Letter of Invitation

Dear Colleagues

            It is with great pleasure that we announce the organization of the 7th International Congress for the Amelioration of the Quality of Life in Chronic Neurological Diseases.

            This time the Congress is going to be held in Thessaloniki, a Hellenistic “queen” which was founded by Kassandros, the brother in low of Alexander the Great and named after his sister Thessaloniki.

            The prosperous city from the very beginning irradiated the Hellenistic culture and civilization in the entire Mediterranean World and after six centuries, as second city after Constantinople she was continuously spreading the unique Byzantine civilization all over Europe, Russia and China. Saint Demetrius, the patron of the city, sanctified the city by his martyrdom during the Diocletian persecutions and Saints Cyril and Methodios have preached and proclaimed the Love of God in Bohemia and Moravia, translated the Gospel in Slavonic languages,  offering the Cyrillic alphabet in Eastern Europe, enriching the languages with thousands of theological and philosophical terms.  

            We have therefore the great honour and the real pleasure to invite you in the 7th Congress of the International Society, which is going to be held from 29th of January to 1st of February 2009.

            The 7th Congress following the tradition of previous ones is organized in order to focus attention on chronic neurological diseases and neurodegenerative disorders, while  raising  strong  scientific,  ethical  and  social awareness of these disorders in parallel with enhancing communication amongst clinical neurologists and scientific workers in this field. 

According to the philosophy of our society a special effort has been produced in order to promote young neuroscientists to participate in the congress submitting their papers as well as their enthusiasm, visions and expectations. 

            Based on the great success of the previous Congresses, which have been held in Constantinople, Vienna, Alexandria (Egypt), Odessa (Ukraine) and Catania (Sicily) and Marseille (France), places where ancient Greeks were established, founding prosperous colonies since 7th century BC, we are very pleased to welcome you this time in the capital of the Hellenistic World and the second city of the Byzantine Era, which associated harmoniously the Aristotelian Philosophy with the Orthodox spirituality and the tremendous patristic  and  hesychastic experience of the Orthodox mysticism with the most fine art of the icons and the mosaics and the elevating Byzantine music and chants, which have been  creating from ages the city’s celestial atmosphere.

Stavros J.Baloyannis MD, PhD

Professor of Neurology

Congress President