Catherine S.W. Albin, MD, and Eyal Y. Kimchi, MD, PhD

The Guest Editors of this issue of Seminars in Neurology are Drs. Catherine (Casey) Albin and Eyal Kimchi.

Dr. Albin is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine, where she is a clinician educator and neurointensivist at both Emory University Hospital and Grady Memorial Hospital. Dr. Albin obtained her medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her Neurology Residency at the Mass General Brigham/Brigham and Women's Hospital (MGH/BWH) Partners Neurology Program in Boston, where she served as chief resident and completed a fellowship in medical simulation at the Massachusetts General Hospital Learning Laboratory. She completed a fellowship in Neurocritical Care at Emory University. Dr. Albin's research interests focus on educational innovations in acute neurologic emergencies and neurocritical care, funded through the American Academy of Neurology's Medical Education Research Grant. She serves on several national committees for education in Neurocritical Care and mentorship, including the Society of Critical Care Medicine's Neuroscience Steering Committee. She is an Associate Editor for Continuum: Lifelong Learning in Neurology and the Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Neurocritical Care's ON CALL. As an educator, she is the recipient of multiple teaching awards and the author of The Acute Neurology Survival Guide. She is passionate about open access neurologic education through social media, blogs, and podcasts. I have interacted with Dr. Albin on the national stage multiple times, and I can state from personal experience that she is a gifted, natural educator and communicator, and is deeply revered by all who work with her. She is clearly one of the rising stars in the Neurology and Neurocritical Care communities!

Dr. Kimchi is a clinically active neurologist and systems neuroscientist at Northwestern University. He received his MD and PhD from Yale University School of Medicine, and completed Internship at BWH, followed by Residency and Fellowship at MGH/BWH, where he served as a chief resident. He is Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern's Division of Hospital Neurology and fellowship director for Northwestern's Fellowship in Hospital Neurology. In addition to clinical care and teaching, he leads translational research on the brain networks and dynamic rhythms that support clear thinking, with a commitment to understanding and improving the care of patients with acute neuropsychiatric disorders of cognition and awareness, such as delirium. At the bench, his laboratory's research examines the real-time influences of systemic inflammation and neuromodulators on network interactions in the context of motivated, perceptual behavior. His team extends this work to patients' bedsides through clinical research to develop novel biomarkers and understandings of acute and dynamic brain health. In recognition of his work, he has been invited to serve on the American Geriatrics Society Expert Panel on Postoperative Delirium in Older Adults, multiple hospital quality-improvement initiatives for delirium care, and the American Academy of Neurology's Brain Health Initiative.

We greatly appreciate the efforts of Drs. Albin and Kimchi, as well as all of the contributing authors, for their tremendous contributions in this issue of Seminars. Altered mental status (AMS), encephalopathy, and delirium are common consultations for neurologists, but also occur in our own primary patients. Although it is easy to get complacent around this common consultation, it is clear from this issue that AMS/delirium is a complex, dynamic, and potentially life-threatening area of neurology; understanding everything from the underlying mechanisms to the most appropriate treatment options for an individual patient is key to prevention and management that will help serve our patients better. I would like to personally thank Drs. Albin and Kimchi for their diligence, passion, insights, and dedication to seeing this issue to fruition—I learned a ton by reading it, and I hope you will too! We hope you enjoy this marvelous issue!

Publication History

Article published online:
12 November 2024