Speakers
Professor David Baker
Following completing a BSc in Zoology in 1983, he performed post-graduate studies at the Royal College of Surgeons of England on immune tolerance and delayed hypersensitivity responses in the skin and obtained a PhD in 1987. Following the award of Angela Limerick Lectureship to study multiple sclerosis (MS), he turned his attention to delayed hypersensitivity responses in the brain. He developed a novel relapsing model of multiple sclerosis. Although his interests have varied over time, his focus has been on control of neuroimmunological disease and its translational relevance to MS and has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers.
His early career focused on genetics; T cell biology, neuroimmunology and blood brain barrier function to name a few examples. In 1994 he became the first ever recipient of a Multiple Sclerosis Society UK Senior fellowship and moved to the Institute of Ophthalmology to develop ocular models of central nervous system autoimmunity. There his group uncovered the first experimental evidence for symptomatic benefit of cannabis and cannabinoids in the control of spasticity. This work led to the development of cannabis-based licensed medicines for treatment of spasticity in MS. His research has focussed development of agents to treat symptoms and promote neuroprotection. He moved to the Institute of Neurology, University College London in 1999 to continue his work on spasticity. He founded a University spin-out company in 2005 to develop his intellectual property. The drug recently completed phase II studies in MS, with results expected in 2017. Having become adept at controlling the peripheral immune response, he used this knowledge to 3Rs “refined” EAE models and created secondary progressive MS models to target studies towards neuroprotection. In 2006 he teamed up with Professor Gavin Giovannoni and moved to Queen Mary University of London, to lead the pre-clinical part of a translational neuroscience team. In addition to trials on symptom control, the team have recently translated some neuroprotection studies from animals into human. The team have also embraced public engagement of science to run a MS research blog (www.ms-res.org).
Dr Jeffrey Bennett
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 the Programs in Immunology and Neuroscience, and the Rocky Mountain MS Center at Anschutz Medical Campus.
Dr Bennett received his medical and doctoral degrees at Stanford University and completed his internship and residency in Neurology at the University of Colorado. He subsequently completed a clinical fellowship in neuro-ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania and post-doctoral research at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Dr Bennett directs basic, translational, and clinical research programs on neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, multiple sclerosis, optic neuritis, and MOGAD, and maintains active specialty practices in neuro-ophthalmology and neuro-immunology. He has received the Stephen Reingold Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the CU Inventor of the Year Award from the University of Colorado.
Dr Bennett has been a leader in understanding the role of B cells in demyelinating disorders. Using single cell recombinant monoclonal antibody technology, his laboratory has probed the targets of the immune response in NMOSD and MS. His research in NMOSD has elucidated the pathogenicity of AQP4 autoantibodies, identified B cell epitopes on AQP4 protein, and assisted in the development of novel antigen-specific therapies.
Dr Bennett is widely published, is a regular member of scientific review committees for the National Institutes of Health and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He performs editorial services for numerous scholarly publications in fields of neuro-immunology and neuro-ophthalmology.
Professor Massimiliano Calabrese
Massimiliano Calabrese is Professor of Neurology at University of Verona. He leads the Regional 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 at Padova University, he worked continuously in the Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Padova until 2013 when he moved to Verona University. From July 2004 to June 2005 he frequented an international stage in the Neuroimmunology Branch of National Institute of Health in Bethesda, working on new MRI technology to visualize cortical grey matter pathology in 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 150 highly cited publications in international peer reviewed journals and several international awards.
Dr John R. Corboy
John R. Corboy, M.D. grew up outside Chicago, Illinois. He did undergraduate, medical school and Neurology training at the University of Pennsylvania and Neurovirology fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University. After a brief stint at the University of Minnesota, he moved to Colorado in 1994 and is Professor, Executive Vice-Chair and the inaugural holder of the Charles Elliot Morris Endowed Chair, all in the Department of Neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, Colorado. In 1997, he founded the University of Colorado Multiple Sclerosis Center, which then morphed into the Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Center (RMMSC) at the University of Colorado in 2008, of which he is Co-Director, and Director of the RMMSC Tissue Bank. His main areas of interest are MS diagnostic issues and clinical therapeutics in MS, and he continues to maintain an active clinical practice. Present projects include the DISCOntinuation of disease modifying therapies in MS (DISCOMS) study, a randomized, controlled discontinuation trial in stable, older MS patients, funded by PCORI and the NMSS and for which he was the primary author. An extension of this study started up in 2021 as well. His group is also studying young, asymptomatic first-degree relatives of those with MS, in an attempt to identify earliest signs and markers of MS in this high-risk population. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and is an elected member of the American Neurological Association and AOA, the medical school honor society. He has been an active committee member for the American Academy of Neurology since 1998, including 12 years on the Graduate Education Subcommittee (six years as Chair), and is presently on its Science Committee. He is the founding editor of Neurology: Clinical Practice, the clinical journal of the AAN, and also sits on the AAN publications committee. For fun, he plays golf and ice hockey, snow skis, and hikes and travels with his wife, Alix, and their four children in beautiful Colorado and the mountain west, as well as internationally.
Dr Ruth Dobson
Dr Ruth Dobson is currently a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Preventive Neurology Unit at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, QMUL, an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College and an Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Barts Health NHS Trust. She studied medicine at Clare College, Cambridge and UCL, before completing medical and neurology training in London, Birmingham and Sussex.
She completed her PhD in 2013, which examined the genetic and environmental determinants of MS risk. This was supported by an ABN/MS Society Clinical Research Training Fellowship and a Brain Entry Scholarship. She was awarded an AAN International Scholarship Award for her research. She has over 50 publications in peer reviewed journals. Current research projects are supported by the MS Society, Horne Family Foundation and Barts Charity. She has recently developed and set up an international mentorship scheme for women working in the field of MS, and is a non-executive committee member of international women in MS (iWiMS).
Her main research interests are around the early identification and epidemiology of multiple sclerosis, with a particular focus on genetic and environmental risk factors including Epstein Barr virus infection and vitamin D. She is also working on how these may affect downstream morbidity in MS, in particular bone health. She was recently involved in developing and publishing UK consensus guidelines on pregnancy in MS, and is part of a steering group to develop a UK MS pregnancy register. A further research interest is pharmacovigilance and treatment-associated risk in MS, and she is currently principal investigator on a UK-wide study to examine this further.
Dr Jennifer Graves
Dr Jennifer Graves is an Associate Professor of Neurosciences and Director of the Neuroimmunology Research Program at the University of California, San Diego. She is also Director of the Rady Children's Pediatric MS Center and scientific member of the U.S. Network of Pediatric MS Centers. She completed an MD and PhD in Biophysics at the University of Texas Southwestern. She trained in neurology at the University of Pennsylvania receiving the Arthur K Asbury Award for Clinical Excellence. She completed two fellowships in Neuro-ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania and in Multiple Sclerosis and Clinical Research Methods at the University of California, San Francisco. She has received grant support from the NIH, the National MS Society, the Race to Erase MS and the Foundation for the CMSC. Her current research focuses on the role of biological age on MS phenotype. She is also developing next-generation digital tools to assess neurological patients, leveraging sensors developed in the computer control industry as well as novel applications in mobile technology. Her other work includes the study of genetic, environmental and sex-related factors on disease course and the application of visual outcome measures in neuroimmunological diseases. She is a collaborator in several national and international research efforts in MS and participates in multi-center clinical trials. She serves on the board of IMSVisual and the editorial boards of Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology and Neurology.
Dr Christine Lebrun-Frenay
Dr. Christine Lebrun Frenay, MD PhD, FAAN, is a Neurologist and Oncologist. She is head in inflammatory neurological disorders clinical research unit and MS center in the university Nice (South East of France) hospital. She is a member of the French Neurological Society, French MS Society (SFSEP), in which she was president and of European and American academies of Neurology. In 2008, she described the first cohort of a subclinical form of MS and subsequently co-founded with American, European, and Turkish colleagues the RIS Consortium which expanded worldwide to collect a unique extensive patients cohort. Her particular research interest includes therapeutical and MRI studies in MS with a specific implication in the description of Radiologically Isolated Syndrome (RIS). She is the co editor of recommendations in MS for the French MS Society (vaccines, infections and DMTs). She is participating in numerous clinical trials and research studies with international publications in neuroinflammatory diseases. She is a member of several editorial boards of scientific journals, scientific boards and involved in medical evaluations for MS patients' associations.
She has been nominated in 2018 for the executive committee of the ECTRIMS, the French Association for MS research (ARSEP) and in 2020 the excellence price of the Cote d'Azur University and president of the French MS observatory scientific committee (OFSEP).
Professor David Leppert
David is a native of Basel, Switzerland, and received his MD from the University of Zurich where he also completed his specialty training in Neurology. He complemented his clinical experience with research fellowships in neuroimmunology and neurophysiology at the University of California, San Francisco. After his return to Switzerland in 1995 he founded the Clinical Neuroimmunology Laboratory at the University Hospital Basel where he served as well as head of the epilepsy outpatient clinic. For his research on the role of matrix metalloproteinases, and genomics in multiple sclerosis (MS) he received the 2nd Hoechst-Marion-Roussel prize for MS research (1999), the Ellermann Prize of the Swiss Neurological Society (2001), and the Baasch-Medicus Award (2002).
In 2004 he began his industry career at GSK and GE Healthcare in translational medicine and diagnostic drug development. Between 2007 and 2009, David was Senior Medical Consultant at Novartis and played the role of Global Project Medical Director for the Siponimod MS program. Between 2010 and 2015 he had been at Roche where he served as Global Development Team Leader for the development of ocrelizumab, and later as Therapeutic Area Head Neuroinflammation. From 2015 to January 2019 he was Therapeutic Area Head Neuroinflammation in the Neuroscience Development Unit of Novartis where he was responsible for early and late stage development of MS compounds. He has now returned to University of Basel as Senior Research Associate focusing on research on neurofilaments and other biomarkers of neurological diseases. Since May 2020 he holds as well the position of Chief Medical Officer of GeNeuro whose focus is the development of neuroprotective compounds for MS.
David holds a faculty position at the University of Basel as Associate Professor at the Department of Neurology; he has authored over 100 peer reviewed publications.
Professor Robert P. Lisak
Robert P. Lisak is the Parker Webber Chair in Neurology, Professor of Neurology and Professor of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He received his BA from University College of Arts and Sciences of New York University and his MD from the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University. Dr Lisak served as an intern in Medicine at Montefiore Hospital and medical resident at Bronx Municipal (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) and was a resident in neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was a Research Associate (Fellow) at the National Institute of Mental Health, a fellow in Allergy and Immunology at the University of Pennsylvania and a Honourary Visiting Fellow at University College London as a Fulbright Senior Fellow. Dr Lisak was a member of the Department of Neurology, a Member of the Immunology Graduate Group and Associate Member of the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania before being appointed as Professor and Chair of Neurology as well as Professor of Immunology/Microbiology at Wayne State in 1987 where he also served as Neurologist in Chief at the Detroit Medical Center. He stepped down as chair in 2012 and has remained a full time member of the faculty. Dr Lisak’s research has been centered on neuroimmunologic diseases including multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis and inflammatory neuropathies and encompasses basic, translational and clinical studies. He has served on multiple editorial boards and was the Editor in Chief of the Journal of the Neurological Sciences from 1997-2013. Dr Lisak’s honors include election as a Fellow ‘by distinction’ of The Royal College of Physicians, Gold Medal for Research Achievements by the Alumni Association of the College of Physicians & Surgeon of Columbia University, Honorary Member of the Norwegian Neurologic Association and of the EFNS and is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Neurologic Association as well as an Honorary Member of the ANA. The Consortium of MS Centers, the National MS Society, Wayne State University and the University of Pennsylvania have also honored him.
Dr Ellen Mowry
Dr Ellen Mowry is Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. She completed her undergraduate degree in biology at Georgetown University, medical school at the University of Rochester, internship and neurology residency at the University of Pennsylvania, and a fellowship in multiple sclerosis and Master’s degree in clinical research at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research focuses on environmental factors that influence the risk and prognosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) as well as on improving outcome measures for use in the clinic and in clinical trials. She is also Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI of several investigator-initiated randomized trials, including Vitamin D to Ameliorate Multiple Sclerosis (VIDAMS), intranasal insulin for cognitive impairment in MS, Altering the Timing or Amount of Calories in MS (ATAC-MS), and the Traditional vs. Early Aggressive Therapy for MS (TREAT-MS) trials. Dr Mowry also co-directs the Johns Hopkins MS Precision Medicine Center of Excellence.
Dr Louise Newson
Louise is a GP and menopause specialist. She is an advisor to the NHS and on the Clinical Steering Committee for NHSEI’s Menopause Improvement Programme. She is the director of Newson Health Ltd (www.newsonhealth.co.uk) She runs a menopause and wellbeing centre in Stratford-upon-Avon which is the largest menopause clinic in the world. She has developed the menopause information website www.menopausedoctor.co.uk and the free menopause app “balance” – www.balance-app.com. She has also authored the Haynes Menopause Manual and Preparing for the Perimenopause and Menopause. Louise is the founder and a trustee for The Menopause Charity – www.themenopausecharity.org which supports and empower women with evidence-based knowledge.
Louise has also set up a not-for-profit company – Newson Health Research and Education. She has recently launched the Confidence in the Menopause educational programme - www.fourteenfish.com/menopause/welcome and is involved in research with colleagues in Warwick, Oxford and Liverpool Universities and London School of Tropical Medicine. Louise has contributed to menopause related articles in different newspapers and magazines and been on numerous radio and TV programmes. She also hosts a weekly podcast for women.
Professor Jacqueline Palace
Professor Jacqueline Palace is a consultant neurologist in Oxford and Professor of Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Oxford University. She is involved in running a national service for neuromyelitis optica and a national service for congenital myasthenic syndromes (CMS) and leads the Oxford Multiple Sclerosis group. Her research interests covers MS, NMO, CMS and myasthenia gravis and include clinical treatment trials, immunological studies, pathology, biomarkers, genetics and imaging studies. She has been a UK lead for the National Risk Sharing Scheme which assessed the long-term effectiveness for disease modifying agents in multiple sclerosis, is a board member for the European Charcot Foundation, on the steering committee for MAGNIMS and was the Oxford lead for the European Rare Network for Neuromuscular diseases until Brexit.
Dr Laura Piccio
Dr Piccio obtained an M.D. and a Ph.D. degree from the School of Medicine at the University of Milan in Italy. She completed a neurology residency program at the University of Milan. In 2005, she was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) during which she worked under the mentorship of Dr Anne H Cross at Washington University in St Louis. In 2008 Dr Piccio started to be on faculty in the Department of Neurology at Washington University and became Associate Professor in 2016. In February 2019, she joined the University of Sydney as an Associate Professor at the Brain and Mind Centre. She currently has a joint appointment between Washington University and the University of Sydney.
During her career Dr Piccio was the recipient of several awards including the Harry Weaver Neuroscience Award from the National MS Society, the Dana Neuroscience Scholar award from the Dana Foundation and the Whitaker prize from the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers.
Dr Piccio has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles in international Journals. Her research integrates clinical and research aspects related to multiple sclerosis and neuroinflammation. One of her major area of interest is the complex interaction between diet, the immune system and metabolism in multiple sclerosis and its animal models.
Dr Fredrik Piehl
Dr Fredrik Piehl obtained his MD at Karolinska Institutet (KI) 1993, a PhD in neuroscience from the Department of Neuroscience, KI 1996, completed a post-doc 1997-99 in experimental neuroimmunology at the Department of Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, and became a board certified specialist in clinical neurology 2005. He became a faculty professor of clinical neurology at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, KI 2009, where he heads a research group focusing on neurodegenerative aspects of neuroinflammation, biomarkers and effects of disease modulatory treatments. He serves as head of research at the Academic Specialist Center of Stockholm Health Services, which hosts the largest MS clinic in Sweden and is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Swedish Medical Products Agency, chairs the research committee of Neuro, the Swedish patient organization for persons with neurological diseases, and is an elected member of the faculty advisory board.
Dr Emma Tallantyre
Dr Tallantyre graduated from medical school at the University of Nottingham in 2002. She did her postgraduate medical and neurological training in Nottingham, Derby, Western Australia and Cardiff. As an MRC research fellow, she completed a PhD investigating imaging (Sir Peter Mansfield MR centre) and neuropathology (Nottingham University) of multiple sclerosis (MS).
Emma has been involved in the clinical care of people with MS since 2006 and took on the role of MS consultant in Cardiff 2015. She became a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Neurology in 2018. In her current role she helps run the Helen Durham Neuroinflammatory Unit at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. Emma is a medical advisor to the UK MS Society and has recently been involved in drafting UK guidance on Infections risk in DMTs, and Service Design for Progressive MS.
Emma’s research interests centre on the outcomes of neuroinflammatory disease. In particular she has a strong interest in combining real world clinical data with biological and imaging data to strengthen predictions of outcomes and improve trial design. She is involved in a number of national and international clinical trials that investigate the optimum treatment approaches in MS. Most recently she has co-led on a multi-centre study of COVID vaccine response in people with MS, providing valuable information on management. Emma is also interested in the involvement of patients and the public in the development of clinical research studies.
Dr Clemens Warnke
Since 2017, Dr. C. Warnke is consultant of Neurology at the Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Cologne. At his current affiliation, Dr. Warnke is head of the clinical trial office neurology, and co-head of the MS center including an outpatient MS clinic.
The overall focus of his research is clinical neuroimmunology. This includes clinical MS research, neurovirology with a focus on progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), and the new topic of neurological implications of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemics.
Dr. Warnke was previously trained at the Department of Neurology, University of Duesseldorf. During his specialized training in Neurology, he spent a two-years research fellowship (2011-2012) at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, sponsored by a grant from the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS).
Dr. Warnke acquired his medical licence in 2007, after graduating from medical school at the University of Wuerzburg, Germany.
Dr. Warnke is an active member of the “European Academy of Neurology” (EAN, scientific panel multiple sclerosis), the “Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Neurologie” (DGN, guideline subgroup Multiple Sclerosis), the German “Kompetenznetzwerk Multiple Sklerose” (KKNMS), and of the medical advisory group of the “Deutsche Multiple Sklerose Gesellschaft” (DMSG).
Dr. Warnke received several honours, including the Sobek-Nachwuchspreis in 2015, the European Charcot Foundation fellowship in 2015, the Oppenheim Foerderpreis fuer Multiple Sklerose in 2014, and the ECTRIMS young investigators award for best oral presentation in 2009. His research is or was supported by funds from the German research foundation, the Hertie Foundation, the EU (Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), and the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA).