ICNC 2026 · Plenary Session
Michael Johnston Award
Plenary Lecture
International Child Neurology Congress · 2026
★Professor Linda S. de Vries
Emeritus Professor of Neonatal Neurology
Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital · University Medical Center Utrecht
Leiden University Medical Center
The Netherlands
40 Years of Neonatal Neurology
About the Speaker
Linda S. de Vries trained as a paediatrician and neonatologist at the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
She completed her PhD with Lilly and Victor Dubowitz in London, UK, and subsequently trained as a paediatric neurologist with Paul Casaer in Leuven, Belgium.
From 1989 to 2019 she worked in the department of Neonatology at the University Medical Center Utrecht, where she is now Emeritus Professor of Neonatal Neurology. Since her retirement she also holds an emeritus chair in Neonatal Neurology at the Leiden University Medical Center, and she served on the steering committee of the Newborn Brain Society.
Her research focuses on predicting neurodevelopmental outcome in high-risk preterm and full-term newborns using neurophysiology and neuro-imaging methods. These at-risk children were also seen by her in the follow-up clinic, and she has a special interest in neonatal stroke and brain plasticity.
She co-authored four books — The Atlas of Neonatal Brain Sonography; The Atlas of Amplitude-Integrated EEGs in the Newborn; Beyond the NICU; and Neonatal Brain Injury — along with more than 500 articles.
In this special pre-lecture interview, Dr Martín Hyland (Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine) speaks with Dr Bradley Schlaggar (President and CEO of the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) about Professor Linda S. de Vries, her clinical journey, her advocacy for children with neurological disorders, and the Michael Johnston Award.
The Kennedy Krieger Institute is proud to sponsor the Michael Johnston Award and Plenary Lecture.
Abstract
Over the last 40 years there have been major developments in neonatal neurology, moving from being able to make the diagnosis with neuro-imaging techniques to being able to predict neurodevelopmental outcome far more accurately.
Over the last two decades the first steps have been taken in neuroprotection, with the implementation of hypothermia in the full-term infant with neonatal encephalopathy due to presumed hypoxia-ischaemia. This talk traces four decades of progress — from advances in neuroimaging and outcome prediction to the development of neuroprotective strategies such as therapeutic hypothermia — and discusses how the field has changed.
About the Michael Johnston Award
Michael V. Johnston
1946 – 2022 · Baltimore, Maryland
Michael V. Johnston, MD, was a research scientist and Director of the Neuroscience Laboratory, Professor Emeritus of Paediatrics and Neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and former Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore. He served two terms on the executive board of the International Child Neurology Association (ICNA) and passed away on 30 July 2022.
A brilliant academician and researcher, his seminal work on the role of glutamate and excitotoxicity in hypoxic-ischaemic injury, and its effects on the developing brain, is recognised internationally. He collaborated widely with clinicians and researchers and continued to treat patients with complex neurological disorders throughout his career.
He and his group performed clinical and basic laboratory research focused on developing therapies to reduce brain injury in infants and children and to promote recovery by enhancing brain plasticity. His laboratory was among the first to describe the mechanisms by which the neurotransmitter glutamate triggers brain injury from lack of oxygen, trauma, and other insults.
His many honours included the Frank Ford Lecture Award from the ICNA (2016), the Blum/Moser Endowed Chair for Paediatric Neurology at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, and the Bernard Sachs Award from the Child Neurology Society.
It was a great honour for the ICNA to host the inaugural award lecture at the 18th International Child Neurology Congress (ICNC2024) in Cape Town, South Africa, in the name of Dr Michael Johnston. The Michael Johnston Award is sponsored by the Kennedy Krieger Institute, United States, where he and his friend and colleague Dr Gary Goldstein worked side by side for 31 years.
He had qualities of both the head and the heart. Mike will be missed by the ICNA community and by paediatric neurologists worldwide.