Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING)

Yesterday was my first day at the Institute.  It was a good 35 min walk to the ..not including the stop at the European University of Cyprus where I had to pay my rent.  But the weather is great so it's fun walking everywhere!

Dr. Kleopa, the Senior Consultant Neurologist, was very welcoming!  He gave me a brief introduction, and then it was patient after patient for the rest of the morning!  It's so different here because the patients here are timely, follow their medication list, and never miss an appointment!!!  He has a nice office, where the patients are brought in, they have a nice chat, discussing everything that's gone on since the last visit..and then we all step behind a curtain for the physical examination.  Im starting to pick up on a lot of the Greek medical terms, but usually when the patients find out Im from the U.S., they switch to English!  So far I have seen mostly neuromuscular cases, including myesthenia gravis, muscular dystrophy, and mitochondrial myopathies...because it's a  neurologic center so they have specialized clinics for the various types of diseases..Im planning on spending a lot of time with the MS (Multiple Sclerosis) clinic, since it's been shown to uniquely prevalent on this island...

Anyway, today was my second day and I spent it with another attending, Dr. Kyriakiris, who was super enthusiastic about my being there and taught me a lot!  He allowed me to examine all of his patients and we got into interesting discussions about some rare syndromes and patterns he has noticed with some of his patients on the island but never saw during his training in the U.K.

Tonight, Im going out for Meze (typical Cypriot meal) with Latizia and two Cypriot friends I have made here through random connections...

I will continue to update and will upload some pictures by tomorrow!