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Carlayne E. Jackson, MD, FAAN
AAN President 2023–2025

Thursday, June 12, 2025
AAN Headquarters
Minneapolis, MN

Jessie Ehreth, AAN staff, Interviewer

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Q: What did you expect when you first joined the AAN?

CJ: You know, to be completely honest, I had no expectations. AAN membership was part of our residency program. The dues were paid by my department chair, and it was just the thing that everybody did. But it wasn’t until I went to the first Annual Meeting the following year that I really kind of had an appreciation of what the community of the Academy provided.

Q: What do you remember about attending your first Annual Meeting?

CJ: The other memory I have of that first meeting is I went with my mentor, Dr. Rick Barohn, and I was reading a textbook on neuromuscular disease, and he introduced me to everybody who wrote that textbook, so Robert “Berch” Griggs and Jerry Mendell and Bob Miller, and it was just inspiring to me to actually engage and be with the people that had written the textbook that I had read to learn neurology.

Q: What makes the Annual Meeting important for so many people?

CJ: So when we look at surveys of why people attend the Annual Meeting, education is probably number one. But I have to say that science and keeping up to date with all the advancements, particularly recently as things have really exploded, creates a real need for the meeting. But for me, I think networking and just being with my friends and sharing what we're all doing and griping about the same things and coming together with solutions on how we're dealing with issues at home. I think that's been super meaningful. You know, also professional development, having the opportunity to attend leadership programs, direct courses, give talks. I don't think I would be a professor of neurology without all of the opportunities I had at the Annual Meeting to show that I had a national reputation.

Q: How did you get involved in the AAN?

CJ: So actually, I was an abstract reviewer before that, and I had met Dr. Hiroshi Mitsumoto, again, through the networking that I did at the Annual Meeting. And I think the story that they tell me is that they were sitting around the table, and at that time, only about 20% of the committee membership were women. And so they went around the table and said, Hiroshi, you're rotating off. Do you know any women in neuromuscular disease? And he said, matter of fact, I do. And so he selected me, really because he knew me, but because, you know, they were trying to improve the diversity within the committee structure of the organization. So that's how I got on board.

Q: How did you go from your first role to becoming an integral part of the AAN community?

CJ: I got asked to do a lot of things, and I always joke that I never said no to the Academy. And so I was given a lot of opportunities that I wasn't sure were the right thing for me, or that I felt maybe I wasn't the most qualified to do. But I said yes and kept moving forward. And so the story with the board, for example, is again, there were two women on the board, and someone said, “You should consider applying to the board. We need more women involved in this organization.” So I was like, oh, OK. So that was my pathway to the board. And then, when I was done with my six years on the board, someone said, “We need more women officers on the board.” And I was like, OK, I’ll apply. So I think it was just the willingness to kind of put myself out there. Now, of course, we have maybe more women than men involved in this organization. So it's really been wonderful to see how much more diverse our community has become over the last 20 years. 

Q: When did you start considering the possibility of becoming president of the AAN?

CJ: Probably when I finished my six years on the board, I knew I wanted to be an officer. And so I kind of jokingly put my name in the hat for president elect. But I also applied for the secretary position, which is the one I got. And then the next round I applied again and did not get it. And so it was my third attempt to apply that I actually got the position. So when I talk to leaders within the organization, I encourage them—"If you don't get what you want the first time, you need to continue to try. If it's really your passion and really what you think you're going to perform well doing, you should keep pushing forward.”

Q: What were your main priorities as AAN president?

CJ: Prior to being president elect, I was the chair of the Board Planning Committee, which is now the Strategic Planning Committee. And it was always interesting. Every time there was new leadership within the organization, the strategic plan changed based on the priorities of the individual president. So my priorities as president were to have the strategic plan be my priority and my roadmap. And in fact, we decided that we needed a longer roadmap. And so we developed the five-year strategic plan for the first time, so that the organization's priorities weren't varying depending on the interests of the current president.

Q: What led you to focus on advocacy?

CJ: So I would have to admit that when you look at our strategic plan and the specific objectives, there are so many things that we can't do within our organization without being effective advocates outside of our organization. And I think that when I took over, we were focusing a lot on the federal government, and we found very quickly that a lot of the key issues were actually going on at a state level. We also heard feedback that people were very engaged at Neurology on the Hill. They loved doing our Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum, but it was once a year and they were like, “What do I do for the rest of the time?” And so trying to think about how we could engage our graduates with boots on the ground locally in their state, to make a difference. So that was the vision of the PONS network and trying to get our members engaged more than just once a year. 

Q: How did the AAN strengthen connections with international partners during your term?

CJ: So I think we were very intentional about building relationships, getting to know the leadership, and really listening to what they felt like we needed to do collaboratively. And so, one of the things that we kept hearing over and over again was that the Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum is like the premier. We need that, but we need it in a way that would be meaningful to an international group. We've always had two international attendees every year, but it's really just not enough. And so we thought we would focus on low- and lower-middle income [country] members and really focus that program on what they could do locally. In terms of media training, advocacy, how to work with their leaders, how to lead in general. That's some general leadership concepts. So we actually had a break at the European Academy of Neurology. The president of the WFN [World Federation of Neurology], Mary Post, and I sat at a lunch spot, and we just on a piece of paper kind of drew out what we thought would work to try to model a PALF for a global audience. And that was the birth of the Global Advocacy Leadership Program. We worked very closely with the European Academy and with the World Federation of Neurology, because we found that both organizations really have a deep interest in brain health. And so, again, we've done World Brain Day with the WFN. I went over to do a European Academy Neurology brain health summit and spoke on a presidential panel there. So I think those kind of meaningful touch points. And then finally, we used to meet with every international leader that was interested at the Annual Meeting, and we decided, this is silly. We're all talking about the same thing, but in individual meetings. So we decided to do an international leadership roundtable. And the first one was at our last meeting, and we invited the presidents of every international group to sit. We did panel discussions and small groups, and I think we're planning to move that idea forward. It will be replicated at the World Congress [of Neurology] in Seoul, this coming meeting.

Q: What did the AAN do to promote brain health for all in your term?

CJ: So obviously, we have the Brain Health Committee. And now that committee has been designated as a strategic committee, and the decision was made to have that committee chair be on our Board of Directors. I think that certainly elevates the role that we place for that part of our mission. Before I became president, we had a framework and we had a definition of brain health and we'd had several publications. But I think during my presidency, we worked very hard to build our Brain Health Summit, which takes place every year in Washington, DC. Each year we had over 150 attendees from over 70 different organizations, and it was a broad, diverse group of people. It was insurance payers and government agencies and patient groups and other professional organizations all sitting around the table talking about what are our priorities, how can we collaborate together. And in this last one, we actually did Brain Health in Action, and we gave specific examples of how people are integrating brain health initiatives into their work. So I think we're making progress. Our next step is, we have seven different portfolios of specific plans that we want to fund, and I'm working to try to figure out ways to get those moving forward within the organization.

Q: With the first five-year strategic plan in your term, what was the process and importance of it?

CJ: So the board came together and really reevaluated our mission and our vision, and everybody decided our vision was perfect—to be indispensable to our members was our shining star and really was a mantra for all the committees and subcommittees. But we did decide to extend our mission to embrace brain health for all. And so once we had our mission and vision in place, then we thought about, well, what are our goals? And we decided we wanted to simplify the goals. We had always had eight or nine goals, and when they were presented on slides, it took two or three slides. And we wanted to think about how do we simplify our goals so that every member knows them, can recite them and remember them. We came up with four goals, and then we looked at the objectives within those goals. But once we had that framework, then we really did a lot of work with our committees and subcommittees and getting feedback on how to clarify the objectives, how to develop tactics to meet those objectives, and what would be meaningful targets. And especially in a five-year plan, how would we measure progress from X to Y over a five year period of time? So it engaged the entire leadership of our organization in that plan. And then when I came to talk as my role as president, one of my favorite things is I got to attend the committee meetings. We actually went through the strategic plan and told every committee member, regardless of whether their committee was accountable or responsible for those specific objectives, so that they knew what other people were working on and could get kind of a better understanding of how their work fit into the overall strategy of the organization. So it really became a communication tool, and we start every meeting with a strategic plan. And we are really trying to keep every committee accountable for the work that we're asking them to do. 

Q: How is the AAN working to support non-physician members?

CJ: So when we talk about non-physician members, there's several buckets that we should talk about. One is our advanced practice providers. They're critical to improving access to neurologic care. And when we talk about brain health for all, we really can't do that without a very deep neurology-led team. And so the APPs are really part of that. And to build that APP presence within our membership, and we now have over 2000 APP members. We really need their voice, and we need them at the table to help us make decisions on what are the gaps that we can address in terms of their education, in terms of their leadership training. And so we have many APPs that have really stepped up and spent hours and hours of volunteer work within the organization, but we had no way to recognize that effort. Same thing with our business administrators, which also fall into the same bucket. So we want to strengthen neurologic practice. That's one of our four goals. And that takes a team which includes business administrators. And they again have been very invested in our academic initiative and our MEP committee. And, David Evans as an example, as the chair of our Brain Health Committee, he's a business administrator. And yet we had no way to recognize him. So I think that this designation is really critical to continue to engage those key non-physician members.

Q: How has being a department chair influenced your work at the AAN, and vice versa?

CJ: Well, the first thing I did when I became chair is I did a strategic plan for our department, and I can tell you that I felt very comfortable doing that. And so I think I have become a much more strategic leader, on a tier level, as a result of my experience with the Academy. The Academy is also allowing me to connect, obviously, with a lot of different tiers through the academic initiative. And I think I've learned a lot that way. So I think, it maybe has benefited me more the other way around. But certainly both experiences have been wonderful

Q: What do you think contributes to the AAN’s membership success?

CJ: I would say, in part due to the 6,800 physician volunteers that make this organization what it is, and an incredible staff and that partnership between those volunteers and that staff, I think, drive amazing programing. So the Annual Meeting, all of our educational offerings, our leadership programs, the whole package of creating an AAN community, I think is what drives those membership numbers and continues to retain our members.

Q: How has the AAN been working toward our value of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?

CJ: So diversity, equity, inclusion is one of our core values. And it will remain a core value. And to demonstrate that as a value, as you mentioned, we now have our DEI chair on the board. And that really keeps us accountable in terms of decision making, they've been very, helpful in designing position statements on some topics that are, you know, somewhat hard and controversial. But most importantly, I think they're really working and focusing on this concept of health equity. Health equity, if we're really serious about brain health for all, we have to figure this out. And so health equity though, touches so many things that we don't as an organization necessarily have control over. And so again, that advocacy piece, that patient community education piece is so critical. So we all are going to have to work together to figure this out. I think any member can tell you that if you go to the Annual Meeting, we now have an increased number of educational programs on health equity, increased number of abstracts on health equity. We have a health equity forum. And so we're really doing everything that we can to educate our members on the importance of this topic.

Q: What has been the impact of leadership programs at the AAN?

CJ: So another very fun thing that I got to do as president is I get to meet with all of the leadership program participants, and there's ten in each group. So they're very small group, it's easy to get to know them well. But when you go to their graduations and hear their testimonials, they will tell you that those programs are transformational, life changing. I can't tell you how many times I hear those words specifically, and tears just of gratitude, that they've had that opportunity. And I think when we think about that, I think what was frustrating is while we've had over 450 graduates from these programs, we have 40,000 members. And so how do we translate those skills in a very complex environment where health systems are being led by non-physicians, largely? How do we get physicians at the table and be leaders in those areas? And so Leadership University was something that I think has been noodled about for a while. But that finally is growing and in production, but will give us an opportunity to share the same skills that we do in these leadership programs to a broader number of members.

Q: How is mentorship important to you?

CJ: So I had an amazing mentor, my whole career. I mentioned Rick Barohn earlier, but I also had like, a mom mentor. Robin Brey was my chair, and she had two daughters a little bit older than mine. And now I have a grandma mentor who tells me what I should be doing with my grandson. But I think having a mentor is so critical. I will say that on the flip side, being a mentor has also been amazingly rewarding, and I had the opportunity of starting to mentor within our leadership programs—probably the second year the leadership programs began, so I guess 2016. And now my mentees are now assuming leadership positions within this organization. So one of my mentees is actually on the Board of Directors. It's been a wonderful journey. And it's something that I always tell young neurologists—that what they must do is to get a mentor. But I tell old neurologists that they must be a mentor as both are equally rewarding.

Q: What were some of the changes you made to board and committee meetings?

CJ: One of my pet peeves as a board member is having to sit in a boardroom and having people give me reports and where I just sit there and don't say anything and don't get any feedback. We're a brilliant group of people overall as a board, and I think that time needs to be with conversation and feedback and interaction. And so, to do that, we decided to develop the beginning part of the board meeting as a general discussion, a hot topic where we don't have to come to any conclusion, but just to kind of share ideas. And then my favorite parts of the board meeting were always the strategic planning parts, where we would go into small groups and talk and discuss kind of hot topics. And so I tried to provide some type of movement within the board meeting where everyone has to get up and move to a different room in a smaller group. And I think it really helped everyone, even the introverts, feel comfortable sharing ideas and discussing concerns. So it made our board meetings, I think, much more engaging and interactive, and I think people left with a sense that they had made a meaningful contribution, as opposed to just sitting around a table for a day and a half.

Q: How do you make leadership fun?

CJ: People in this organization, the volunteers work really hard. They spend a lot of hours contributing to this organization. I think just like we work hard, we need to play hard or we burn out. And so I've always tried to incorporate fun activities in my board meetings. So we did Segway tours and sip and paint, and we did actually a cooking competition one time. But just trying to bring a little levity. I think it creates and builds that sense of team, and people feel much more comfortable having difficult conversations in a board meeting when they've been shaking whipped cream and seeing how many seconds it takes to coagulate.

Q: What is your advice to young neurologists and other neurology professionals?

CJ: Get a mentor network. When you're at a meeting, use that as an opportunity to get to know people. Don't go back to your room and get room service. The most important conversations sometimes are at the bar after the meeting. You don't have to drink alcohol, but just sit there and have meaningful conversations with people. I think, just as my experience as I explain with the Academy, don't be afraid or nervous of opening doors that you may not know exactly what's behind that door, but be willing to try new things, but also don't spend a lot of time doing things that don't give you joy. Really focus. Prioritize your time on the things that you really feel that you're contributing towards. And that's why I think I've invested so much time with this organization, because it brings me joy to spend the time and do the things as I see the programs and products and services that are a result of volunteer effort. And then I guess I always say my last thing is, don't forget your family. Always prioritize your family and your friends through the process. So I've always invited my husband and my daughters to come with me at meetings and things to try to make them a part of what I do.

Q: What are your closing thoughts? 

CJ: I just would say that it's been an incredible blessing to do this role, such an honor, to meet and work with so many amazingly talented people. I’m just incredibly grateful. And I hope that my small contribution continues to make a difference over time.