Speakers Corners
Ariel Miller (Haifa – Israel)
Prof. Ariel Miller holds an M.D. degree from the Sackler School
of Medicine, Tel-Aviv, Israel, and a Ph.D. degree in
experimental sciences (neurobiology) from the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem. He has been a senior neurologist since 1989. From
1989 to 1992, he was a Research Fellow at the Center for
Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard
Medical School, Boston, as a Scholar of the Fogarty
International Research Fellowship (NIH). From 1992 to 1993, he
was a scientist at the Department of Cell Biology, The Weizmann
Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. He is currently the Head
of The Center for Multiple Sclerosis & Brain Research at Carmel
Medical Center, associated with The Rappaport Institute for
Research in the Medical Sciences, and the Faculty of Medicine,
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Professor Miller is an elected Member of the American
Neurological Association (ANA) (2005) and the recipient of the
Hershel Rich Technion Innovation Award in 2006, for his
contribution in the field of Pharmacogenetics and “personalized
medicine”. He is also the Founder of the Israel Society of
Neuroimmunology.
His scientific and medical work is dedicated to elucidation of
the mechanisms underlying brain diseases, with special focus on
implementation of therapeutic strategies for multiple sclerosis
as well as pharmacogenetics toward development of “Personalized
Medicine”.
Eva Havrdova (Prague - Czech Republic)
Dr. Eva Havrdova is Professor of Neurology at the First
Faculty of Medicine, General Faculty Hospital, Charles
University in Prague, Czech Republic.
She obtained her medical degree at the same university in 1981
and went on to specialize in neurology and became Professor at
Charles University in 2010. She is currently Director of the
Center for Demyelinating Diseases at Charles University, Prague.
Dr.Havrdová’s research interests include cytokine,
immunoglobulin & T-cell research in multiple sclerosis, and
treatment of MS. She has published more than 40 publications on
multiple sclerosis including Neuroimmunology, Handbook on MS for
General Practitioners, Pharmacotherapy of MS, Multiple Sclerosis
for Czech neurologists and several books for patients.
She organized the European Committee for Treatment and Research
in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) congress in Prague in 2007, is a
member of the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation
International Medical and Scientific Board, and a member of the
Czech Neurological Society Committee. She served as a member of
Executive Committee of European Multiple Sclerosis Platform in
2006-2010.
Filippo Santorelli (Rome – Italy)
Filippo Santorelli is Director, Unit of Neurodegenerative and
Neuromuscular Disorders, Department of Molecular Medicine and
Neurogenetics, Italy. He graduated in Medicine from Federico II
University in Naples, Italy in 1988 and has a PHD whose field
study was Neurosciences from the La Sapienza University, Rome in
2001. The main domain of his research is the neurogenetic of
neuromuscular and motor neuron disorders. His research project
on ARSACS is entitled “Zebrafish in ARSACS".
Gilles Edan (Rennes – France)
Gilles Edan is currently professor of clinical
neurology and chair of the Department of Neurosciences at the
University Hospital of Rennes, France. He gained his MD at the
same university in 1981 and became a Professor of Clinical
Neurology in 1990, Head of the Department of Neurology in 1997
and gained his current position in 2012. He has been involved in
clinical trials in multiple sclerosis as an investigator since
1992.
Gisela Kobelt (Stockholm – Sweden)
Gisela Kobelt is the founder and president of European
Health Economics SAS.
She is the author of an introductory guide to economic
evaluation for non-specialists that is now available in several
languages from the Office of Health Economics in London.
Since 2003, she organizes and directs an annual intensive
training course Health Economics of Pharmaceuticals and other
Medical Interventions in Southern France. Previously, she was
course director of the executive course in “Strategic Health
Economics” at the Stockholm School of Economics.
Until the end of 1997, Gisela was Vice-President, Corporate
Health Economics, at the Pharmacia & Upjohn Corporate Management
Center in Stockholm and London. Prior to her responsibilities
with Pharmacia, she created and headed the Health Economics
department at Sandoz (now Novartis) in Basel (Switzerland). She
initially joined Sandoz as project manager in R&D and was
subsequently transferred for three years to Sandoz USA, where
she created and led a project management group in pre-marketing.
Previously, she was director of Human Resources, Finance and
Administration at the Merrell Dow Research Center in Strasbourg
(France) for six year.
She holds a Master’s degree from the University of Strasbourg
(France), an MBA from the Institute for Management Development
(IMD/IMEDE) in Lausanne (Switzerland) and a PhD in Health
Economics from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm (Sweden).
Kevin Rostasy (Germany)
Kevin Rostasy is graduated medical studies at the
Albert-Ludwig’s-University in Freiburg, Germany.
General Pediatrics training at the Royal Aberdeen Sick
Children’s Hospital, Scotland; Pediatric Neurology Resideny
training and NIH- funded Research Fellowship at the New England
Medical Center/Tufts with Paul Rosman, MD, Boston/USA; further
postgraduate training at the Department of Pediatrics and
Pediatric Neurology, Medical University Göttingen with Prof.
Hanefeld/Prof. Gärtner.
Research interest: Immune-mediated inflammatory diseases of the
gray and white matter of the central nervous system.
Memberships: Gesellschaft für Neuropädiatrie (GNP) (Board
Member); International Pediatric MS Study Group (IPMSSG) (Board
member) and the Multinational European Trial for Children with
Opsoclonus Myoclonus Syndrome (Board member); European
Paediatric Neurology Society (EPNS)
Lauren Krupp (New York – USA)
Lauren Krupp, MD, is Professor of Neurology and
Psychology at Stony Brook University Medical Center and
specializes in multiple sclerosis. She is the co-director of the
adult MS Comprehensive Care Center at Stony Brook and is the
founder and director of the National Pediatric Multiple
Sclerosis Center at Stony Brook, having pioneered the first
Center in the United States to treat children and adolescents
with multiple sclerosis. She received her medical degree from
the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1981 and interned at
the New York College of Medicine in Westchester, NY. She was
president and chief resident of neurology at Albert Einstein
College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center and then
completed fellowship training at the Neuro-immunology/Multiple
Sclerosis Branch of the National Institutes of Health. She is a
Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, founding chair and
member of the International Pediatric MS Study Group, and
initial chair and current member of the National Network of
Pediatric MS Centers of Excellence. Her clinical research
program addresses clinical challenges affecting adults as well
as children with MS and focuses on better defining and treating
fatigue, mood disturbance, and cognitive dysfunction in MS. She
has published more than 100 original articles or chapters and is
an internationally acknowledged authority on symptomatic
management in multiple sclerosis.
Ludwig Kappos (Basel – Switzerland)
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 specialize 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 immunological and molecular studies
in neuroimmunological diseases, methodology and conduct of
therapeutic studies mainly in the field of MS, standardization
of clinical assessment, 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 450 original papers, reviews and book chapters.
Maria José Sá (Porto – Portugal)
Maria José Sá graduated in Medicine in 1976 and obtained a Ph.D.
degree in 1998 from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of
Porto. She is a Senior Neurologist in the Department of
Neurology of Centro Hospitalar São João, Porto where she heads
the MS Clinic and the CSF Laboratory. She is also Associate
Professor of Neurology at the Faculty of Health Sciences, at the
University Fernando Pessoa in Porto.
Main areas of interest are neuroimmunology, biomarkers, and the
inflammatory/demyelinating diseases of the nervous system,
particularly MS. She is author of many presentations and
publications in peer-reviewed journals as well as 7 books and 10
book chapters, and was the coordinator of the main textbook of
neurology edited in Portugal “Clinical Neurology: Understanding
Neurological Diseases” (2nd ed. 2014). Professor Maria José Sá
was president of the first and second International Porto MS
Congresses (2011-2013) and has been involved in national and
international organizations (Portuguese Society of Neurology, MS
group of Directorate-General of Health, Portuguese Health
Ministry). She is a member of the ESNI Scientific Board and
delegate to both the EFNS and the ECTRIMS.
Orhan Aktas (Düsseldorf – Germany)
Orhan Aktas received his undergraduate training at the
universities of Bochum, Germany and Strasbourg, France. After
graduation as MD in 1999, he served a neuroimmunology fellowship
at the Charité, Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany. He
started his career in neurology at the Charité and was appointed
Associate Professor and Head of the MS Clinical Research Group
at the Department of Neurology, Heinrich Heine University,
Düsseldorf, Germany, in 2008. He is co-ordinator of the recently
founded Düsseldorf Multiple Sclerosis Center at the Department
of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine University.
Professor Aktas’ clinical and research interests are in the
field of basic and clinical neuroimmunology and in particular
Multiple Sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica. He has authored or
co-authored a large series of primary research articles in
peer-reviewed journals such as Nature Medicine, Nature Cell
Biology, Cell, Neuron, and contributed to review articles and
editorials in Trends in Neurosciences, Lancet Neurology, Journal
of Neurology, and Annals of Neurology. He has been involved as a
principal investigator
in international multicentre therapeutic trials in MS and has
designed investigator-initiated trials in translational
neuroimmunology.
Renato Tozzoli (Pordenone – Italy)
Renato Tozzoli is Head of the Department of Laboratory Medicine
and Medical Director at the Clinical Pathology Laboratory, St.
Mary of Angels Hospital, Pordenone, Italy.
He graduated in Medicine and Surgery at the University of
Bologna, and specialized in Endocrinology in 1984 at the Modena
University and in Clinical Pathology in 1988 at Padua
University. He has published over 250 papers in national
(Italian) and international journals, including several
convention reports, books, and book chapters. He is General
Chairman of the Italian Society of Laboratory Medicine Study
Groups; Member of the Italian Association for Autoimmune
Research; Founder and President of the Italian Interdisciplinary
Forum for Research in Autoimmune Diseases (FIRMA) and Deputy
Editor of Autoimmunity Highlights (Springer).
Sean J. Pittock (Minnesota, Rochester – USA)
Sean J. Pittock has been practicing medicine for 21
years. He is associate Professor of Neurology and Co-director of
the Neuroimmunology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic. He graduated from
the University College of Dublin, Nat'l University of Ireland,
Faculty of Medicine, Dublin, in 1993. He practices medicine in
Rochester, Minnesota and specializes in Neurology. Dr. Pittock
is affiliated with North Memorial Medical Center, Mayo Clinic
Hospital-Rochester Methodist Campus and Saint Mary´s Hospital.
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