The Guest Editors of this issue of Seminars in Neurology are Drs. Sarah Wahlster and Aaron Berkowitz.

Dr. Sarah Wahlster is Associate Professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery (adj), and Anesthesiology (adjunct) at the University of Washington, Seattle. She is the founding fellowship director and section head for Neurocritical Care. She works as a neurointensivist and clinician educator at Harborview Medical Center, where she serves as the medical staff president (as of July 2024). Dr. Wahlster obtained her medical degree at the Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg, Germany, and completed her neurology residency in the Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital (MGH/BWH) Partners Neurology Program, where she served as chief resident. She then completed a neurocritical care fellowship at the MGH/BWH Partners program before joining the faculty at the University of Washington. Her academic interests include mechanical ventilation in acute brain injury, long-term outcomes of patients and their families after severe acute brain injury, neurological care in resource-limited settings, and medical education. She currently chairs the Neurocritical Care Society Fellowship Director Section. She has collaborated with clinicians in Peru, Ethiopia, Bhutan, Ecuador, Nigeria, and Uganda to build educational material for resource-limited settings. She has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles, and several book chapters, including for Pocket Medicine and Pocket Primary Care.

Dr. Aaron Berkowitz is Professor of Clinical Neurology at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) where he serves as a neurohospitalist, general neurologist, and clinician educator at the San Francisco Veterans Administration and San Francisco General Hospital. He previously served as director of global neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, where he designed and directed the clinical neuroanatomy/neuroscience course for first year medical students. He completed medical school at Johns Hopkins and neurology residency in the MGH/BWH Partners Neurology Program, where he served as chief resident. As Health and Policy Advisor to Partners In Health, Senior Specialist Consultant to Doctors Without Borders, and prior Chair of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Global Health Section and prior Co-Chair of the American Neurological Association Global Health Section, he has worked tirelessly to improve access to neurologic care and education worldwide. This work has been recognized by the Mridha Humanitarian Award from the American Brain Foundation in 2018 and the Viste Patient Advocate of the Year Award from the AAN in 2019. His work as a neurology educator has been recognized by the Residency Teacher of the Year Award from the Harvard Neurology Residency program in both 2018 and 2019, the O'Hara Excellence in Preclinical Teaching award from Harvard Medical School in 2016, appointment to the editorial boards of Continuum and Practical Neurology, and frequent invitations to discuss neurology cases on the popular Clinical Problem Solvers podcast. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles, several book chapters including the neurology chapter for the Oxford Manual of Humanitarian Medicine, and four books including the neurology textbook Clinical Neurology and Neuroanatomy: A Localization-Based Approach and One by One by One: Making a Small Difference Amid a Billion Problems about his work caring for patients with brain tumors in rural Haiti.

We greatly appreciate the efforts of Drs. Wahlster and Berkowitz, as well as all of the contributing authors, for their wonderful work in this special issue of Seminars in Neurology. We have not put forth an issue like this before, committed to underserved and marginalized populations, and one could argue that this is long overdue. I wish to personally thank Sarah and Aaron for their dedication to this issue, bringing attention to the worldwide perspective on neurological health and illness, and the very real, unique challenges underserved and marginalized populations face. We hope you enjoy this amazing and insightful issue!

Article published online:
17 April 2024

© 2024. Thieme. All rights reserved.

Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.
333 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA