Thomas Brionne is a Distinguished Scientist in Medtronic’s Brain Therapies Global Clinical Research team. He is based at the Medtronic International Strategic Headquarters in Tolochenaz, Switzerland, and holds a PhD in Neuroscience from EPFL in Lausanne. In addition to designing clinical studies and disseminating clinical evidence, he provides strategic advice for research strategy, regulatory approvals, reimbursement, and marketing. He has published on DBS for Movement Disorders, OCD, and Epilepsy,

Dr. Mansoureh Fahimi is a neuroscientist specializing in the function and anatomy of deep brain structures. She received her PhD in cognitive neuroscience from KU Leuven University, and postdoctoral training in deep brain stimulation from University College London. Currently she works for Boston Scientific as Medical Affairs lead in DBS for the region of Europe, Middle East and Africa, where she helps shape the research strategy for Boston Scientific DBS technology.

Dr. Martijn Beudel is a neurologist and Associate Professor at Amsterdam University Medical Centers, specializing in movement disorders and deep brain stimulation (DBS). His research focuses on adaptive DBS (aDBS), neurophysiology, and the integration of neural sensing technologies into personalized neuromodulation therapies. He leads several international collaborative projects in the field of aDBS, including a randomized controlled trial on aDBS in Parkinson’s disease, aimed at advancing biomarker-guided and real-world neuromodulation strategies.

Prof. Ersoy Kocabıçak, MD, PhD

Professor of Neurosurgery and Rector of Atlas University, Istanbul, Turkiye

Prof. Kocabicak completed his medical education and neurosurgical residency at Ondokuz Mayıs University and earned his PhD in Neuroscience from Maastricht University, where his research focused on subthalamic deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s disease.

His principal clinical and research interests include stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, deep brain stimulation, movement disorders, neuromodulation, and surgery for selected neuropsychiatric conditions. In 2017, he founded the multidisciplinary Neuromodulation Center at Ondokuz Mayıs University, bringing together specialists in movement disorders, psychiatric disorders, and pain surgery.

Prof. Kocabıçak has authored or co-authored more than 200 scientific contributions, including peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings, and has delivered more than 80 invited lectures at national and international scientific meetings. He is a founding member and board member of the International Deep Brain Stimulation Society, President of the National Deep Brain Stimulation Society, and Neurosurgery Section Editor of the Deep Brain Stimulation Journal.

Dr. Jimenez-Shahed is an Professor of Neurology and Medical Director, Movement Disorders Neuromodulation and Brain Circuit Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Her clinical focus is on the evaluation and management of adults and children with movement disorders, with particular focus on the use of deep brain stimulation, focused ultrasound and botulinum toxin injections. Her research investigates the neurophysiologic features of movement disorders recorded during deep brain stimulation (DBS), the application of wearables and digital health technologies, and health outcomes research. Dr. Jimenez-Shahed currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Executive Committee of the Parkinson Study Group, the largest non-profit clinical trial site network in North America conducting PD research.

Professor Joachim K. Krauss is Director and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Hannover Medical School, Germany, since 2005. He is the also the Head of the Center for Neurooncology at Hannover Medical School, and the Deputy Speaker of the Center for Systems Neuroscience Hannover. He received his MD degree for his experimental work in neuropharmacology of the basal ganglia. He trained in neurology, and later in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, and general neurosurgery with Professors Mundinger and Seeger in Freiburg. Thereafter, he moved to Houston, Texas, to collaborate with Drs Grossman and Jankovic. He went back to Europe to establish functional neurosurgery in Berne, Switzerland, and in Mannheim, Germany, where he served as Vice Chairman from 1999 to 2005. His clinical routine includes functional neurosurgery, complex spine, skull base, microvascular decompression, neurooncology and hydrocephalus. 

Prof. Krauss has been President both of the European (2010 - 2014) and the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (2013 - 2017). He served as President of the German Academy for Neurosurgery from 2018 to 2019. He is an active member of several international societies, committees and advisory boards. One of his missions is to bridge the gap between Neurosurgery and Neurology why he is also active in the Movement Disorders Society where he served as chair/ co-chair in several tasks forces and working groups: Neurosurgery, Deep Brain Stimulation for Dystonia, Neuromodulation for Gait, and Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. 

He has published more than 700 scientific manuscripts and book chapters, and he has edited four books in the field of functional neurosurgery. He introduced pallidal deep brain stimulation for cervical dystonia in 1997, and spinal cord stimulation for orthostatic tremor in 2002. He received several awards including the Oppenheim prize for his work in dystonia, and the Tasker award, the Spiegel and Wycis award and the Gabor-Szikla award for his contributions to functional neurosurgery. In the past few years he put a particular focus on education and training. He is a member of the ESSFN training committee and chair of the WSSFN education committee. 

Steven G. Ojemann, MD, is Professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Psychiatry (by courtesy) at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where he serves as Director of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, and Surgical Director of the Brooke Gordon Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Denver Health Medical Center. 

His clinical and research focus centers on deep brain stimulation, SEEG-guided epilepsy surgery, and movement disorders, with particular interest in functional preservation and neural restoration — including clinical investigations of cell and gene therapies for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease,  and the use of imaging, electrophysiologic, and biomarker predictors of surgical candidacy and response.

Dr. Mircea Polosan, trained in psychiatry and neurosciences, is Professor of Psychiatry and Head of Psychiatry Department in the University Hospital of Grenoble. He focused his activity on invasive and non invasive brain stimulation techniques for treating refractory psychiatric disorders, as well as on research on physiopathology and psychophysical, electrophysiological, neurofunctional response biomarkers identification. He is currently leading or involved in international DBS trials for OCD and depression.

Has graduation in Medicine at USP (1987), where he graduated getting the best student awards the basic course (Rockefeller Award), best student in the class in six years (Award Domingos Goulart de Farias) and better medical student in the stages of surgery (Award Edmundo Vasconcellos). He completed the Neurosurgery Residency at the Department of Neurology, Neurosurgery FMUSP 1987 to 1992. He specialized in skull base in Nordstadt Krankenhaus, Hannover, Germany 1992-1993. He did his doctorate from the Faculty of Medicine University of São Paulo (1994-1998) in Pathology area. He completed his free teaching in the Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sao Paulo in 2006, with work on dealing surgery of tentorial meningiomas and their classification. From December 2007 to February 2008 he completed a post-doctorate at Stanford Pituitary Center at Stanford University, Department of Neurosurgery, California, United States, for the study of gliomas and pituitary adenomas. Worked as a doctor at the Hospital of the USP School of Medicine Clinics from August 1994 to October 2008. He is a member of the Brazilian Society of Neurosurgery, member and founder of the Society of St. Paul of Neurosurgery, and effective full member of the Brazilian Academy Neurosurgery, member of the Brazilian Society of Skull Base Surgery, honorary member of the Pará Neurosurgery Society, member of the World Federation Of Neurosurgical Societies, a member of the Peruvian Society of Neurosurgery, member - Congress Of Neurological Surgeons, the American Association of Neurological surgeons and the Federación Latinoamericana de Neurocirugía Societies, member of the Pituitary Society. Productivity former Fellow of the National Scientific and Technological Development Council. He works as a neurosurgeon at the Hospital Santa Paula Hospital and St. Camillus. We visited the Neurosurgery Service at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, where he gave lectures, Department of Neurosurgery at Montefiore Hospital in New York, together with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Department of Neurosurgery of the Hospital Saint Luke Roosevelt, New York; associated with Columbia University, Department of Neurosciences of the General Hospital of New Castle Upon a Tyne, University of New Castle, England; and Department of Neurosurgery, New York University, NYU. Is Ad Hoc Capes consultant, Araucaria Foundation, DAAD (German Akademische Austauch Dienst) and CNPQ and reviewer of scientific papers in international journals (Journal of Neurosurgery, Neurosurgical Review, Neurosurgery, Acta Neurochirurgica, Journal of Clinical Neurosciences) and national newspapers (File Neuropsychiatry and Brazilian Journal of Neurosurgery). He has experience in the area of #8203;#8203;medicine, with an emphasis on neuroncologia and skull base surgery and surgery of cerebral aneurysms, spinal column. Expert in meningiomas, cell kinetics of brain tumors, skull base meningiomas, gliomas, pituitary adenomas, brain aneurysms and schwannomas of the vestibular nerve. In USP, Department of Neurology accounted for two graduate courses: Meningiomas and Skull Base Microsurgical anatomy and was graduate advisor from 2001 to 2011. In the Brazilian Society of Neurosurgery was part of the Committee on Youth Neurosurgeon as president Department of Neuroncologia, Neurosurgery Aging, Commission on Accreditation of Medical Residency in Neurosurgery, School Committee, Improvement Commission which is responsible for the title of Specialist. Was guiding the Postgraduate Course of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul from January 2009 to March 2014. He concluded 9 Doctoral guidelines and 4 Master. It was approved in competition for Professor at the State University of Londrina, published in DOE in May 2014. (Text informed by the author)

Denys Fontaine is neurosurgeon and pain specialist, trained as a resident in Paris, senior neurosurgeon at the University Hospital of Nice, France since 1999 and full professor of Neurosurgery since 2014. He has obtained a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology in 2007. He is specialized in Functional Neurosurgery, particularly involved in deep brain stimulation and neuromodulation for chronic pain, including primary headaches. Since 2013, he is the director of the “Fédération Hospitalo-Universitaire Inovpain” (https://fhu.inovpain.org ), a large consortium gathering clinicians, researchers and companies, and devoted to the development of innovative solutions for chronic refractory pain. He has coordinated several multicentric trials and published 180 scientific articles. He was president of the French chapter of the International Neuromodulation Society between 2021 and 2025. 

Mohamad Sawan is currently a Chair Professor in Westlake University, Hangzhou, China, and Emeritus Professor in Polytechnique Montreal, Canada.  He is founder and director of the Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Research of Advanced Integrated-on-chips Neurotechnologies (CenBRAIN Neurotech) in Westlake University, and of the Polystim Neurotech Lab in Polytechnique Montreal. He received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering, from University of Sherbrooke, Canada, in 1990. His scientific interests include brain-computer interfaces for the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Sawan is Co-founder, Associate Editor, and Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems (TBioCAS), and founder and EiC of the Neuroelectronics Journal. More recently, he was vice-president publications of IEEE CAS Society (2019-2022). He published more than 400 manuscripts in prestigious journals.  He has supervised the research work and graduated 72 PhD and more than 125 Master students. He received several national and international prestigious awards, among them the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal; the Jacques-Rousseau and Bombardier’s Medals; the Shanghai City Award for International Collaborations.  He is Life Fellow of the IEEE, Fellow of the Royal Society of Sciences of Canada, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and he is Officer of the Quebec’s National Order.

Sara Marceglia is Professor of Bioengineering and eHealth at the University of Milan. Her research interests focus on two main areas, one related to the optimization of invasive and non-invasive neuromodulation devices through the analysis of deep EEG signals recorded in patients with movement disorders, and the other one related to Personalized e-health, integrated healthcare through ICT solutions, and artificial intelligence for decision support systems. More specifically, she is working on deep brain stimulation for movement, neurologic, and neuropsychiatric disorders since 2003, mainly in the field of acquisition and analysis of neuronal biopotentials recorded in deep brain structures, particularly the basal ganglia, and in the development of new DBS devices with adaptive capabilities. She developed the linear adaptive DBS algorithm that is now implemented in adaptive DBS implantable devices. On the other hand, she works to implement integrated systems for chronic patients’ management, including cloud-based data collection platforms, big data analytics infrastructures, ecosystems of personalized app for Patient Reported Outcome collection, and wearable non-stigmatizing telemonitoring devices. She is founder and part of the board of director of the Italian Society for Biomedical Informatics. She graduated in Biomedical Engineering and got her PhD in Bioengineering at the Politecnico di Milano. She was Visiting Scientist at the National Library of Medicine-National Institutes of Health (NLM-NIH). She is author of more than 135 papers in peer-reviewed international journals and of three patents in USA, Canada and Europe regarding neuromodulation devices and methodologies.

YILDIZ DEGIRMENCI, PROF., MD

PROFESSOR OF NEUROLOGY

MOVEMENT DISORDERS SPECIALİST

She is Professor of Neurology, head of Neurology Department in Istanbul Health and Technology Univeristy, Istanbul, Turkey, and running the Parkinson' s Disease and Movement Disorders Unit in Medicana Zincirlikuyu Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. Her main research areas are device-aided therapies in movement disorders including infusion therapies and deep brain stimulation. She currently serves as an Executive Committee Member of the International Movement Disorders Society-European Section (MDS-ES), member of the non-motor Parkinsons' s Disease, Tremor Scientific panels of MDS and Neurosurgery Special Interest Group of MDS. She serves as the management group of the Movement Disorders Scientific Panel of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN). She is one of the Associate Editors in the e-Learning platform of European Academy of Neurology (EAN). Nationwide, she serves as the scientific panel member of Turkish Parkinson’ s Disease Society and task force member of Movement Disorders and Dementia in the Turkish Neurological Society. She completed her movement disorders clinical trainings and fellowships under the supervision of Prof Kailash Bhatia in Queen Square, Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK. She had functional neurology/neurosurgery trainings including the device-aided treatments in movement disorders such as infusion therapies and deep brain stimulation with direct-indirect targeting, planning, and DBS programming under the supervision of Prof Patricia Limousine at the unit of Functional Neurosurgery, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK. Focusing on deep brain stimulation, she worked as a visiting Professor in the Functional Neurosurgery/Deep Brain Stimulation Unit of Umea University, University Hospital of Northern Sweden under the supervision of Prof Patrick Blomstedt, and Prof Marwan Hariz working on direct-indirect targeting and planning for DBS, experiencing surgical procedures including Parkinson’ s disease, various types of tremor, dystonia , and postoperative DBS programming.

Yasin Temel (MD PhD) is a neurosurgeon who has been active in the field of DBS since 1999. After completing his medical studies at Maastricht University, he combined his neurosurgical residency with his PhD program. After visiting the lab of Abdelhamid Benazzouz in 2000, he proceeded to develop the first bilateral STN-DBS model in rodents. In later experiments, he was first to show the link between STN and the serotonergic system. In 2012, he was appointed Professor of Neurosurgery (at the age of 34). As of 2018, he is currently the Head of Department of the Academic Neurosurgical Center Limburg, The Netherlands (six hospitals and one University lab). His current research focuses on experimental and clinical studies of DBS. He has authored many papers mostly focusing on the mechanisms of action and neurotechnology.

Dr. Benoit Duchet is a Research Fellow at the Brain Network Dynamics Unit, University of Oxford. His research combines mathematical modelling, computational neuroscience, and human electrophysiology to study the neural dynamics underlying movement disorders and develop mechanism-based neuromodulation strategies.

Dr. Hamani is Professor in Neurosurgery/ Surgery and Director of Neurosurgery Research at the University of Toronto. He is a Senior scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute, Research Director of the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program, preclinical lead of the Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation and a neurosurgeon at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences centre. Dr. Hamani’s research focuses on the development of new ways of modulating the function of the nervous tissue, and discovering new applications for techniques that stimulate the brain and spinal cord to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders. His work ranges from basic research in preclinical models to clinical trials.

Lee Wei Lim is currently an Honorary Full Professor of Neuroscience at Maastricht University and Istanbul Atlas University; a Visiting Professor at Hubei University of Medicine; and an associate professor at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. He was previously an Assistant Professor in the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong. After completing his MD, master’s and PhD degrees, Dr Lim spent several years of research fellowships at Maastricht University, University of Oxford, and Nanyang Technological University. Dr. Lim is honored to have been elected as a Life Member and Academician of the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia, a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, and an UNESCO Executive Committee Member of Anti-aging and Disease Prevention, France. Dr Lim’s research is focused on translational neuroscience, looking at cutting-edge neuromodulation and psychopharmacological treatments for psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, and understanding how neurostimulation interfaces with brain networks via controlling neuronal activity and the microcellular environment.

Alberto Priori (born November 19, 1962) is an Italian neurologist, academic, and author. He is a professor of Neurology at the University of Milan, Director of Neurology Unit at San Paolo Hospital, and the Founder and Coordinator of Aldo Ravelli Center (Coordinated Research Center) of the University of Milan. He also serves as President of the Neurophysiopatology Techniques Course, and Professor of Postgraduate Schools - Medicine, Healthcare, Dental Medicine at the same university.

Priori is internationally recognized for his wide-ranging research on the pathophysiological mechanisms that underlie diseases of the brain and of the peripheral nervous system. He developed innovative technologies for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, and has also pioneered the implementation of several neuromodulation techniques. In 2008, he founded the Newronika SpA a spin-off company of the University of Milan and Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda in Milan, Italy. The company is dedicated to the development of neurotechnological devices for the treatment of neurological disorders.

Head of the Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Group at the University of São Paulo, Brazil

Marcus Janssen is a neurologist - clinical neurophysiologist at the Maastricht UMC+, The Netherlands. He is specialized in neurophysiology and Parkinson’s Disease, with a special focus on deep brain stimulation. Next to his clinical work, he leads a translational research line which focuses on the development of novel neuromodulative therapies in neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s Disease and tinnitus. 

Elena Moro is a professor of neurology at the Department of Psychiatry, Neurology and Neurological Rehabilitation of CHU Grenoble in France. She graduated in medicine at the University of Trieste, Italy, and completed her residency in neurology at Rome’s Catholic University. She then completed a fellowship in movement disorders in Grenoble, France. After receiving her PhD in neurosciences, she was appointed as the Medical Director of the surgical programme for movement disorders in the Division of Neurology at Toronto Western Hospital, Canada. In 2012, she moved to Grenoble, France, where she is currently Director of the Movement Disorders Center and Head of the Department of Psychiatry, Neurology, Neurological Rehabilitation and Forensic Medicine.Her main research focuses on restoring brain function, particularly using DBS. To date, she has published more than 200 papers based on her clinical research in movement disorders. Prof. Moro has trained many medical students, PhD students, and neurology fellows. She is currently Secretary General of the European Academy of Neurology and Treasurer of the International Association of Parkinsonism and Related Disorders.

Abdelhamid Benazzouz is a Neurophysiologist and expert in the field of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and DBS. He was first to develop subthalamic nucleus (STN)-DBS as a therapeutical approach for Parkinson’s disease in MPTP monkeys during his PhD thesis (1990-1993) and proposed its transfer to human patients. He joined as a Research Fellow at the Inserm unit of Prof. Alim-Louis Benabid in Grenoble, where he participated in the transfer of this approach to Parkinsonian patients. In parallel with his hospital activities, he led a research team investigating the functional mechanisms of STN-DBS in animal models. He was first to demonstrate that STN-DBS could improve PD motor symptoms by inhibiting the neuronal activity of STN and its efferent structures. In 1998, he obtained a permanent research position at Inserm. In 2001, he returned to the CNRS unit of Prof. Bernard Bioulac in Bordeaux, and was later promoted to the position of Research Director in 2005. He currently leads a team in the Institute of Neurodegenerative diseases and is a member of the National Scientific committee of CNRS (2012-2021). He has published more than 130 research papers in peer-reviewed journals with a global H-Index score of 60. He received the National Academy of Medicine award in 2003, the Academy of Science award in 2007, and Honors from the Ministry in charge of Moroccans Residing Abroad and the Ministry of Health of Morocco in 2018.

Antonella Macerollo, MD PhD FRCP FEAN

The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust

University of Liverpool

Antonella Macerollo is a Consultant Neurologist at The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust and an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Liverpool. Her clinical and academic work focuses on movement disorders and advanced neurosurgical therapies, including deep brain stimulation and MR-guided focused ultrasound.

She graduated in Medicine from the University of Bari, Italy, where she also completed her neurology training, including two years as a Clinical Fellow at University College London. She subsequently pursued research training at University College London, obtaining a PhD in Neuroscience in 2018.

Professor Macerollo’s current research programme centres on the development of neuroimaging and neurophysiological biomarkers for the early diagnosis of movement disorders and the prediction of outcomes following neurofunctional surgery. Her work addresses conditions including Parkinson’s disease, dystonia syndromes, Tourette’s syndrome, and tremor disorders.

She serves as Regional Clinical Lead for the Excellence Network of Parkinson’s UK and North West Specialty Lead for the NIHR Research Delivery Network. She is also a council member of the Association of British Neurologists and Secretary of its Movement Disorders Specialist Interest Group.

Ali Jahanshahi is Professor of Translational Neuromodulation at Maastricht University Medical Center. His research focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, with particular emphasis on how neuromodulation therapies exert their effects.

His work combines fundamental and translational approaches to investigate the mechanisms of action of DBS and other neuromodulation strategies. This includes the identification of novel stimulation paradigms, targets, and potential clinical indications. To address these questions, he employs a range of experimental models and techniques, including animal models, in vitro systems, ex vivo human brain tissue, ultra–high-field imaging, and postmortem human studies.

In recent years, he has expanded his research toward emerging neurotechnologies, working at the interface of neuroscience and materials science. In collaboration with materials scientists, his group explores the use of magnetoelectric materials for wireless neuromodulation, with the aim of developing more precise and less invasive approaches for modulating brain activity.