Joseph I. Sirven and Dean M. Wingerchuk

Dr. Joseph Sirven and Dr. Dean Wingerchuk are the Guest Editors of this issue of Seminars in Neurology on “Questions for the Consultant.”

Dr. Sirven is Associate Professor of Neurology in the Mayo Medical School and a Consultant in the Department of Neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Sirven obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Georgetown University and his M.D. from Louisiana State University School of Medicine. He did an Internship in Internal Medicine at the Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation and Clinics in New Orleans. He then trained in Neurology at the University of Minnesota followed by a 2-year combined EEG/Clinical Epilepsy Fellowship at The Graduate Hospital in the University of Pennsylvania. Following Fellowship he took a position at Temple University School of Medicine and then went to the Jefferson Medical College where he was the Director of undergraduate education in Neurology. He is now the Associate Dean of the Mayo School of Continuing Medical Education. He has received numerous honors including the J. Kiffin Penry Eagle Award in Epilepsy, and the Dr. Peter Graffagnino Memorial Award, as well as being named to Top Doctors and Best Doctors in America. Dr. Sirven is very active in the American Academy of Neurology. In addition to many publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, he is the Editor of Clinical Neurology of the Older Adult.

Dr. Dean Wingerchuk is Assistant Professor of Neurology in the Mayo Medical School and a Consultant in the Department of Neurology, Scottsdale, Arizona. Dr. Wingerchuk received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Medicine and a Doctor of Medicine with Great Distinction from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. He wrote his thesis on the “Effects of Acute (-)-Deprenyl Administration on Dopamine Metabolism in an Animal Model of Parkinson's Disease.” He did a residency at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine followed by a Fellowship in Clinical Neuroimmunology at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, and an additional Fellowship in Clinical Neuroimmunology/Multiple Sclerosis at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. He has a Master of Science in Health Research Methodology and Clinical Epidemiology from McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Wingerchuk has received a number of awards including the McLean Silver Medal, the Upjohn Award in Clinical Pharmacology, the Hewlett-Packard Award in Internal Medicine, the Ciba-Geigy Award in Neurology, and the Henry W. Woltman Award for Superior Performance in Clinical Neurology from the Mayo Clinic Department of Neurology. He too is named in Best Doctors in America. He is cofounder of the MERIT Center, which is the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale Evidence-Based Education, Research, Informatics, and Training Center. Dr. Wingerchuk has written extensively on epidemiology, clinical course and therapy of multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis optica, and postinfectious encephalomyelitis.

We are terribly grateful for their leadership and hard work in putting together this issue of Seminars in Neurology. Their approach in presenting their material in a series of illustrative clinical cases is unique. The reader will find this to be not only tremendously informative and useful, but also a great deal of fun to read. We are very grateful to Drs. Sirven and Wingerchuk and all of the Mayo Consultants who contributed their expertise in answering the questions for the consultant.