Professor Vera Bril (1948–2026): Canadian Neurology Leader and Builder of Neuromuscular Medicine

away peacefully on 30 June 2026, surrounded by her family and loved ones (Figure 1).1,2 With her passing, Canadian neurology has lost one of its most influential clinicians, scientists, teachers and institutional leaders.Her impact was felt deeply in Toronto, across Canada and internationally, through her scholarship, clinical leadership, mentorship and enduring commitment to patients with neuromuscular disease.After being born in London, UK, Vera moved to Canada with her family and attended elementary and high school in the Niagara region.After high school, Vera completed her undergraduate, medical school and neurology residency training at the University of Toronto.This was followed by fellowship training in neuromuscular medicine and electrodiagnostic medicine in Sweden, Denmark and the United States before returning on faculty at the University of Toronto and on staff at the Toronto General Hospital.Over the years, Vera rose through the academic ranks to Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and became one of Canada's most respected neuromuscular neurologists and a defining figure in the growth of academic neurology.As University Health Network and Sinai Health Division Director of Neurology from 2005 to 2019 and through major leadership roles within the joint Sinai Health-University Health Network Department of Medicine, including Deputy Physician-in-Chief, Economics and Chair of the Department Economics Committee, she helped build and strengthen the clinical, academic and institutional foundations of neurology in Toronto for more than a generation.Vera's professional life reflected the best traditions of Canadian academic medicine: rigorous science, devotion to clinical care, service to institutions and a deep sense of responsibility to trainees and colleagues.Vera developed an international reputation for her work in diabetic neuropathy, myasthenia gravis, neurofibromatosis, inflammatory neuropathies and related neuromuscular disorders.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Her contributions helped shape how these conditions are understood, assessed, studied and treated, and her work in diabetic neuropathy was especially meaningful to both neurology and diabetes communities.[5][6][7]10