Tamás Dóczi
Department of Neurosurgery, Center for Medical and Health Sciences, University of Pecs, Hungary and Representative, European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS)
Mary G Baker, MBE
President, Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA)
Tamás Dóczi
Department of Neurosurgery, Center for Medical and Health Sciences, University of Pecs, Hungary and Representative, European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS)
Mary G Baker, MBE
President, Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA)
Mary Baker, MBE, is Patron and Immediate Past President of the European Parkinson’s Disease Association (EPDA), a position she was elected to in 1992 when the EPDA was first formed. With a membership of 38 European Parkinson’s Patient Organisations, the EPDA is a non-profit making organisation dedicated to the promotion of the international understanding of PD. Ms Baker retired as Chief Executive of the Parkinson’s Disease Society of the United Kingdom in 2001 where she had worked for 18 years, advocating the needs of people living with Parkinson’s and their families and developing methods of good practice. She is also President of the European Federation of Neurological Associations, Vice President of the European Brain Council, Consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Chair of the Working Group on Parkinson’s Disease formed by the WHO in May 1997. She is Director at Large for the World Stroke Association, former patient editor of the BMJ (now Chair of the BMJ Patient Advisory Group), member of the ABPI Code of Practice and has received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Surrey in recognition of her work within the world of Parkinson’s disease. Ms Baker has also received numerous awards in recognition of her work in the field of Neurology, and PD in particular, including the European Woman of Achievement Award 2000, and the Human Communication International Award 2001. ■
Jacques L De Reuck
President, European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS)
Jacques L De Reuck is the President of the European Federation of Neurological Societies, which groups 41 national societies. He was previously the Chairman of the Congress Program Committee of the EFNS and organised four successful international congresses with more than 4,000 participants each year. He is also the European Director of the World Federation of Neurology. Professor De Reuck has been Professor of Neurology at the Ghent University Hospital (Belgium) since 1981. He was Chairperson of the Department of Neurology until 2004 and Director of the Ghent PET Centre until 1999. He was trained in Neurology at the Ghent University and at the Harvard Massachussets General Hospital in Boston (US). His main scientific interests are stroke, dementia and muscle diseases. He started his scientific career in neuropathology and from 1990 on he used positron emission tomography as main tool of research in cerebrovascular diseases. He is the author of approximately 300 articles in international journals. He was invited speaker at more than 60 international congresses. He was Co-Editor of Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery and is still on the Editorial Board of different European neurological journals. ■
Jean Georges
Executive Director, Alzheimer Europe
Jean Georges is the Executive Director for Alzheimer Europe and has been the project manager of the various European projects run by the organisation. In this capacity, he liaises with various other European organisations, and in 2000, he was elected to the Board of the European Federation of Neurological Associations and was its Secretary General from 2002 to 2004. In 2003, he was also elected to the Executive of the European Patients’ Forum, a post to which he was re-elected in 2005. In 2006, he was elected as Vice-President of the European Patients’ Forum and represents the organisation on the working group on relative effectiveness of the Pharmaceutical Forum set up by the European Commission.After finishing his BA in English and European Literature at the University of Essex (UK) in 1989, Mr Georges lived in Brussels, Belgium, where he trained with the Directorate General for Information, Culture and Communication of the European Commission and in Barcelona, Spain, where he worked as a tour guide in order to improve his Spanish. After his return to Luxembourg in 1990, he started work for the European and International department of the Luxembourg newspaper Tageblatt, while at the same time working as the parliamentary assistant to the Chairperson of the External and European Affairs Committee of the Luxembourg Parliament. From 1991 to 1996, he was in charge of International, European and legal affairs for the Socialist Group in the Luxembourg Parliament and from 1994 to 1996 he took on the additional task of press attaché for the Luxembourg delegation of the Party of European Socialists in the European Parliament. ■
Arne Hagen
President, Stroke Alliance for Europe (SAFE)
Arne Hagen is the President of the Stroke Alliance for Europe (SAFE). He is also a board member of the European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA) and President of the Norwegian Stroke Association. Prior to his stroke in August 1997, he was a colonel in the Royal Norwegian Air Force. His service in the air force included Aide de Camp for HM King Olav, Commanding Officer at Bardufoss Air Force Station, Chief of the Foreign Liaison Office Norway and Branch Chief of the NATO headquarters in High Wycombe, UK. ■
Wolf-Dieter Heiss
Past President, European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS)
Wolf-Dieter Heiss is Past President of the European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS), was Professor and Chairman at the Department of Neurology at the University of Cologne and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research in Cologne (1985–2005). He has won numerous awards including the Zulch Prize in 1994, the Mihara Award in 1995, the Bergmann-Plakette in 1999, the Berson-Yalow Award in 2002 and the Von Hevesy Medal 2005. He is a member of the American Neurological Association (honorary member), the Stroke Council of the American Heart Association, the Society of Nuclear Medicine, the Société Française de Neurologie (honorary member), Austrian Neurological Society (honorary member) and the International Stroke Society (of which he was President from 1992 to 1996), among others. He has also been a Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society at the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research since 1982 and has been Head of the Clinical Scientific Branch of the Center for Cerebral Vascular Research also at the Max Planck Institute, since 1978. Dr Heiss graduated with an MD from the Medical School at the University of Vienna in 1965. ■
Gérard Said
Secretary-General, European Neurological Society (ENS)
Gérard Said is Secretary-General of the European Neurological Society (ENS), which he co-founded in 1986. He has also organised the yearly ENS congress since 1988. He has been Professor and Chief of the Service of Neurology of the University Hospital of Bicêtre since 1987. Starting in 2006, Professor Said is Director of the Research Group on Neuromuscular Disorders of the World Federation of Neurology (WFN), and between 1998 and 2000 he was President of the Peripheral Nerve Society (PNS). His main field of investigation is disorders of the peripheral nervous system, diabetic neuropathy, vasculitic neuropathy and infectious neuropathies. In 1977–1978, he was a research fellow in the Department of Neurology of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. He became Professor of Neurology in 1976, having previously been Assistant Professor at the University Hospital of Bicêtre and resident in neurology in Paris between 1968 and 1972. ■
Bruno Vellas
Principal Investigator, European Alzhiemer’s Disease Consortium (EADC)
Bruno Vellas is Principal Investigator (PI) of the European Alzhiemer’s Disease Consortium (EADC), the French National Network on Alzheimers (PHRC Réal.fr) and large international trials in the field of Alzheimer’s disease. He is Professor and Chief of the Department of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the Toulouse University Hospital, as well as Chief of the Alzheimer Disease Clinical Research Centre at the University of Toulouse. Professor Vellas has been involved in several studies on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) for over 15 years and has published more than 170 articles in the field. He is visiting Professor and consultant for the Aging Process Study, School of Medicine in Albuquerque, New Mexico, US. He is also the Editor-in- Chief of Research and Practice in Alzheimer’s Disease and the Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging and is a member of the editorial board of several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Gerontology Medical Sciences and Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging. Professor Vellas obtained his MD and PhD from the University Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France. ■
