Special tribute to Valerie Askanas and King Engel

I had the pleasure to meet Valerie Askanas and King Engel for the first time in 1982, during the 5 International Congress on Neuromuscular Diseases, organized in Marseille by George Serratrice. In that occasion, they received the degree “honoris causa” in Medicine by the Faculty of Marseille and I was impressed by the numerous and outstanding goals they were able to reach during their scientific career. Since there, I had the opportunity to see Valerie and King many times, however I particularly like to remember 5 occasions: 1. 1999, Barcelona, Spain. 5 Congress of the Mediterranean Society of Myology. My coworkers and I we spent a long time with Valerie and King, who were in that occasion awarded by the Gaetano Conte Prize for Basic and Clinical research, respectively. 2. 2006, Istanbul, Turkey. 11 International Congress on Neuromuscular Diseases. During this meeting I had the opportunity to discuss a long time with Valerie and King on their proposal to host in Naples the 2010 XII ICNMD. She was very active in convincing the most part of the members of the World Federation of Neurology to elect Naples as hosting city and myself as President of the Congress. In such a vest it was an honor for me to charge Valerie as President of the Scientific Committee. She accepted with enthusiasm showing her great quality of “hard working” and expert of the state of the art in all scientific aspects of muscle diseases. 3. 2008, Rome, Italy. I see them in a beautiful hotel to discuss the organization of the XII ICNMD, receiving a number of proposals and suggestions; in that occasion I particularly appreciated their ability to understand and solve problems. 4. 2009, Nicosia, Cyprus. IX Congress of the Mediterranean Society of Myology. During the congress there was a very important meeting of the Scientific Committee of XII ICNMD to which participated, among others, Lefkos Middleton, Lucia Comi, Luisa Politano, King Engel and Valerie Askanas. She was able to give information about the most experts in any field of neuromuscular diseases and to indicate scientists to invite for the main lectures and symposia, appearing at my eyes as a muscle expert’s “encyclopedia”. 5. 2009, April. In the occasion of the early sudden death of Lucia Comi, my first coworkers, they sent me an appreciated message by which they suggested me to dedicate the XII ICNMD Congress to the memory of Lucia. 6. 2010, July, Naples, Italy. XII International Congress on Neuromuscular Diseases. This mega Congress was a success in terms of number of participants and scientific level thanks to the hard work and constant support of Valerie Askanas, King Engel and the Naples team, despite the world financial difficulties.