“I’m afraid I’m currently out of the office right now on the never-ending mission to restore world health—I am very interested in your message and will endeavour to reply to it as soon as I am back.” This rather immodest response to my request to sign up to a new soon-to-be launched on-line game (http://www.syrum-game.com) was signed by the lead character, Professor Syrum. Syrum will be a social game on Facebook which will allow participants to take control of their own pharmaceutical company. The aim is to equip and use a laboratory to discover new drugs, bringing them to market to improve global health, or as the learned professor puts it—“the health of the world is at stake and you are the only one that can save us.”

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When I first met Andrew Wilner, an American physician, a few years ago, it was the first time I had heard of the word “neurohospitalist.” I obviously knew what a neurologist or a neurosurgeon are, but a neurohospitalist was an absolute novelty, and I have a feeling it is not a well known role in Europe, if it exists at all.

But Dr Wilner works as a neurohospitalist in the New England area of the United States. So, some time ago, I had a chat with him to learn the ropes of the job (and he gave me permission to reproduce some of his comments). According to him, “a neurohospitalist is a neurologist who sees patients exclusively in the hospital.” Meschia defines a neurohospitalist as a doctor providing care “to patients with neurological abnormalities that either lead to hospitalisation or complicate their stay in hospital.” more…