Members of the newly created WMS Asia and Oceania Regional Network for Neuromuscular Disorders met for the first time on 9th July 2025 as part of the WMS Regional Networks initiative.

The virtual meeting of members across the region is part of a wider programme of regional meetings; an initiative developed and supported by Rasha El Sherif and Hernán Gonorazky, working with the “Myology Developments Across the World” Committee.

WMS member, Wen-Chen Liang from Taiwan, is the Regional Network lead and welcomed attendees from Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Participants discussed the current challenges facing researchers and clinicians working in neuromuscular disorders in the region. Highlights of the discussion were:

• Muscle biopsy can be done in all countries within the region, but the interpretation of muscle pathology may still need expert consultation from outside the region, highlighting a lack of resources in this area
• In-home or outsourcing genetic tests are available in all countries in the region
• The number of myology experts is quite variable in each country in the region
• Malaysia has established regular meetings for NMD under different organisations, as well as periodical educational programs for NMD.

Attendees of the meeting agreed that the regional network would like to hold a series of hybrid lectures and case discussions. The topics will be selected and agreed at least a year in advance, and will include, for example, congenital myopathy, dystrophinopathy, LGMD and IIM. They will seek to feature invited speakers from the WMS and the Asian Oceanian Myology Center (AOMC).

The group also explored ideas on how to grow the network, including who to invite, how long the meetings should be, and whether to include a speaker, as well as some cases, within one session, whether there should be a standard format for reporting and presenting case discussions, and how to identify and develop educational and training courses in each country within the region.

The WMS Asia and Oceania Regional Network will meet bi-monthly initially and will review the frequency of the meetings regularly, with each country within the region taking turns to host a meeting.

If you would like to join the WMS Asia and Oceania Regional Network and contribute towards regional projects, or if you would like more information about the network and activities in the region, please email [email protected].