DEAR COLLEAGUES,
           It is a great pleasure for us to invite you to the "Symposium on Narcolepsy and Hypersomnia" scheduled for April 24, 2009 in Prague, Czech Republic.
           We would like to commemorate Prof. Bedřich Roth, one of the pioneers of sleep medicine both in the Czech Republic and abroad. Thanks to his endeavour patients with excessive daytime sleepiness, especially narcolepsy and hypersomnia, started being systematically examined at the Henner Department of Neurology in Prague, in the early 1950s.
           Contribution of Bedřich Roth to knowledge is documented by many original articles, excellent clinical descriptions and three monographs which can be considered as milestones in sleep medicine.
           The symposium is organized in cooperation with the European Sleep Research Society and will be preceded by a teaching course organized by this society. The teaching course will be held on April 23, 2009 in the same venue.
           The symposium programme will consist of several solicited papers presented during the morning session, while the afternoon session will be devoted to short oral/poster presentations submitted by participants. You are warmly invited to submit an abstract of your contribution by February 15, 2009.
           In the symposium programme, the European Narcolepsy-Network database and its first contributions to the narcolepsy research will be presented by Dr. Ramin Khatami.
           For the participants and their accompanying persons, an interesting social and tours programme will be organized. On April 23, we will meet at the welcome party held at the area of Prague Castle.
           We believe that our symposium will stimulate interest in narcolepsy and hypersomnia and help to increase the numbers of young, dedicated co-workers eager to specialize in sleep medicine.
           We look forward to meeting you in Prague.

Soňa Nevšímalová, Karel Šonka