A landmark milestone for neurological care in the Eastern Caribbean is on the horizon, as Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre (SLBMC) prepares to host the first-ever Antigua & Barbuda Clinical Neurology Summit between November 13 and 15, 2026. The three-day event is designed to unite a diverse cross-section of healthcare professionals, including practicing neurologists, general physicians, nursing staff, allied health workers and other care providers from across the Caribbean region, as well as delegates from Canada and the United States, for targeted clinical training and cross-border knowledge sharing.
Organizers have structured the summit’s curriculum around pressing public health priorities in the region: attendees will dive into evidence-based advances in stroke management, headache disorder treatment, epilepsy care, and other critical areas of neurological practice. To support frontline nursing teams that play an outsized role in long-term neurological care, the full final day of the event will be dedicated to a specialized nursing-focused educational track. The program draws on expertise from both regional leaders and global specialists, and offers flexible participation options to accommodate clinicians who cannot travel, with both in-person attendance at SLBMC and virtual online access available.
The conference arrives at a pivotal moment for neurological care access in Antigua and Barbuda. Just recently, SLBMC earned certification as an Essential Stroke Centre from the World Stroke Organization, making it the first facility in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to receive this designation, and placing it among a small group of accredited centers across the entire Caribbean and Latin American region. For Dr. Gaden Osborne, a practicing neurologist at SLBMC and chair of the center’s Subspecialty Services department, this summit represents a key opportunity to build on the momentum of that historic certification.
“Earning Essential Stroke Centre certification was a critical milestone for our team and our community, but our work to improve care never stops,” Dr. Osborne explained. “High-quality neurological care relies on three core things: the knowledge we continue to build over our careers, the way we apply that evidence to patient care, and the cohesion of our care teams. This summit lets us strengthen all three of those pillars. It brings top global expertise right here to Antigua, while also creating space for our local clinicians to share the innovative work they are doing in our community. At the end of the day, our goal is straightforward: we want to make the highest quality neurological care better for every person who needs it here.”
Neurological conditions remain a major unaddressed public health challenge across Antigua and Barbuda. While stroke is one of the most high-impact causes of disability and death in the country, it is far from the only concern: tens of thousands of local residents live with disabling headache disorders and epilepsy, conditions that erode quality of life for patients and their families and underscore the urgent need for greater provider training, public awareness, and improved access to evidence-based care.
Lyandra Richards, SLBMC’s Learning and Development Coordinator, emphasized that ongoing, consistent continuing medical education is the foundation of better patient outcomes. “Healthcare learning can never be a one-and-done checkmark,” Richards noted. “Medical science advances constantly, clinical evidence evolves, and patient needs shift over time. We have to keep learning, from new research, from senior colleagues with decades of experience, and from each other across different care disciplines. It’s not enough to just attend a conference and collect new information. We have to bring that learning back to our teams and embed it into our daily practice to change how we care for patients. That’s how professional development turns into tangible, better outcomes for the people we serve.”
Beyond its core educational mission, the summit also serves as a rare platform to highlight the growing specialized clinical expertise that is being developed right in Antigua, putting local clinician leadership on a global stage. Healthcare providers across the region who are interested in registering for the event, reviewing the full program, or accessing speaker information can find full details on the official summit website at https://neuroantigua.org/. A complete list of supporting organizations and event sponsors is also available on the site at https://neuroantigua.org/sponsors.