10 Years of the Women Neurologists Group: A Preview of the 4th Annual Conference

WATCH TIME: 5 minutes | Captions are auto-generated and may contain errors.

The 4th Annual Women in Neurology Conference, held October 24–26, 2025, at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs, is weekend event where women neurologists can gather for connection, growth, and relaxation, both professionally and personally. Hosted by the Women Neurologists Group (WNG), this conference is designed to empower women in all stages of their neurology careers, from residency to retirement. The meeting offers a combination of expert-led educational sessions, wellness experiences, and opportunities to connect with colleagues.

In collaboration with the WNG, NeurologyLive^® held a Roundtable discussion with 2 of the conference’s program co-chairs, Jill M. Farmer, DO, MPH, and Kathrin LaFaver, MD, FAAN, DipABLM, who work in treating patients with movement disorders. Throughout the Roundtable, Farmer, owner and founder at Boro Neurology, and LaFaver, neurologist in the Department of Neurology at Saratoga Hospital Medical Group, discuss the mission of WNG and provide an overview of this year’s program for the 4th Annual Women in Neurology Conference.

In this first episode, Farmer and LaFaver discussed the origins and growth of the WNG, a private online community created to support women neurologists from residency through retirement. The 2 women neurologists explained how the WNG can offer a trusted space for professional guidance, career transitions, mentorship, and personal support. Both Famer and LaFaver emphasized WNG’s role as a valuable resource for networking and problem-solving, as well as sharing their excitement of reconnecting in person with colleagues at their upcoming annual conference.

Isabella Ciccone, MPH: I'm Isabella Ciccone, associate editor for NeurologyLive, which is an online news resource for neurologists. Today, I am here with 2 women experts in neurology to talk a little bit about their upcoming annual meeting, which is already in its 4^th year.

Jill M. Farmer, DO, MPH: Hi everyone. My name is Jill Farmer. I am a movement disorder specialist in the Princeton area of New Jersey, and I have been a part of the WNG on Facebook since almost the beginning—not quite 10 years, which is as old as the group is—but a little bit after that. I was integral in helping with the very first conference we had.

Kathrin LaFaver, MD, FAAN, DipABLM: Hi. My name is Katherine LaFaver. I am also a movement disorder specialist. I've practiced in different areas around the country, but I'm currently in Saratoga Springs in upstate New York. Besides being interested in movement disorders, WNG has really been a big part of my life over the past 10 years. It's been a great resource for all kinds of professionalism questions and career changes that I've dealt with, and I was able to get a lot of support from the group.

We started the group 10 years ago, as Farmer was mentioning, to connect women neurologists better and help us all with questions we’re dealing with, both professionally and in our personal lives. It’s been a great resource, and we’re very much looking forward to connecting again in person in Colorado Springs in October.

Jill M. Farmer, DO, MPH: I like to say that our group is for women neurologists from residency through retirement, so we have a nice wide range.

Isabella Ciccone, MPH: Great, great. Well, thank you both for joining me today to talk a little bit more about the meeting for those who may be interested in attending. For my first question, could you give us a brief overview of the WNG in general?

Jill M. Farmer, DO, MPH: It started as an offshoot of an even larger social media group on Facebook called Physician Moms. That became a juggernaut and grew to over 50, 70, 80,000 members. And when a group gets that large, it naturally fragments into smaller components. In medicine, it makes sense to do that by specialty or subspecialty. So, the WNG was formed. We were not the original people that brought it over as an offshoot, but fairly quickly LaFaver got involved and helped it grow into this really wonderful online community.

It’s private—you have to be invited to join. It is a space, like I said, for all ages and stages of people in their neurology journey, from those in training to those with a wealth of career advice and experience who are now into retirement and looking to be mentors and help people as they advance in their careers. The entire community has been a place where people can really thrive.

They can ask questions about neurological diagnoses and patients, but even more so, it’s a place where they can ask questions about what it’s like to balance work and life. How do you advance in your career if you’re looking to make the shift from academics to private practice, or from private practice to academics? Or if you want to start your own practice and maybe not accept insurance?

All the various things, questions, and hurdles that make people nervous—they have the opportunity to share, ask questions, and just put it out there for the community to respond. We’re pretty lucky that now, with around 4,000 if not more members, we have a really nice, collegial group. There’s very little drama, which we all appreciate.