A member of numerous professional organizations including the American Academy of Neurology, American Society of Neurorehabilitation, World Association for Medical Law and Australasian College of Legal Medicine, James C. Johnston, MD, JD is a board certified neurologist and rehabilitative specialist with three decades of experience. He is one of the very few neurologists in the world also qualified as an attorney, and licensed to practice both medicine and law.

1. Global NeuroCare
Focuses on Training
Neurologists in
Ethiopia
Dr. James C Johnston

2. Introduction
A member of numerous professional organizations including the American
Academy of Neurology, American Society of Neurorehabilitation, World
Association for Medical Law and Australasian College of Legal Medicine,
James C. Johnston, MD, JD is a board certified neurologist and rehabilitative
specialist with three decades of experience. He is one of the very few
neurologists in the world also qualified as an attorney, and licensed to
practice both medicine and law.
Dr. Johnston's combined medical and legal training and experience ensure
he is uniquely qualified to deal with the intricacies of developing a successful
global health program.
In 2008, Dr. James C. Johnston founded the nonprofit organization Global
NeuroCare to advance neurological services in developing regions. Global
NeuroCare, in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations, forms
collaborative partnerships with local organizations in developing regions to
improve neurological services, ensure a sustainable approach and promote
independence.

3. Global NeuroCare
Global NeuroCare collaborates with the Addis Ababa University
Department of Neurology, which provides the only neurology
training program for the East African region. Before inception of
this program, there was one full time neurologist for the 100
million people in Ethiopia, and none for those people in the
surrounding countries. Now, this self-sufficient program is
twelve years old, has graduated 32 board certified neurologists,
with 21 more physicians in the 3 year training program, and it is
continuing to expand. The program is also training physicians
from other African countries, and those physicians are able to
return to their home countries as fully qualified neurologists.

4. Conclusion
These graduate neurologists are treating tens of thousands of
patients a year and, more importantly, they are teaching the general
physicians how to care for common neurological diseases, an
essential form of capacity building in this medically underserved
region.
Dr. James C Johnston has presented guidelines to the United Nations
and the WAML on the importance of these types of sustainable
programs, and those guides were published at the 2016 and 2017 UN
ECOSOC High Level Political Forums, the 2017 Commission for Social
Development, and the last two WAML meetings. Dr. Johnston has
repeatedly emphasized the importance of ensuring university global
health programs stop their self-serving short term medical missions
that cause more harm than good.