Interview with Professor Jayaraj D. Pandian, President of the World Stroke Organization (WSO) at IFNRCON 2025
Interviewee: Prof. Jayaraj D. Pandian
Interviewer: Ms. Alexandra Gherman
A.G.: Dear Professor Pandian, please share with us your overall impressions about this event, the 13th Annual IFNR Conference 2025.
J.D.P: There are a few salient points about this Indian national neurorehabilitation conference. Number one – this is the first time it is being held in Northwest India. Neurorehabilitation is not well developed in this part of the country, so this conference is unique in the sense that in the coming years it will promote neurorehabilitation in this region. Secondly – the participation of global and national organizations in terms of multidisciplinary teams has been amazing – like the partnership with the World Federation of Neurorehabilitation (WFNR), EFNR, World Rehabilitation Alliance (WRA), and the World Stroke Organization. It is the first time that WSO is partnering with IFNR. So, in these ways, it has been a unique conference, and the participation of the delegates was amazing, particularly the small workshops.
A.G.: Thank you very much and congratulations. As president of the World Stroke Organization could you tell us what are the plans and developments of WSO with respect to neurorehabilitation?
J.D.P: I have three priority areas which I defined for my tenure. First is the implementation of acute stroke care. Second is advocacy— engaging with policymakers of countries and the World Health Organization (WHO), given our official relationship with the WHO. Third is rehabilitation, considering there are a lot of gaps in stroke neurorehabilitation and its implementation in low- and middle-income countries. So, these are my priorities for the coming 3 years and the WSO is already pilot-testing the WSO stroke rehab center certification. It has been trialled in three centers in South America, and we plan to expand it to a few centers in Asia. Based on the inputs and feedback we will try to modify the program and scale up across all geographical areas.
A.G.: In connection with this collaboration we believe that the cooperation between the WSO and WFNR may improve the quality of stroke neurorehabilitation practice around the world. What is your position and opinion regarding this matter?
J.D.P.: WSO and WFNR already have a Memorandum of Understanding covering agreements in actively spreading the academic activities and joint sessions. With this certification program, we could definitely partner – particularly in capacity-building. At IFNR we’ve seen young professionals coming and getting exposed to international faculty. We could partner in terms of capacity building and jointly roll out these programs. It’s not just for low and middle-income countries – these certification programs can be rolled out in developed countries as well.
A.G.: Thank you very much and I wish you well in future endeavors!
J.D.P.: Thank you!
