition. Continue reading “Covid 19 : Free access to Sylvius.”

Visiting the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience 2019

Annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience 2019 in Chicago

Around 30,000 neuroscientists, clinicians, and advocates came together in Chicago October 19–23th 2019 for the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. The meeting is massive! There are poster sessions, symposia and mini symposia, workshops, clinical roundtable meetings, social events and special-interest meetings. It is the largest gathering of neuroscientists in the world. It is likely the largest annual gathering of scientists of any discipline. And Prof. White and Ellen Vos-Wisse were present!

Continue reading “Visiting the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience 2019”

Prof. Len White receives two awards from Duke University

2019: Two awards from Duke University’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences for prof. White

Prof. White receives two awards for of his outstanding contributions in undergraduate (baccalaureate) education:

  • 2018-2019 Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award (ADUTA)
  • 2018-2019 Excellence in the Assessment of Undergraduate Education

Continue reading “Prof. Len White receives two awards from Duke University”

Medical Neuroscience in the 2018 edition of Class Central’s Top 50 MOOCs of All Time

Class Central’s Top 50 MOOCs of All Time

There are close to 10.000+ MOOCs from 800 universities around the world. Class Central is a website with an overview of MOOCs and reviews by learners that have taken courses.

Because the number of MOOCs offered is overwhelming Class Central has made  a list of Top 50 MOOCs of All Time . It made the list for the first time in July of 2016 and refreshed it again last year. The list can help potential learners to find a good online course . Thousands of reviews written by Class Central users form the foundation of that ranking. Continue reading “Medical Neuroscience in the 2018 edition of Class Central’s Top 50 MOOCs of All Time”