Riaz Syed DCH, MD, DM, FRCPCH, FRCPI

Dr. Riaz Ahmed Syed is a Neurologist specializing in Child Health with 40 years of clinical experience. He graduated from a Medical School in India in 1978 and completed his residency training in Pediatric Medicine and Neurology at the famous Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Sick Children as well as at the Institute of Neurology, Madras Medical College, in 1983 and 1986, respectively. He thus qualified to obtain a PG degree, MD in Pediatrics, and super specialty PG degree, DM in Neurology. He joined the Institute of Child Health, Madras (India) as a faculty Pediatric Neurologist in 1986 and held positions as a Tutor and Assistant professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Neurology from 1986 to 1987. From 1987 to 1991, he worked as a Pediatrician and Pediatric Neurologist at King Faisal Hospital, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He then went to the United Kingdom on an International Scholar program and worked in 1992 as an Associate Fellow in Pediatric movements disorders at King’s Hospital, London, under the guidance of one of the pioneers in movement disorders, Professor Marsden (Late) and also in Pediatric Muscle disorders at Hammersmith Hospital, London, the United Kingdom for almost a year. In 1993 he joined Royal Hospital in Muscat, Oman, the only tertiary care center in that country, as a consultant pediatric Neurologist. For the first time, he set up comprehensive Pediatric Neurology services, including Pediatric Epilepsy, Neurodevelopmental, and Movement disorders programs. He became proficient in Electrophysiological studies in Neurology, namely EEG, Nerve conduction studies, and visual and auditory evoked potential examinations. He has been an active member of the International Child Neurology Association (ICNA) and an executive member of the Asian Oceanian Child Neurology Association (AOCNA) since 1998. He was trained in Botulinum toxin therapy for spastic children in Manchester, the UK, in 1998 events well in Pediatric muscle disorders diagnosis in Paris, France in 1999. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Child Health (FRCPCH) in 2001 and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP), Ireland, in 2002. He was also an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Neurology, the European Neurological Society, and the American Academy of Neurology. In 2009, he migrated to Saudi Arabia and became a Pediatric Neurology consultant at King Fahad Military Hospital, Jeddah, to date. He has been heading the Department of Child Neurology at this institute. He is also involved in training Arab Board residents with bedside teaching and giving lectures in neurology. He was an examiner to the R2 (second year) resident training and promotion program and conducted busy scheduled Neurology clinics twice a week, where he saw almost 16-18 patients per clinic. Apart from clinical examination, appropriate Neurodiagnostic tests are planned and executed. He has a senior registrar in Neurology working under him. Residents are regularly posted every month for their academic training as part of the Saudi board examinations requirement, where they are evaluated for their clinical skills. They are examined with clinical case scenarios, and marks are allotted for their clinical understanding at the end of their postings. Besides, he read electrophysiology recordings viz. EEG, BAER, and VER to interpret the findings for his patients and lease with a geneticist and metabolic consultants for further workup. Pediatric epilepsy is a comprehensive and highly complicated sub-specialist in pediatric neurology. He has vast experience in diagnosis and management, including using video EEG monitoring, ketogenic diet protocol, and planning for early epilepsy surgery in intractable seizures at tertiary centers. Besides his Botox administration proficiency for spasticity and dystonia, he also does regular sessions for eligible patients under physiotherapy and rehabilitation guidance. Thus, he has considerable vast clinical experience in Pediatric Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology. His main interest is in Movement Disorders, especially in Botulinum toxin therapy and pediatric epilepsy. He has been actively involved in medical education and innovative problem-oriented integrated curricula for medical students and residents for teaching neurology. He was also an examiner for MRCP in 2007. He has traveled widely and globally to present papers in neuroscience in the UK, Australia, Japan, China, Taiwan, the Czech Republic, and the Middle East. He has presented his research work and has published it extensively in several peer-reviewed journals. He is on the editorial board as associate editor in a few peer-reviewed Pediatric Neurology journals. He has also been a regular peer reviewer in many International Journals, viz Saudi Medical Jl, Oman Medical Jl, and Asian Jl of Tropical Medicine. Besides, he loves music as well as enjoys playing tennis. He is currently working as the Pediatric Neurology department chief in Saudi Arabia at King Fahad Military Hospital since 2009.