WMS Board member and Professor of Neuropathology and Neuroimmunology at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin, Germany, Dr Werner Stenzel, has been awarded the prestigious Alfred Meyer Medal for his achievements in the field of myopathology.

The medal, awarded by the British Neuropathological Society (BNS) was presented to Dr Stenzel in March this year after he delivered the ‘Alfred Meyer Memorial lecture’, titled: The many faces of Myositis – results of a multidisciplinary approach.

This lecture is delivered every second year by a distinguished speaker, invited to present the lecture at one of the annual meetings of the Society. The Academic Committee of the BNS presents nominations for agreement by the full BNS committee. The lecturer is awarded a special medal which is engraved with their name and the date of the lecture.

On receiving the medal, Dr Stenzel said: “This medal is a great honour for me – not only because it is the first time it was dedicated to a myopathological topic but also because I am the first German doctor having received it. This is emotionally touching for me.”

The medal is dedicated to the important contributions of Professor Alfred Meyer to the BNS. Meyer was born in Germany and studied Medicine in Bonn, München, and Freiburg. He was a neurologist and a neuropathologist with a strong interest in neuroanatomy. His most significant work was on the anatomical aspects of frontal leucotomy and the nature of the structural abnormalities in the brain associated with temporal-lobe epilepsy.

His study of frontal leucotomy led to a classic book on the subject with Elizabeth Beck, published in 1954; and he undertook pioneering work on the pathology of epilepsy while professor of neuropathology at the Institute of Psychiatry.

Dr. Werner Stenzel is Professor of Neuropathology and Neuroimmunology at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin, Germany. He obtained his MD in 2000 from the University of Frankfurt. After training for five years in general neurology and a year in psychiatry and obtaining the board certificate in neurology, he continued a five-year training in neuropathology and was appointed professor in 2012. He is Head of the Neuromuscular Diagnostic and Research Unit at the Department of Neuropathology, Charité, Berlin. He acts as a co-Director of the German Reference Centre of Neuromuscular Diseases.

Dr Stenzel is a member of the research committee of the European Neuromuscular Centre and has organized and participated in many of their workshops.

He is an Executive Associate Editor of Neuromuscular Disorders (NMD) and an Executive Editor of Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology (NAN).