Professor Alan Bryer is the Head of the Division of Neurology and of the Stroke Unit at Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town. Prof. Bryer is the chairman of the South African Stroke Society and has been instrumental in the development of the South African Stroke guideline. He has been actively involved with the wider community and Health-care sector to promote current principles of stroke care that are appropriate and applicable to different levels of the health service in South Africa. He has served on council of the College of Neurologists of South Africa and holds the Stroke portfolio of the South African Heart and Stroke Foundation. He has presented many papers at national and international neurology meetings and has published in local and international peer-reviewed journals particularly in the field of neurogenetics and stroke.