Clinicians are trained to treat patients, not to lead institutions. A reflection on the transition from practice to leadership, and on the skills medical education leaves out.

An honest account of training outside Jordan and returning to practice — the applications, the adjustment, what the experience gave, what it cost, and what she would tell a student considering the same path.

Roughly a third of patients with epilepsy do not respond to medication. This session sets out when to stop adding drugs, how to identify candidates for surgery, and what the current options genuinely offer.

Swallowing difficulty is among the most consequential and least examined complications in neurological disease. What has changed in assessment and management, and why is the condition so often identified late?

Stigma determines whether a patient presents at all, what they disclose, and whether they return. Where it originates, how it surfaces inside clinical settings, and what clinicians can realistically change.

Technical ability is only part of it. A consultant skull base and vascular neurosurgeon examines what separates a competent operator from a skilled one — judgement, preparation, knowing when not to operate, and the habits formed long before a trainee first scrubs in.

Rare cases test more than surgical skill. This keynote explores the challenges of neuro-oncology surgery, where diagnostic uncertainty, complex anatomy, and difficult decisions demand sound judgement, careful planning, and the ability to balance maximal tumor resection with preservation of neurological function.