Serono Symposia International Foundation 2012 Award

ROME, May 28, 2011 -

- In Partnership With the European Neurological Society ( ENS ) SSIF
Announces the Establishment of a Prestigious Award to Recognize and Reward
Excellence in Medical Education

Serono Symposia International Foundation (SSIF) has announced
today a public competition for an Award to recognise an expert in the field
of neurology who has made a significant contribution to medical education
activities through research and dedication. This prestigious Award is
established in partnership with the European Neurological Society and has
been announced today during the ENS meeting held in Lisbon, Portugal.

(Photo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100629/397361 )

The criteria for the candidates' application cover a wide
range of skills and attributes that SSIF is looking for in a potential winner
of the award. The Award Committee composed by SSIF Scientific Committee and
Board of Directors Members and ENS Members, will assess the professional
dedication and leadership to continuing medical education.

"The challenge of medical education, today, is to manage to
follow the outstanding advances in the field of neurological sciences - said
Professor Giancarlo Comi, President of the Scientific Committee of SSIF - and
I am particularly glad to welcome this prestigious initiative by SSIF that
highlights the crucial value of medical education for the entire healthcare
professional's field."

The application criteria for the award will include physicians
and scientists from 35 to 50 years old working in the field of degenerative
dementias, multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative disease entailing movement
disorders and/or parkinson's disease. The ideal candidate will have five or
more years of medical educational services at educational live events as
scientific organizer, speaker or tutor and/or an academic course teaching
experience as lecturer or professor. Besides this, the ideal candidate will
be author to 10 best papers published in the last 10 years, authorship of
books or book chapters or best book papers in the last 10 years and/or
authorship of online courses in the last 5 years.

Applications are open for submission from May 28th to December
31st, 2011 and the winner, announced during the ENS Meeting in 2012, besides
receiving a 10.000 euro value award, will become a Member of the SSIF
Advisory Committee.

Candidates must register and submit their application and
documentation on the dedicated web site www.ssifaward.org, no later
than December 31st 2011.

"Our future health depends on today's medical experts' minds
and Medical education has never been more important than today - said Jean
Daniel Baki, Secretary to the Board of Directors of SSIF - and the SSIF award
highlights the importance of medical education and recognizes those who are
contributing to broaden tomorrow's scientific horizons. This award aims to
provide a greater opportunity to share thoughts and opinions in a stimulating
environment within the neurology community."

Serono Symposia International Foundation is a non-profit
organization based in Geneva. It was founded with the intention of
disseminating the most innovative achievements and potential developments of
medical and scientific research through conferences, training courses, online
courses and publications. In particular, it provides Continuing Medical
Education for doctors and healthcare professionals by organizing high-level
scientific programs. Over the past four decades Serono Symposia International
Foundation has organized more than 1500 international scientific congresses
and published more than 500 proceedings with the most important international
publishers.

Ufficio stampa GAS Communication, Chiara Ippoliti, Tel. +39-0668134260 - fax +39-0668134876, c.ippoliti at gascommunication.com