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Headlines 5 the causes and comorbidities in Māori children with epilepsy to non-Māori children with epilepsy. Professor Lynette Sadleir joined the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Otago in Wellington in 1999 following an Epilepsy Fellowship at British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital. She is a physician scientist with expertise in epilepsy and epilepsy genetics. She is also the Director of the Epilepsy Research Group at the University of Otago in Wellington. The Epilepsy Research Group is committed to improving the quality of life for individuals with epilepsy and their families. Rebekah Blakemore Controlling our movements with an emotional brain Monday 28 March, 6.30pm There is growing evidence that emotions, stress, and some neurological d isorders are intertwined. Dr Blakemore will talk about her current research which focusses on understanding how acute stress can alter normal motor control and exacerbate movement dysfunction in movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. Understanding the impact of acute stress on movement control may inform development of emotion- movement interventions to improve motor function in people with Parkinson’s Disease. Dr Rebekah Blakemore is a lecturer and researcher in movement neuroscience based in the School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Otago. She completed her PhD in Otago, and afterwards spent three years as a Marie-Curie Bridge Postdoctoral Fellow in an emotion and neuroimaging laboratory at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Dr Blakemore returned home to work as a Research Fellow at the New Zealand Brain Research Institute, Christchurch, and has been supported by the Neurological Foundation since then to investigate how emotions influence our movement. Max Berry Protecting babies' brains for the future Thursday 24 March, 6:30pm Associate Professor Max Berry has dedicated her research and career to safeguarding babies’ brains. As a neonatal intensive care specialist, she asks herself daily how she can safeguard the neurodevelopmental potential and wellbeing of babies throughout New Zealand. In 2018, Dr Berry received a project grant from the Neurological Foundation to investigate a very special treatment called neurosteroid analogue therapy to prevent the many behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders concerned with premature birth. This event will focus on what has already been discovered and what Dr Berry and her team are working towards for future therapies for premature babies. Associate Professor Max Berry obtained her Bachelor of Science in Developmental Neurobiology from the University of London, prior to completion of undergraduate medical training at Guys and St Thomas’s Hospitals, London. She obtained a Membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Heath in the UK just before emigrating to New Zealand, where she completed her training in neonatal and perinatal medicine in Hamilton and Wellington. In 2008, Dr Berry was awarded an HRC (Health Research Council) Fellowship for PhD studies. Dr Berry received a project grant from the Neurological Foundation in 2018 to investigate behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders in children and adolescents born preterm. Register for any of these events at: neurological.org.nz/digitalevents Please note To register for an event, you will need to login to or create a free Zoom profile which will be used to access the event on the day. If you have any trouble signing up, please get in touch with our friendly team at RSVP@neurological.org.nz