Tashkent. Honorary professorship awarded to Prof Dr Dr Dirk Dressler

Professor Dr Dr Dirk Dressler, Head of the Movement Disorders Section at Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, has been awarded an honorary professorship by Tashkent Medical Academy in Uzbekistan for his contributions to the development of botulinum toxin therapy and his research into dystonia. The award ceremony was held by the Rector of Tashkent Medical Academy, Professor Huxrat Boymuratov Abdujalilovich, in the presence of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Dr Asilbek Khadoyarov Anvarovich, as part of the Uzbek national congress on Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, at which Dressler gave the keynote lecture on ‘Botulinum Toxin Therapy for Cervical Dystonia’. Contacts with Tashkent Medical Academy go back over 10 years and have led to a close cooperation with the Department of Neurology under Professor Gulnora Rakhimbaeva Sattarovna. As part of this cooperation, a collaboration also developed with IAB-Interdisciplinary Working Group on Movement Disorders in Hamburg, Germany for which the founder Dr Fereshte Adib Saberi was honoured.

The origins of Tashkent Medical Academy date back to 1919. It is the central training centre for doctors in Uzbekistan and has over 5000 students. As part of its increasing internationalisation and its favourable location, it attracts many foreign students, especially from Pakistan, India and China. In addition to numerous meetings with medical students, young doctors in neurological training and neurological scientists, Dressler also had a meeting with the Dean of the International Department to discuss further collaboration projects.

During his two-week stay in Uzbekistan, Dressler then visited the branch of Tashkent Medical Academy in Urgench in the west of the country. He also visited the Medical Institute of the Autonomous Republic of Krakalpakstan in Nukus in the north-west east of the country.

‘Uzbekistan is a country on the move that has undergone impressive development in recent years, but has not given up its age-old identity. It is skilfully using its geographic location and its history as a bridge between Europe and China to establish itself as a regional powerhouse. Important reforms are still pending for the further development of medicine. However, there are initial signs of movement in the right direction,’ said Dressler in his summary.