Short Bio

Lucia Willadino Braga, PhD is a neuroscientist, researcher, clinician and author with over 40 years’ experience working with children, adolescents and adults with brain injury and its attendant comorbidities. She developed and pioneered a number of neurorehabilitation programs, among them the Family Training Methodology, the MetaCognitive Dimension Program and a context-sensitive intervention model for adults for managing the lifelong impact of ABI/TBI. She is the Regional Vice President of WFNR in South America, professor of the Medical School at Massachusetts University in Boston, and is engaged in neurorehabilitation studies with a number of European and American institutions, as well as neuroscientific research, using cutting-edge technology to explore brain plasticity. She is the President of the SARAH Network of Rehabilitation Hospitals, which includes nine hospitals with a total of 1,000 beds, in addition to being a member of the SARAH Board of Governors and founder of its International Neuroscience Centers in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. She received the title of docteur honoris causa from the Reims University (France) in 1999 and was appointed by the President of Brazil to the National Order of Scientific Merit. In 2019, she was given the Distinguished Career Award from the International Neuropsychological Society (INS) in recognition of her ‘major, sustained contributions to the field of neuropsychology’. Dr. Braga is on several editorial boards, has published books and book chapters, as well as articles in numerous peer-review journals.

Short Bio

Barbara A. Wilson, OBE, Ph.D, D.Sc., CPsychol, FBPsS, FmedSC, AcSS is a clinical neuropsychologist who has worked in brain injury rehabilitation for 43 years. She has published 32 books, 204 peer reviewed papers, 124 chapters and 8 neuropsychological tests. She has won many awards for her work including an OBE from the Queen in 1998, for services to rehabilitation; five lifetime achievement awards, one from the British Psychological Society, one from the International Neuropsychological Society, one from the National Academy of Neuropsychology, one from the Encephalitis Society and one from the NHS 70 year anniversary parliamentary awards where she was regional champion for the Midlands and East Region. In 2011 she received the Ramon Y Cahal award from the International Neuropsychiatric Association. In 2014 she received an honorary degree from The University of Cordoba, Argentina. Also in 2014 she received the M.B. Shapiro award from The Division of Clinical Psychology (affiliated to The British Psychological Society) for Distinguished Contributions to Clinical Psychology. In 2019 she received the annual award from the Spanish Clinical Neuropsychological Society. She is editor of the journal “Neuropsychological Rehabilitation” which she founded in 1991 and in 1996 she established the Oliver Zangwill Centre for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. A rehabilitation centre in Quito, Ecuador is named after her. She is president emeritus of the UK Encephalitis Society and is on the management committee of The World Federation of Neuro Rehabilitation. The UK Division of Neuropsychology has named a prize after her, the ‘Barbara A Wilson prize for distinguished contributions to neuropsychology’. She is a Fellow of The British Psychological Society, The Academy of Medical Sciences and The Academy of Social Sciences. She is honorary professor at the University of Hong Kong, the University of Sydney and the University of East Anglia. She has held 30 research grants. Her work has resulted in changes in clinical practice. For example, as a result of a randomised control trial evaluating a paging system to improve the everyday functioning of people with memory and planning problems, the local health authority set this up as a health care system for people throughout the United Kingdom. She is currently working free lance for St George’s Hospital in London on the neuropsychological consequences of Covid-19 and, occasionally, for the Oliver Zangwill Centre.

Short Bio

George P. Prigatano, PhD is presently Emeritus Chair of the Department of Clinical Neuropsychology and was previously the Newsome Chair of Neuropsychology at the Barrow Neurological Institute. He is board-certified in Clinical Neuropsychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology and holds fellowship status in Division 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology) and Division 22 (Rehabilitation Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. During the years of 1972 to 1978, he became a tenured Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center. In 1979, he was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University where he studied with the late Karl Pribram. In 1980, he established a neuropsychological rehabilitation program for adults at the Presbyterian Hospital in Oklahoma City, which resulted in the publication of his book: Neuropsychological Rehabilitation after Brain Injury (1986). In May of 1985, he established the Section of Clinical Neuropsychology at the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center. Dr. Prigatano’s interest in and research on impaired self-awareness after various brain disorders resulted in the edited text with Daniel Schacter entitled: Awareness of Deficit after Brain Injury: Theoretical and Clinical Issues (1991) and the edited text: The Study of Anosognosia (2010). In 1999, he published Principles of Neuropsychological Rehabilitation which summarized research and clinical observations dealing with the nature of various symptoms associated with brain injury and how to guide neuropsychological rehabilitation efforts. His work emphasized the need to understand the struggles of the patient and family as well as rehabilitation therapists, including clinical neuropsychologists. In 1998 he was the President of the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) and worked with Neil Pliskin in editing the book: Clinical Neuropsychology and Cost Outcomes Research: A Beginning (2003). One reviewer of that book stated that it was a “clarion call for neuropsychologists to stand up to the bean counters and demonstrate when and for whom neuropsychological services are cost effective.” In 2001 he received the Distinguished Neuropsychologist Award from NAN. In 2003, he received the Jim Thorpe Award for Excellence in Rehabilitation Services and Research and during the same year was named Distinguished Lecturer of the Year by the Swedish Neuropsychological Society. He is an honorary member of several professional organizations including the Swedish Neuropsychological Society and the Finnish Neuropsychological Society and has served on the Board of the International Neuropsychological Society. His clinical work has focused on both neuropsychological assessment and rehabilitation, including the psychological care for adults and children with known or suspected brain dysfunction. In this regard, he has emphasized the importance of integrating psychodynamic insights with the knowledge emanating from the neurosciences. His most recent book: Clinical Neuropsychology and the Psychological Care of Persons with Brain Disorders (2020) highlights these points and encourages clinical neuropsychologists to expand their practice to include both neuropsychological assessment and psychotherapy.

Short Bio

Christopher Giza, MD graduated from Dartmouth College, received his M.D. from West Virginia University and completed Adult and Pediatric Neurology training at UCLA. He worked on the Yosemite Search and Rescue team before joining the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center (1998). He served on the California State Athletic Commission (2005-2015), and as an advisor for the Department of Defense in Afghanistan (2011). He directs the UCLA Steve Tisch BrainSPORT & Operation Mend mild TBI Programs. He co-authored concussion/mild TBI guidelines for the AAN (2013), CDC (pediatric-specific 2018) and the Concussion in Sport Group (2017). His research focuses on translational aspects of pediatric TBI, including plasticity, stress, exercise and migraine.

Short Bio

Sheldon Benjamin, MD, DLFAPA, FAAN, FANPA is Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, Director of Neuropsychiatry, and Vice Chair for Education at University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he was Director of Psychiatry Residency Training for 25 years and founded the combined Neurology/Psychiatry residency program in 1997. Boarded in both Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) and Behavioral Neurology/Neuropsychiatry (UCNS), he is Past President of the American Neuropsychiatric Association (ANPA) and the American Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training (AADPRT) and currently serves as a Psychiatry Director of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). He has won numerous teaching awards including the University of Massachusetts’ Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Teaching as well as ANPA’s Gary J. Tucker Lifetime Achievement Award in Neuropsychiatry.

Short Bio

Thomas Platz was educated at the medical school in Heidelberg/Mannheim, Germany, and in 1988 at the Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA, received his Dr. med. degree in 1990. He started his residency in neurology in Berlin, Germany, in 1989. In 1995, he received the Feodor-Lynen Fellowship (AvH foundation) to stay at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK. In 1997, he received a Dipl. in epidem. and biostats from the McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, and became board certified Neurologist and Clinical Geriatrist in Berlin, Germany. In 2002, he received his habilitation degree (Dr. med. habil.) in neurorehabilitation at the Charite Berlin, Germany. In 2006, he became the Head of Department for neurohabilitation at the BDH Klinik Greifswald, Germany. Since 2009, he had been acting as a Medical Director of that hospital and as Head of the Department of both its Neurorehabilitation Centre and Spinal Cord Injury Unit, and received a personal professorship for neurorehabilitation at the University Greifswald. Since 10.2018 he acts as Medical Director Research at the BDH Klinik Greifswald and Head, Institute for Neurorehabilitation and Evidence-based Practice ("An-Institut"), University of Greifswald; in addition, he leads the neurorehabilitation research group at the University Medical Centre Greifswald. He is president of the German society for neurorehabilitation (DGNR). For the World Federation for NeuroRehabilitation (WFNR) he acts as head of the Education Committee and head of the Special Interest Group Clinical Pathways; in addition, he is liaison person for the WFNR-Cochrane Rehabilitation collaboration.

Short Bio

Stephanie Clarke, MD is a physician and Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Biology and Medicine in Lausanne. As former Head of the Neuropsychology and Neurorehabilitation Clinic at the University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland, she was closely involved in neurorehabilitation to in- and outpatients in post-acute and chronic stages of brain lesions, with particular emphasis to neuropsychological rehabilitation and speech therapy. With her group, Dr. Clarke continues research projects that combine investigations of cognitive functions and of the functional organization of the human cerebral cortex, with particular interest in the organization and plasticity of the human auditory cortex.

Short Bio

Jorge Hernandez Franco, MD is a specialist in rehabilitation medicine, certified in neurological rehabilitation by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the U.K. He is Head of the Rehabilitation Department at the National Neurology and Neurosurgery Institute M.V.S. in Mexico city since 1991. Dr. Franco teaches Physical Therapy in Neurological Rehabilitation, since 1996, and is also Professor of the Postgraduate Course in Neurological Rehabilitation for Neurologists and Specialists in Rehabilitation Medicine at the National Neurology and Neurosurgery Institute and National University in Mexico since 2002. Dr. Franco is also a World Federation for Neurorehabilitation (WFNR) Regional Vice-president for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean since 1997. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal “Developmental Neurorehabilitation” since 2005; President of the newly founded Latin-American Neurorehabilitation Association since 2017, and Treasurer of the WFNR since 2018.

Short Bio

David Charles Good, MD is Emeritus Professor of Neurology at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center of the Penn State College of Medicine. He was the founding Chair of the Department of Neurology and served in that role for 12 years. Dr. Good received his MD degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and subsequently completed his Neurology residency and stroke fellowship at the University of Minnesota Hospitals. Dr. Good is a thought leader in the field of Neurorehabilitation. He has served as a consultant or advisor to a number of organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He has served on a number of national study sections, and has held leadership positions in a variety of organizations, including the American Society of Neurorehabilitation, the American Academy of Neurology, and the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties. He is currently President of the World Federation for Neurorehabilitation. Dr. Good is author or co-author of numerous journal articles, book chapters, and has edited three books. His research focuses on stroke recovery, particularly techniques to enhance motor recovery. Dr. Good is an accomplished teacher and has received a number of teaching awards. Dr. Good is frequently invited to speak nationally and internationally on topics related to Neurorehabilitation.

Short Bio

Arend de Kloet, PhD, MA started working in 1986 in clinical practice as a health care psychologist at Basalt Rehabilitation Center in The Hague, the Netherlands. Rehabilitation of children and young adults (-25 yrs old) with acquired brain injury is one of his focus points. From 9/2008 up to 9/2020 he was associate professor Rehabilitation at The Hague University of applied sciences. Currently, Arend works as senior researcher at Basalt. He is former chair of the Dutch Special Interest Group ‘Innovation and Research’ and member of the National Steering Group Paediatric Acquired Brain Injury.

Short Bio

Mayowa Ojo Owolabi, DrM, MD, FAAN, FRCP, FAS, FAcadMedS is Professor of Neurology, and Dean, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He is among the top 10 Nigerian scientists among the global top 2% scientists (2021). He has over 300 publications in peer reviewed journals. He pioneered the first Center for Neurorehabilitation in East, West and Central Africa, developed the seed of life model, stroke levity scale and the heath-related quality of life in stroke patients (HRQOLISP) questionnaire and the stroke recovery cycle. Prof. Owolabi is a leader par excellence recognized locally and globally. He is the pioneer Regional Vice-President, World Federation of NeuroRehabilitation (sub-Saharan Africa); a member of the Presidium of the WFNR; member, Board of Directors, World Hypertension League, African Regional Office Director, World Hypertension League, pioneer Director, Centre for Genomic and Precision Medicine, University of Ibadan; and Lead Co-chair, WHO- World Stroke Organization- Commission on Stroke established in collaboration with WSO and WHO. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, Royal College of Physicians, Academy of Medical Specialties, and the Nigerian Academy of Science.

Short Bio

Caterina Pistarini, MD is a specialist in Neurology, and Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine. She serves as the WFNR General Secretary and currently holds the following positions: Director of Scientific Rehabilitation Institute Salvatore Maugeri Genua (Italy); Director of Neurorehabilitation Department of Salvatore Maugeri Clinical and Research Institutes (Italy); Professor of Physical and Rehab Discipline University of Genoa; General Secretary European Federation of Neurehabilitation (EFNR); and Chair of WFNR SIG on Mild and Severe Brain Injury. Dr. Pistarini is Past President of Italian Society of Neurorehabilitation (SIRN).

Short Bio

Mariano Socolovsky, MD is an Argentinian neurosurgeon dedicated to peripheral nerve and plexus surgery. His initial training was done at the Hospital de Clínicas of the University of Buenos Aires, where he currently works as Head of Neurosurgery who has made several rotations for services abroad (USA, Germany, Holland, Brazil), where he completed his training in the specialty. Dr. Socolovsky is in charge of the peripheral nerve and plexus surgery sections of the British Hospital of Buenos Aires, FLENI, Austral University Hospital, and the Favaloro Foundation, among others. He also served as Chairman of the Peripheral Nerves Committee of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (period 2013-2019), a position of global significance from where he has dedicated himself to the education and promotion of peripheral nerve and plexus surgery. . He is a member of the American Association of Neurosurgical Societies (AANS) and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), both from the USA. He is also a member of important and exclusive international societies dedicated to the study of surgical problems of the peripheral nerves, such as the Sunderland Society (USA) and the NervClub (Germany). In his country, he has served as President of the Society of Neurosurgery of the Province of Buenos Aires (period 2011-2013), currently being Vice President of the Argentine Association of Neurosurgery (period 2020-2022).
His scientific publications include 10 books on his specialty, 50 book chapters, more than 60 articles published in international magazines in English, and more than 200 conferences abroad, including countries such as India, Japan, USA, Germany, Spain, Serbia. , Croatia, Italy, Morocco, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, etc. He has directed courses of his specialty in Argentina, Brazil, the United States, and Spain; and he has served as Director of the Argentine Journal of Neurosurgery and Editor of the Peripheral Nerves Section of the Child's Nervous System and of the Operative Neurosurgery.

Short Bio

Susanna Summa, PhD is a member of the Movement Analysis and Robotic laboratory (MARlab), at the Bambino Gesù Children Hospital under the supervision of Maurizio Petrarca. Previously she was at the Research Unit of Neurophysiology & Neuroengineering of Human Technology Interaction, at the Campus Bio-Medico University, and before that at the NeuroEngineering and NeuroRobotics Lab (Neurolab) of University of Genova (Unige), under the supervision of Vittorio Sanguineti and Maura Casadio. Her main research areas are neural control of movements, motor learning in normal and pathologic conditions, neuromotor recovery through robotic technologies and natural interfaces in persons with neurological disorders (stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, ataxia). Currently she is focusing her interests on the development of novel wearable technologies, in standard movement analysis of pediatric patients and in the study of human-machine interaction as tools for the assessment of neuromotor diseases and for neuromotor recovery.

Short Bio

Nirmal Surya, MD is a distinguished Neurologist in Mumbai with over 30 years of experience in his areas of specialisation, which include general neurology, epilepsy, neurorehabilitation and stroke. He can be consulted by prior appointment at Surya Neuro Centre in New Marine Lines. He is also a Visiting Neurologist at prominent hospitals in Mumbai including Bombay Hospital & Medical Research Centre (Marine Lines), Saifee Hospital (Charni Road). He has been the official Neurologist for the Maharashtra Police since 20+ years. He is Member of many International/National organization in various capacity. He has given many lectures at International/National as Faculty & address various conferences across the globe. He also has presented many scientific papers in National/International conferences. He has many publications in Peer view journal & book chapter. He is also in Editorial Board of many journals. Dr. Surya has been invited as Visiting Professor at ORAS, Rehabilitation Hospital at High Level of Specialization, Treviso, Italy Felicitates as a Visiting Professor since March 2019 and Department of Neurology, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, USA Felicitates as a Visiting Professor of Neurology, 12th Feb 2015.

Short Bio

Frederike van Markus-Doornbosch, MD, PhD studied medicine at Leiden University and specialized in physical and rehabilitation medicine in 2008. In 2008 she initiated and continues to work at the adolescent clinic at Basalt Rehabilitation Center with a personal focus on young adults with acquired brain injury and cerebral palsy. Since 2016 she has the position of Chief of Residency at Basalt Rehabilitation Center. In 2020 she completed her PhD on fatigue, participation and quality of life in children and adolescents with ABI. She is further active in the Dutch committee for pediatric acquired brain injury.

Short Bio

Gessica Vasco, MD is a pediatric neurologist in the Department of Neuroscience and Neurorehabilitation at the Bambino Gesù Children Hospital. She is the main collaborator of the Bioengineer center of the Hospital called Movement Analysis and Robotics Laboratory, dedicated to measuring motor and coordination performances. Dr. Vasco has extensive experience in observational and treatment clinical trials in several neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases. She is an active member of the natural history European effort EFACTS for Friedreich Ataxia and is involved in an international network for rare disease (ERN Network for HSP, leukodistrophies, pediatric ataxias, neuromuscular diseases).