March 13, 2020

Dear AAN Members and Annual Meeting Registrants,

Due to the global COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, the American Academy of Neurology announced March 13, 2020, that it has no choice but to make the necessary decision to cancel the AAN’s Annual Meeting originally scheduled for April 25–May 1, 2020, in Toronto.

Protecting the health, safety, and well-being of our members, attendees, and ultimately our neurology patients is paramount, and serves as the reason for our decision to cancel the AAN Annual Meeting for the first time in our 72-year history. Put simply, canceling the AAN Annual Meeting is the right thing to do during this historic time.

Our team has been meeting daily, actively monitoring the situation and following guidance from the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and Canada Public Health. On March 11, 2020, for example, the World Health Organization elevated the status of the novel coronavirus outbreak to a pandemic, and the United States President announced the US government’s decision to restrict travel from mainland Europe. Specifically affecting Toronto, the location of AAN’s 2020 Annual Meeting, the global COVID-19 pandemic is impacting Toronto and surrounding communities. Additionally, many US academic institutions have restricted employee travel, preventing many of our faculty and speakers from being able to attend the AAN Annual Meeting and making us unable to provide the educational offerings you need and expect. 

We have been in constant contact with our Board of Directors, and members of our committees who have worked tirelessly to organize the more than 3,000 scientific sessions, hundreds of education courses, and experiential learning areas for the 15,000 professionals we had originally expected to attend. I want to thank all of them for their incredible work and leadership during this difficult time.

We also want to recognize two other important considerations. As an organization of physicians and medical professionals, it is important to keep our members in their communities—where you stand by to help patients during this time of uncertainty. We also have a professional responsibility to model social distancing and not contribute to the spread of the virus through a large public gathering. 

We recognize canceling the world’s largest gathering of neurologists impacts many of you and your education needs. Look for more information on different AAN educational opportunities throughout the remainder of 2020. 

Please also allow us time to process full registration fee refunds for the thousands of members who registered for the Annual Meeting. Information for exhibitors and sponsors will be forthcoming. 

If you have further questions, please contact AAN Member Services, Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo., otherwise, more information will be posted on this page and on social media in the days and weeks ahead. 

Thank you for your patience, understanding, and unwavering commitment to the field of neurology and the AAN. 

Sincerely,

James C. Stevens, MD, FAAN
President, American Academy of Neurology