Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Baltimore
Dr. Martina Absinta, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor in Neurology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, US. She earned her medical degree, residency in neurology, and international PhD in molecular medicine–experimental neurology at Vita-Salute University-San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy. From 2012 to 2019 she joined Dr. Daniel S. Reich’s lab (Neurological Disorders and Stroke [NINDS], National Institutes of Health [NIH], Bethesda, US) first as Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow, then as a Research Fellow. Her research interests include ultra-high-field 7T MRI–neuropathology correlations in multiple sclerosis, related identification of novel imaging biomarkers of chronic inflammation (with special focus on microglia-mediated and leptomeningeal inflammation), and strategies to limit it.
Istituto Superore di Sanita, Rome
Francesca Aloisi is Head of Research at Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Rome and leads the Unit ‘Demyelinating and Inflammatory Diseases of the Nervous System’ in the Department of Neuroscience. She is a biologist with past research interests in neuropharmachology, neurochemistry, biology of glial cells and neuro-immune interactions. In the last 15 years, her research interests have focussed on multiple sclerosis pathogenesis, particularly on the involvement of and interaction between B cells, Epstein-Barr virus and the antiviral immune response in sustaining CNS inflammation and tissue damage.
University of Pennsylvania
Dr.
Bar-Or is the inaugural Melissa and Paul Anderson President’s Distinguished Professor
of Neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
where he Directs the Centre for Neuroinflammation and Experimental Therapeutics
(CNET) and serves as Chief of the Division of Multiple Sclerosis and Related
Disorders. He is former Professor in the Department of Neurology and
Neurosurgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill
University, where he also served as the Institute’s Associate Director prior to
arriving at Penn.
European Centre for Brain Research, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome
Luca Battistini was born in Genova, Italy, in 1964. After obtaining his Medical Degree in 1989, he completed the Residency in Neurology in 1994. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and was then appointed as Research Associate at the Biochemistry Department, E.K. Shriver Center where he directed the Neuroimmunology Lab and in 1996 as Instructor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. After returning to Italy he established the Neuroimmunology Lab at the European Centre for Brain Research at the Santa Lucia Foundation in Rome, also setting up a Flow Cytometry Facility with advanced instrumentation.
He has obtained significant grants from private national and international Foundations. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society USA (NMSS) and the Italian Foundation for MS (FISM) have sustained Luca Battistini’s research for the past 25 years. In 2002, FISM assigned him the Rita Levi Montalcini prize for “Best Young Researcher” for his studies on the role of T lymphocytes in multiple sclerosis.
Since 2016 he is member of the Scientific Board of the International Society for NeuroImmunology (ISNI).
He has published over 130 papers on peer reviewed journals (H index 51), and has served as a reviewer for several funding agencies and international journals. He was appointed Vice-Scientific Director of the Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS on January 2018.
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Dr. Jeffrey L. Bennett is the Gertrude Gilden Professor for Neurodegenerative Disease Research in the Departments of Neurology and Ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He is also a faculty member of Department of Immunology, Program in Neuroscience, and the Rocky Mountain MS Center at Anschutz Medical Campus.
Umea University Hospital
Dr Joakim Bergman is a junior doctor at the University Hospital of Umeå, Sweden. He received his medical degree in 2016 and is currently doing his general rotations before residency. Dr Bergman is a PhD-student at the Department of Clinical Sciences at Umeå University, Sweden. He has been working for prof. Anders Svenningsson at Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden since 2011. The project, which is still ongoing, is a pharmaceutical trial of intraventricular injection of rituximab in patients with progressive MS.
Russian State Medical University and MS Center, Moscow
Alexey
Boyko gained his MD and PhD from the Russian State Medical University, Moscow
and has been Professor of the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at this
university since 1997. He was the Chief Neurologist of the Department of Health
Care of the Government of Moscow in 2001-2015, Director of the Moscow Multiple
Sclerosis Center in 2004-2014 and Director of the MS Clinical and Research
Center of Neuroclinic (Ysupov Hospital) since 2015. He was elected as a
Honourable Professor of Kazan and Yaroslavl State Medical Universities.
Professor Boyko has been a member of the "Oslo International Think-tank on
Multiple Sclerosis Epidemiology, Analytical Approaches to Study of the
Aetiology" at the Center for Advanced Studies of the Norwegian Academy of
Science and Letters in 1994-1995, and worked at UBC MS Center in 1998
(Vancouver, Canada). He is also a member of the Presidium of the All-Russian
Society of Neurologists, Co-ordinator of the Medical Consulting Boards of
Moscow and All-Russian MS Societies, President of RUCTRIMS, member of the
ECTRIMS Council. Professor Boyko has published 15 books, 12chapters in books
and more than 800 original publications and is a co-editor of three medical
journals. The main interest is epidemiology and genetic of MS, neuroimmunology,
clinical trials in MS. He is a member of several Advisory Boards of ongoing and
finished clinical trials, a member of Editorial Boards of several international
medical journals.
University of Verona
Massimiliano
Calabrese is Professor of Neurology at Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine
and Movement at University of Verona. He leads the Multiple Sclerosis Center of
University of Verona and the International Centre for Advance Research in
Multiple Sclerosis (ICARE-MS). Following medical degree and training in
neurology he completed a clinical fellowship at the Neuroimmunology Branch of
National Institute of Health in Bethesda. He has a special expertise in
advanced MRI acquisition and analysis particularly as they relate to
understanding the pathogenesis and the evolution of Multiple Sclerosis. Since
2005 his clinical research activity has been focused on neurodegeneration and
neuroprotection in Multiple Sclerosis, with the ultimate aim of predicting and
of slowing down the accumulation and progression of irreversible disability.
His work on grey matter inflammation and neurodegeneration in Multiple Sclerosis
has earned more than 90 highly cited publications in international peer
reviewed journals and several international awards.
Perron Institute Perth, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and University of Western Australia
Professor William Carroll is a Consultant Neurologist,
President of the World Federation of Neurology, a member of the steering
committee of the International Progressive MS Alliance (IPMSA), Board member of the European Charcot
Foundation and Patron of the Pan Asian Committee for Research and Treatment of
MS (PACTRIMS) having recently stepped down as the Treasurer and foundation Vice
President. Professor Carroll is the Chair of the Multiple Sclerosis Research
Australia International Research Review Board, has served previously as Chair
of the Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia Management Council, President of
the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists, President of the XVlll
World Congress of Neurology 2005, Chair of the Organising Committee of the XXIV
World Congress of Neurology and the Asia Pacific editor of the Multiple Sclerosis Journal. His principal
research activity has been in demyelinating disease both in multiple sclerosis and in experimental optic neuropathy, and
of the biology of demyelination and remyelination. Professor Carroll was
recently made a member of the Order of Australia for his work in neurology and
for people with multiple sclerosis.
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College Medicine
Dr.
Cohen is Professor of Medicine (Neurology) in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner
College of Medicine.He received a BA
from Connecticut College in 1976 and MD from the University of Chicago School
of Medicine in 1980.He completed a
Neurology Residency in 1984 then a Post-doctoral Research Fellowship in
Neuroimmunology in 1987, both at the University of Pennsylvania.Dr. Cohen has worked at the Mellen MS Center
at the Cleveland Clinic since 1994 and was Director 2014-2017.He currently is Director of the Experimental
Therapeutics Program, the Clinical Neuroimmunology Fellowship, and the MS
Academic Coordinating Center.Dr. Cohen
has published extensively on clinical, immunologic, and imaging aspects of
MS.He has had a leadership role in a
large number of clinical trials of potential therapies for MS, translational
studies, studies to validate outcome measures, and observational studies. He
recently served as Chair of the International Advisory Committee on Clinical
Trials in MS and Co-Chair of the International Panel on Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis which proposed the 2017 McDonald
Criteria.He currently is President of
ACTRIMS.
Institute of Experimental Neurology, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital and University, Milan
Giancarlo Comi is Professor of Neurology, Chairman of
the Department of Neurology, and Director of the Institute of Experimental
Neurology at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy. He is also President
of the European Charcot Foundation (ECF), a member of the Board of
Administration of the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Foundation and of the
Scientific Committee of Associazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla, Co-Chair of
the Scientific Steering Committee of the Progressive MS Alliance, and a fellow of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN). He has served as a past president of the European
Neurology Society, the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, and the
Italian Society of Neurology.
In recent years, Professor Comi has received the ‘Gh.
Marinescu’ honorary award from the Romanian Society of Neurology, and has been
awarded honorary memberships of the Russian Neurological Academic Society, the European Committee for Treatment and
Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), the European Neurological Society (ENS) and the Sociedad Espanola de
Neurologia. He also
received the Charcot Award for MS Research from the MS International Federation (MSIF)
in 2015. In the past year Professor Comi was awarded the Gold Medal of ‘Benemeranza
Civica’ from the City of Milan and has been recently conferred the honor of
merit as Official by the President of Italy.
Prof. Comi has authored and co-authored more than 1000
articles in peer-reviewed journals, and edited several books, with an h-index
of 100. He has been the invited speaker for more than 450 conferences, both
nationally and internationally. He sits on the executive boards of various
scientific associations and on the editorial boards of Clinical Investigation,
European Journal of Neurology and Multiple Sclerosis. He is also the Associate
Editor of the Neurological Sciences.
Raúl Carrea Institute for Neurological Research (FLENI), Buenos Aires
Dr. Jorge
Correale graduated with honors from the Faculty of Medicine, University of
Buenos Aires, in 1981. Between 1983 and 1988 he completed the residency of
Neurology at the Dr. José María Ramos Mejía Hospital, Buenos Aires, and was
appointed Chief of Residents. During the
year 1989 he collaborated in the Department of Neuropathology, in the same
center. Dr. Correale continued his training as a fellow in Neuroimmunology at
the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, between 1989 and 1990. In 1990
he moved to the United States, where he completed a second three-year
fellowship in Neuroimmunology at the University of Southern California, with
support of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society USA. In 1993 he was
appointed Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Southern
California, and in 1995 Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular
Immunology. In 1997, Dr. Correale returned to Buenos Aires as Head of
Neuroimmunology and Demyelinating Diseases at the Neurological Research Institute
Dr. Raúl Carrea, a position he currently holds, where he develops an intense
assistance task in the evaluation and follow-up of MS patients. Between 1998
and 2010 he was Associate Professor at the Austral University in Buenos Aires,
teaching Clinical Neurophysiology, Physiopathology and Pain Treatment, and
Neurology.
Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires & Universitary Institute
Edgardo Cristiano is Director of the Buenos
Aires MS Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Institute for Clinical Neuroimmunology, Biomedical Center and University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilian University
Klaus Dornmair is leader of the
research group group "Target antigens of
autoreactive T- and B-cells in autoimmune diseases" at the Institute for Clinical Neuroimmunology, Biomedical Center and University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU) Munich, Germany since 1999. He studied Biochemistry at the
University of Tuebingen, Germany, and received his PhD at the Max-Planck-Institute of Biology, Tuebingen. He then
went to Stanford University as a Postdoctoral Fellow and thereafter as a group
leader to the Max-Planck-Institute for
Neurobiology, Department of Neuroimmunology in Martinsried, Germany. His main
interests are repertoires and antigens of components of the adaptive immune
system in multiple sclerosis and other diseases. To this end, his group is
studying antibodies and T cells in brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid from
subjects with multiple sclerosis and controls.
Rennes University Hospital
Gilles Edan is currently professor of clinical neurology and chair of the Department of Neurosciences at the University Hospital of Rennes, France. After completing his MD at the University of Rennes in 1981, he went on to specialize in neurology under the supervision of Pr Olivier Sabouraud , was a research fellow at Guy’s hospital (London) in neuroimmunology with RAC Hughes in 1987, spent a sabbatical period of 6 months at the MS clinic of UBC with Don Paty and Joel Oger in Vancouver in 1996 and set up a MS clinic in Brittany in 1996. Gilles Edan was one of the members of the international panel for the new diagnostic criteria of MS (Mc Donald criteria) in 2001 and 2005. He published more than 200 peer-reviewed original papers on his MS researches in Journals and several chapters in books on these subjects.
Biomedical Research Institute of Malaga (IBIMA), Regional University Hospital of Malaga
Director of the Institute of Clinical Neurosciences (and founder) at the Regional University Hospital of Malaga since 2003 until the 28th of August 2015.
Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine
Kazuo Fujihara, M.D. is Professor,
Department of Multiple Sclerosis Therapeutics, Fukushima Medical University
School of Medicine, and Director, Multiple Sclerosis & Neuromyelitis Optica
Center, Southern TOHOKU Research Institute for Neuroscience (STRINS), Koriyama
963-8563, Japan. Dr. Fujihara is a neurologist and has mainly worked in the
field of multiple sclerosis (MS), neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and related
neuroimmunological disorders. He contributed to the 2010 and 2016-2017 Revisions
to McDonald Criteria in the International Panel on Diagnosis of MS, and is a
member of the International Panel on NMO Diagnosis. He has also served on the
Board of European Charcot Foundation (2013~), the Executive Committee,
International Medical and Scientific Board of The Multiple Sclerosis International
Federation (2013~) and an External Reviewer of Malaysian Clinical Practice
Guidelines (CPG), Management of Multiple Sclerosis. He is an inaugural member
and Deputy Secretary of PACTRIMS and a co-convener of “MS and Other
Inflammatory Diseases” in the 23rd World Congress of Neurology (2017, Kyoto).
He is a member of International Advisory Board of Sri Lankan Journal of
Neurology (2012~), an Honorary Corresponding Member of the Indian Academy of
Neurology (2015~), and an Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong Multiple Sclerosis
Society (2015~).
IRCCS Mondino Foundation
Matteo
Gastaldi graduated in Medicine at the University of Pavia in 2010 summa cum
laude, and received the specialization in Clinical Neurology at the same
university in 2016 summa cum laude. He completed his PhD in Neurosciences at
the University of Pavia in 2018, under the co-supervision of Dr Diego
Franciotta (Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy) and Prof Angela Vincent (Oxford
University, Oxford, UK). He is currently working as a clinical scientist at the
Mondino Foundation, where he helds a clinical neuroimmunology outpatient
service, and supervises scientific projects of the Neuroimmunology Laboratory.
During his PhD he spent one year as a fellow at the Nuffield Department of Clinical
Neurosciences (NDCN- Neuroimmunology Laboratory) and at the IDIBAPS Neuroimmunology
Laboratory (Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, supervised by Prof. Francesc Graus and
Prof. Josep Dalmau), where he focused his activities on antibody detection
techniques in neuroimmunological disorders.
Multiple Sclerosis Study Centre of St Antonio Abate Hospital, Gallarate
Dr Angelo Ghezzi is chief emeritus of Neurology. He is the
responsible of scientific research at Multiple Sclerosis Study Centre of St
Antonio Abate Hospital in Gallarate, Italy, the oldest Italian MS center. He is
member of the Steering Committee of the International Pediatric MS Study Group,
and member of the Italian MS Study Group of the Italian Neurological Society
Dr Ghezzi has been an active researcher, serving as an investigator
in many international Phase II and III trials. His research has focused on the
areas of optic neuritis, MS and pregnancy, MS and sexual disturbances, MS and
epilepsy, MS evolution and prognosis, MRI and clinical correlation with MS, and
clinical neurophysiology (evoked potentials, pelvic floor neurophysiology);
however, he is especially interested in the clinical and therapeutic aspects of
pediatric MS (MS onset in childhood-adolescence, immunomodulatory treatment of
juvenile-onset MS).
Dr Ghezzi is the editor of 10 books on multiple sclerosis, and
author or co-author of more than 200 articles published in international
journals.
University of Toronto
Jen received her Ph.D. (Immunology) at the University of Toronto
in 1998. She went on to do a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School
studying the complement pathway and then joined Biogen Inc. as a Staff Scientist
in 2000. During her tenure at Biogen, she became interested in B cells,
Multiple Sclerosis and the TNF superfamily of molecules. After 3 years in
Industry, she returned to Academia as an Assistant Professor (Immunology) at
the University of Toronto in 2003, and in 2015 was promoted to full Professor. Jen's
basic research continues to focus on how members of the TNF superfamily of
molecules regulate immunity and autoimmunity. Her team has uncovered a novel
gut-brain axis that regulates neuroinflammation. With respect to translational
work, Dr. Gommerman has been examining the role of B lymphocytes in Multiple
Sclerosis patients, and she is the lead PI on a study examining the effect of
global migration on susceptibility to autoimmune disease.
Heinrich-Heine-University
Professor
Hartung received his undergraduate training at the Universities of Düsseldorf,
Glasgow, Oxford and London. After graduation magna cum laude as MD in 1980 he
served an immunology fellowship at JohannesGutenberg-University of Mainz. He
started his career in neurology at the University of Düsseldorf, where he
became assistant professor in 1987. He was appointed professor and head of the
MS clinical research group and Vice Chair of the Department of Neurology at
Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg in 1990 and moved in 1997 to Graz,
Austria, to become chairman of the University Department of Neurology. He is
currently chair of the Department of Neurology at Heinrich Heine University
Düsseldorf, a position he has held since 2001, and since 2012 director of the
Center for Neurology and Neuropsychiatry. He is also Medical Director of the
Department of Conservative Medicine at Düsseldorf University Hospital.
Professor Hartung’s clinical and translational research interests are in the
field of basic and clinical neuroimmunology and in particular multiple
sclerosis and immune neuropathies, development of new immunological,
neuroprotective and neural repair promoting strategies. He has authored or
co-authored more than 900 articles in peer-reviewed journals, one hundred book
chapters and edited nine books. He is a Highly Cited Researcher 2017 (Web of
Science).
He was President of ECTRIMS and has served / serves amongst others on the
executive boards of the European Charcot Foundation, the International Society
of Neuroimmunology, Peripheral Nerve Society, INC,WHO Working Group on Multiple
Sclerosis, GBS CIDP Foundation International, MSIF and the German MS Society
and theUS NMS Society and ECTRIMS clinical trials committee. He is member of
the executive board of IMSCOGS. He is/ was also member of the Editorial Board
of a number of international journals.
UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco
Stephen L. Hauser, M.D. is the Robert A. Fishman Distinguished Professor of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. He is Director of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, an umbrella organization that links the clinical and basic neurosciences at UCSF to accelerate research against neurologic diseases. A neuroimmunologist, Dr. Hauser’s research has advanced our understanding of the genetic basis, immune mechanisms, and treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). His work led to the development of B cell therapies for MS patients, representing a powerful new approach for relapsing forms of the disease and the first therapy of proven value for progressive MS.
Medical University of Goettingen
Dr. Häusler
studied biology at the Georg August University of Göttingen (Germany) where he
received his Diploma followed by his PhD in Molecular Medicine in 2013. In 2014
he joined Prof. Martin S. Weber’s lab
at the Institute of Neuropathology, University Medical Center of Göttingen as a
Research Fellow. He is focusing on molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of
multiple sclerosis (MS). To decipher these pathomechanisms and to understand
how to counteract them therapeutically in the most efficient and specific
manner is the declared goal of his research work.
Institute of Neurology, Medical University Vienna
Romana Hoeftberger, MD, is Associate Professor
in Neuropathology and Neuroimmunology work group leader at the Institute of
Neurology, Medical University of Vienna. She started her scientific career as
research fellow at the Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna
under the supervision of Prof. Hans Lassmann and continued with her training
for Neuropathology at the Institute of Neurology. Before her appointment as Associate
Professor, she was postdoctoral fellow at the University of Barcelona under the
supervision of Prof. Josep Dalmau and Prof. Francesc Graus.
Professor Hoeftberger´s fields of expertise
are autoimmune disorders of the central and peripheral nervous system with a main
focus on antibody-associated autoimmune disorders. Her major interests are in
the discovery of novel antibodies in patients with anti-neuronal autoimmune
encephalitis and the development of antibody-screening techniques. In addition her
research focuses on clinico-pathological correlations and to decipher the
functional effects of anti-neuronal antibodies on the targeted antigen in human
biopsy and autopsy specimens derived from affected patients.
Institute for Clinical Neuroimmunology, Biomedical Center and University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilian University
Reinhard Hohlfeld is Professor of Neurology and founding Director of the Institute of Clinical Neuroimmunology, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Germany.
http://www.klinikum.uni-muenchen.de/Institut-fuer-Klinische-Neuroimmunologie/en/index.html
After his retirement from the position as Director of the Institute, he continues to pursue his research into the autoimmune mechanisms and pathogenesis of neuro-immunological diseases, notably multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, and inflammatory myopathies. He also maintains a long-standing interest in the mechanisms and adverse effects of various immunomodulatory therapies.
Dr.Hohlfeld is a member of the scientific advisory boards of the German MS Society, International Federation of MS Societies (MSIF), and International Progressive MS Alliance (PMSA); member of numerous editorial boards of scholarly journals; member of the German National Academy of Science (Leopoldina); external scientific member of the Max Planck Society; and Fellow of the European Academy of Neurology.
University Hospital Basel
Grown up in Athens, Greece Ludwig Kappos obtained his M.D. and a Diploma in Clinical Psychology from the University of Würzburg, Germany, in 1980, where he went on to specialise in Neurology and Neuroimmunology, and became Deputy Chief, Division of Clinical Neurology, Max Planck Society, Clinical Research Unit for Multiple Sclerosis. In 1990 he was elected Head of the Outpatient Department, Neurology/Neurosurgery and since 2008 Chair of Neurology at the University of Basel, Switzerland. Research interests include immuno-logical and molecular studies in neuroimmunological diseases, methodology and conduct of therapeutic studies mainly in the field of MS, standardisation of clinical assessment, development of biomarkers and use of magnetic resonance tomography in elucidating the pathogenesis of inflammatory CNS disease and as tool in monitoring therapeutic studies. Ludwig Kappos serves as chair or member in several steering committees and advisory boards of Clinical Trials and Organizations active in the field of MS and general Neurology. Ludwig Kappos has published more than 750 original papers, reviews and book chapters. He has been awarded with several prizes and honorary doctorates for his scientific contributions.
University Hospital Munster
Professor
Luisa Klotz studied medicine at the University of Bonn (Germany), graduating in
2002. She has been a research fellow at the Institute of Molecular Medicine and
Experimental Immunology, University of Bonn, where she was a junior group
leader within the BONFOR programme. Since 2011 she is an independent group
leader for Immunemodulation and since 2013 head of the clinical trial unit
‘Neuroimmunology and IITs’ at the Department of Neurology, University
Hospital Münster (Germany) and holds a Professorship for ‘Neurological Immune
Therapy’ since 2016.
Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna
Hans Lassmann is retired
Professor for Neuroimmunology at the Center for Brain Research at the Medical
University of Vienna, Austria. He studied medicine at the University of Vienna
and was then trained in clinical and experimental neuropathology at the Institute
of Neurology. This scientific education was complemented by a post-doctoral
training in experimental neuropathology and neuroimmunology at the New York
State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities. He then
became the head of a research Unit at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and
Professor for Experimental Neuropathology in the University of Vienna. In 1999
he was appointed as full professor for Neuroimmunology at the Medical
University of Vienna and as the founding director of the Center for Brain
Research. He retired from this position in 2017 and is currently engaged as a
research associate in the Department of Neuroimmunology. His major research
interests are in the field of neuroimmunology and immunopathology of the
central nervous system with special focus on the pathogenesis of inflammatory
brain diseases, including multiple sclerosis. He combines basic research in
experimental disease models with translational research in humans. He has
received numerous research wards, including the Charcot award, the research
prize of the Sobek foundation and the Zülch Award of the Reemtsma Stiftung. He
is honorary member of the Japanese and the French Neurological Societies and
Member of the Austrian and the German (Leopoldina) Academies of Sciences.
Institute of Experimental Neurology, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Milan
Letizia Leocani is
Associate Professor of Neurology at San Raffaele University and Supervisor of
the Experimental Neurophysiology Unit and of Magnetic IntraCerebral Stimulation
center. She had a PhD in Human Physiology and she has been Research Fellow at
the Human Motor Control Section of the National Institutes of Health in
Bethesda-USA. Her fields of interest involve translational validation of electrophysiological
and OCT markers of neurological diseases and of treatment using non invasive
brain stimulation.
University of Verona
Dr. Roberta
Magliozzi, PhD, is a researcher of the Neuroscience Department of University of
Verona. Since 2003 her main interest was the study of chronic inflammatory
response and the role of ectopic lymphoid-like structures in the meningeal
compartment of experimental MS animal models and in post-mortem brain samples. Dr.
Magliozzi has focused her study in cell and molecular mechanisms involved in
cortical grey matter damage and the correlation with intrathecal inflammation in
MS, this with the main aim to identify possible neuroimmunological mechanisms
involved in multiple sclerosis and potential new biomarkers of MS progression.
West Wing John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford University Hospitals Trust, Department of Neurology
Dr Romina Mariano graduated (with distinction) from
the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, Johannesburg, South Africa in
2012. In 2011 she completed an Advanced Neurology Clerkship at Harvard Medical
School (with distinction). From 2013 to 2016 she completed her foundational and
core medical training at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. During
this time she also taught and mentored medical students.
Institute for Clinical Neuroimmunology, Biomedical Center and University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilian University
Edgar Meinl
is Professor at the Institute of Clinical Neuroimmunology, LMU Munich. He
studied medicine in Gießen, Germany and performed his MD thesis with Prof. Hartmut
Wekerle at the Clinical Research Unit for Multiple Sclerosis of the Max Planck Society
in Würzburg. He was a PostDoc at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Martinsried,
working on MBP-specific T cells in MS. Thereafter he was a group leader at the
Institute of Clinical and Molecular Virology, University Erlangen-Nürnberg. In
1999, he joined the Institute of Clinical Neuroimmunology, LMU Munich. Research
interests: The
BAFF-APRIL system as part of the B cell fostering environment in the inflamed
CNS in MS; Details of antigen-recognition and pathogenicity of MOG-Abs; Mechanisms
of immunomodulatory treatments in MS. Editorial activities: PLOS One (Academic Editor), Journal of Biological
Chemistry (Reviewing Editor), Frontiers in Neurology and Frontiers in
Immunology (Associate Editor).
Rennes University Hospital, Pontchaillou Hospital
Dr. Laure Michel, MD, PhD is a neurologist at University
Hospital, Rennes, FRANCE. She earned her medical degree, residency in
neurology, and international PhD in Immunology at University of Nantes, France.
From 2013 to 2016 she joined Pr Alexandre Prat’s lab (Research
Center of Montreal, Québec, Canada) as a Research Fellow and she worked on
mechanisms of B cells migration inside the CNS in multiple sclerosis. Her
research interests include B cell differentiation and B/T collaboration in MS.
Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine
Dr.
Tatsuro Misu is presently the Lecturer at the Department of Neurology, Tohoku
University Hospital, Sendai, Japan, and leads the MS Research Group in Tohoku
University. After he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, HirosakiUniversity
with MD in 1997, he pursued clinical and post-graduate training at the
Department of Neurology in TohokuUniversityHospital
and obtained his PhD from TohokuUniversity in 2003. Since
2005, he is an Assistant Professor at Tohoku University. In 2010, he stayed in
Vienna as a Gastforscher in the department of Neuroimmunology at Vienna Medical
University (Prof. Lassmann). His principal research activity has been in
neuroimmunology and neuropathology, especially in clinical and pathological
analysis of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and multiple sclerosis (MS), and clinical
management of such disease patients.
Institute of Experimental Neurology, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Milan
Dr. Lucia Moiola is a Neurologist
of the Department of Neurology at Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy since
1999. She is the Coordinator of the Multiple sclerosis Centre of the IRCCS
Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy since 2011. Since 2009 is tenured professor
for the Specialization School in Neurology, Università Vita-Salute San Raffele,
Milan.
Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Catalonia, University of Toronto and BARLO MS Centre St Michaels Hospital
Dr. Montalban is the Director of the Division of Neurology at the
University of Toronto and Director of the MS centre at St Michael’s Hospital in
Toronto. Also, he currently Chairs the
Department of Neurology-Neuroimmunology and is the director of the Multiple
Sclerosis Centre of Catalonia at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in
Barcelona. He is the former director of the Department of Neuroscience and
Chief of the Neuroimmunology Research Group at the Vall d’Hebron Research
Institute. Dr. Montalban received his medical license, trained as a Neurology
specialist and completed his PhD in neuroimmunology during the 1980s at the
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He went on to undertake a postdoctoral
fellowship at the Lupus Research Institute, Guy’s & St. Thomas’ Hospital
plus additional clinical training at the National Hospital for Neurology and
Neurosurgery, Queen Square in London, United Kingdom.
Dr. Montalban is Vice-President of Fundació Esclerosi Múltiple (MS Foundation),
President of the Fundació Cemcat and former President of the Executive
Committee of the European Committee for the Treatment and Research in Multiple
Sclerosis (ECTRIMS). He is a member of the US National Multiple Sclerosis
Society Clinical Trials Committee and he chairs the Medical & Scientific
Board of the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation (MSIF). He is a member
of the Board of the European Charcot Foundation.
In the past twenty years, Dr. Montalban has been in the inception phases and on
steering committees of many clinical trials related to multiple sclerosis. He
has authored over 600 original and revision publications in international
peer-reviewed journals, as well as several book chapters. Recently, he co-directed
the development of the first ECTRIMS-EAN Multiple Sclerosis Treatment
Guidelines. He is the editor of the Clinical Cases Section of the Multiple
Sclerosis Journal.
His research interests include clinical trials, clinical aspects of MS, MR
imaging and biological prognostic factors of disease evolution and treatment
response, immunological mechanisms of the disease and other aspects of clinical
management of MS.
University of Montreal
Dr Prat obtained his undergraduate degree (B.Sc.) in biochemistry from Université de Montréal in 1990 and an MD-MSc in 1995. Dr Prat completed his Neurology residency training at McGill University (Montreal Neurological Institute) in 2003, after having completed a Ph.D. degree (2000) in the laboratory of Dr Jack P. Antel. His PhD work focused on the development of the human Blood-Brain Barrier. Dr Prat is an active member of the Royal College of Physician and Surgeons of Canada (Neurology) since 2003. In 2000, he received the prestigious S. Weir Mitchell Award of the American Academy of Neurology.
Dr Prat is a staff neurologist at the CHUM (Montréal) and is Full Professor of Neurosciences (with Tenure) at Université de Montréal. Dr Prat held the Donald Paty Research Chair of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and was a senior Scholar of the FRQ-S (2012-2016). He now holds the Senior Canada Research Chair en Multiple Sclerosis and was inducted at the College of researcher of the Royal Society of Canada in 2015.
Institute of Experimental Neurology, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Milan
Dr. Rocca is currently Head of the “Neuroimaging of
CNS White Matter Unit”, Department of Neurology, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Scientific Institute Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
Neuroimmunology Laboratory, Medical University Lodz
Dr. Selmaj is the Professor of
Neurology at the Medical University of
Lodz (MUL) and a Visiting Associate
Professor at Albert Einstein College of
Medicine, New York. He is a Chairman at the
Department of Neurology and Director of the Neuroimmunology Laboratory at the
MUL. Dr. Selmaj received training in neurology and neuroimmunology at the
Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, University of London, and at
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York.
Dr. Selmaj has been elected to serve
as a Vice-President of the European
Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS)
in 1999-2005 and a member of several other
international advisory boards. He wasa President of the Polish
Neurological Society. He served as a member of the editorial boards for
European Journal of Neurology,Journal of Neuroimmunology, and Polish
Neurology and Neurosurgery.His research activity considers investigations in
neurobiology and neuroimmunology with a particular interest in mechanisms of
demyelination and multiple sclerosis. He published over 150 papers in the field
of neurology and immunology.
Danish MS Center, Department of Neurology, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet
Per Soelberg Sorensen is Professor of Neurology at the University of Copenhagen and senior consultant at
Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen. He is the founder of the Danish Multiple Sclerosis
Center.
Core elements in his research include development of new MS therapies, translational and biomarker
research, and he has initiated and conducted several large international trials.
He has authored more than 400 scientific publications, 353 of which are indexed in PubMed.
Professor Sorensen was Founding Editor‐in‐chief of the European Journal of Neurology from 1994 to 2003
and is currently member of the editorial board of Multiple Sclerosis Journal, European Journal of
Neurology, Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders, and Multiple Sclerosis and Demyelinating
Disorders.
Professor Sorensen is Secretary General of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in
Multiple sclerosis (ECTRIMS); Executive Board member of the European Academy of Neurology; Executive
Board member of the European Charcot Foundation for Research in Multiple Sclerosis; Member of the
Medical Advisory Board of the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies (IFMSS); Member of
the International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in MS, under the sponsorship of the US National MS
Society and ECTRIMS; and Chairman of the Danish Multiple Sclerosis Group.
University of Genua, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria San Martino
Antonio Uccelli was born in Genoa (Italy) in 1964 where he obtained his medical doctoral degree in
1987. He completed his residency of neurology at the University of Genoa in 1993. In 1992 he
attended, as post-doctoral fellow, the Laboratory of Neuroimmunology - Department of Neurology -
University of California San Francisco (UCSF) directed by Professor S.L. Hauser. From 1993 to 2011
he had a faculty position in the Department of Neurology of the University of Genoa. From December
2011 to June 2017 he was Associate Professor of Neurology of the University of Genoa, then since
June 2017 he is Full professor. Since 2018 he is Scientific Director of IRCCS Policlinco San Martino.
From 2014 to 2019 he was Director of Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Research (CEBR). Since
2009 he is the Director of the Center for Research and Cure of Multiple Sclerosis of the University
of Genoa. Since 1995 he is the Director of the Neuroimmunology Unit of the Department of
Neurology, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health (DINOGMI) of the
IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria San Martino – IST Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul
Cancro focusing his research activities on multiple sclerosis and more recently on adult stem cells.
From 2012 to 2015 he was the Coordinator of the Residency School of Neurosurgery of the University
of Genoa. Since 2016 he is Coordinator of Curriculum “Neuroscienze cliniche e sperimentali” – in
the PhD program on Applied Neurosciences. Prof. Uccelli is co-author of 185 peer-reviewed
scientific publications with a Total impact factor: 1.405 - mean IF/publication: 7,6. Dr Uccelli’s C.I.
(Citation Index Scopus) is 12.253 (Citation Index including publication where AU is part of research
groups) is 12.325 - H Index is 49. Prof. Antonio Uccelli is in Top Italian Scientists list
(http://www.topitalianscientists.org). In 2001 he received the Rita Levi Montalcini Award, yearly
assigned to the best Italian researcher in the field of MS. In 2009 received the Melvin Jones Fellow
Award (for dedicated humanitarian services Lions Clubs International Foundation) and in 2013 the
Royan International Research Award - an annual prize awarded to the excellences in Reproductive
Biomedicine, Reproductive Health, and Stem Cell Biology and Technology. He has been invited to
give seminar and keynote lectures at many Academic sites and conferences all over the world. Since
1995 he has been involved as Co-Investigator or Principal Investigator in international and national
clinical trials, following GCP guidelines. Last GCP training:16 Mar 2016.
I hereby grant my permission for my personal data to be used pursuant to the Italian law 196/2003,
regarding the privacy of individuals.
Lille University Hospital
Patrick Vermersch studied medicine at the
University Hospital in Lille, where he graduated in neurology. He then
completed his education in more basic research fields, mainly in cellular
biology between 1990 and 1994 with a PhD focused on biochemical abnormalities
associated with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. He has also
conducted research related to the characterisations of post-transcriptional
anomalies of Tau proteins. His research interests then turned to multiple
sclerosis (MS).
Prof. Vermersch is head of one of the
departments of neurology at the University of Lille, which
deals with MS and other neuroinflammatory
diseases. The department’s principal scientic interests
are neuroimmunology and markers of disease
evolution.
Prof. Vermersch is currently vice-president for
research in biology and health at the University of Lille. In the year 2000, he
created with colleagues the first MS network in northern France to improve both
care and research into MS. His current areas of interest are prognostic markers
of MS and neuroimmunology in general. He participates in many therapeutic
protocols on MS. He has published approximately 390 scientific papers as author
or co-author. His Hi is 60.
Harvard
Howard L. Weiner is the Robert L. Kroc Professor of Neurology at the Harvard Medical
School, Director and Founder of the Partners MS Center and Co-Director of the Ann Romney
Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. He has pioneered
immunotherapy in MS and has investigated immune mechanisms in nervous system diseases
including MS, Alzheimer’s Disease, ALS, stroke and brain tumors. He has also pioneered the
investigation of the mucosal immune system for the treatment of autoimmune and other
diseases and the use of anti-CD3 to induce regulatory T cells for the treatment of these
diseases. He is the author of the book CURING MS and the award winning film documentary
WHAT IS LIFE? THE MOVIE. In 2004, Harvard Medical School honored him with the
establishment of the Howard L. Weiner Professorship of Neurologic Diseases. Dr. Weiner is
the 2007 recipient of the John Dystel Prize for MS Research and in 2012 he received the NIH
Director’s Transformative Research Award for investigating the innate immune system in
Alzheimer’s disease. He completed his second film, a feature length drama entitled ABE AND
PHIL’S LAST POKER GAME which he wrote and directed and which stars Martin Landau and
Paul Sorvino.
