Ming-Kai Pan, MD, PhD
Ming-Kai is currently an assistant professor in Department of Medical Research & Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH), Taipei city, Taiwan. Ming-Kai grew up in Taipei and earned his medical degree from the Medical College of National Taiwan University (NTU). After graduation, he completed neurology resident training in NTUH and completed a clinical electrophysiology fellowship in both NTUH and NINDS/NIH (for transcranial magnetic stimulation with Dr. Mark Hallett. Ming-Kai became a Neurology faculty and movement disorder specialist in NTUH since 2011. In addition to clinical training, he also received his PhD in physiology to study the function of cortico-subthalamic pathway in Parkinson’s disease using optogenetics and microwire neuronal recordings in awake-behaving animals. Using clinical and basic electrophysiology, his research focuses on the motor control mechanism of cerebellar-cerebral-basal ganglia circuits in both normal condition and movement disorders, especially in Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor. Beyond academic life, Ming-Kai has enjoyed playing table tennis since he was 10 years old. He played on both his college and university team, and enjoys the sport still t this day. In addition he also enjoys computer programming, which is not only a hobby but also helps machine control and data analysis in his research.
Pattamon Panyakaew, MD, FRCP (T)
Panyakaew earned her medical degree from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand in 2005. She trained as a neurology resident at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand and completed her two-year fellowship in movement disorders at the same institution in 2014. She received the King Ananthamahidol Scholarship to pursue a research fellowship in movement disorders at the Human Motor Control Section, the National Institute of Health with Dr. Hallett. Pattamon is currently a faculty member at the Chulalongkorn Excellence Center on Parkinson Disease and Related Disorders in Thailand. Her research interests are clinical neurophysiology in movement disorders, gait and balance disorders in Parkinson’s disease and atypical parkinsonism. She has been involved in a significant amount of research on Parkinson’s disease and the physiology of tremor, myoclonus and dystonia. Dr. Panyakaew is an active member of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society and Thailand Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
Zheyu Xu, BA, MB BChir, MA, FRACP
Zheyu Xu was born in Singapore and she would go on to obtain her medical degree from Cambridge University, UK in 2006. Zheyu moved to Australia, working in hospitals in Sydney and Melbourne, where she obtained her postgraduate qualifications in neurology from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 2013. She subsequently returned to Singapore, where she first trained as a Movement Disorder fellow under the tutelage of Dr. Louis Tan at the National Neuroscience Institute in Singapore, before completing a second fellowship in Movement Disorders and Sleep Neurology at Newcastle University, UK under the supervision of Prof. Nicola Pavese and Dr. Kirstie Anderson. Zheyu is currently a Consultant Neurologist specializing in movement disorders and sleep neurology at the National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore and also holds teaching appointments at the Yong Loo Lin Medical School, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and the Duke-NUS Medical School. She has published a number of papers and authored forthcoming book chapters in diverse areas within Movement Disorders and Sleep Neurology. Her hobbies include jogging, hiking and botanical art.
Jinyoung Youn, MD, PhD
Dr. Jinyoung Youn is an associate professor in movement disorders and neuromodulation at Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. He received his MD degree from Sungkyunkwan University in 2003, and his PhD degree from same institute in 2016. His thesis focused on the Role of Serotonergic System in Levodopa Induced Dyskinesia in Parkinson ’s disease Rats. He completed neurology residency in 2008, movement disorders fellowship in 2014, and then worked as clinical assistant professor at Samsung Medical Center (2015-2018). His academic interest is focused on subtyping Parkinson’s disease and advanced Parkinson’s disease. Thus gait, dyskinesia, and neuromodulation including deep brain stimulation are his main research topics. He is also currently working as vice-director of Neuromodulation team, and director of gait lab at Samsung Medical Center. Additionally, he has worked in various committees of Korean Neurological Association and Korean Movement Disorders Society.
In his free time, he enjoys comic books, both watching and playing basketball and traveling the world.
Bettina Balint, MD
Bettina Balint started her clinical and academic training in neurology at the University Hospital Heidelberg, with a focus on neuroimmunology. She has pursued a specialization in movement disorders as research fellow to Prof Kailash Bhatia at University College London, and undertaken a neuroimmunology research fellowship in the renowned lab at the University of Oxford. Combining a neuroimmunological background with movement disorders, she has a particular interest in autoimmune movement disorders, e.g. Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS), and her research has been recognized with the MDS junior award. She is co-author of the German SPS guidelines, scientific advisor of the German SPS patient group, and member of the German Encephalitis Research Network. Her other area of keen clinical and research interest are rare genetic movement disorders. This expertise she is sharing and extending as member of the MDS task force for rare movement disorders and the German Academy of Rare Neurological Diseases. She serves on the editorial board of Movement Disorders Clinical Practice, reviews for various journals and has numerous publications including journal articles and book chapters. She enjoys teaching and has lectured at various national and international meetings, including the past MDS congresses.
Margherita Fabbri, MD
Margherita lived in Rimini until she was eighteen years old, where she attended the high school, choosing a scientific orientation. Margherita began to study medicine in 2001, at the University of Bologna. In 2005 and participated in an Erasmum project at the University “Pierre et Marie Curie” in Paris. She graduated in 2007 with a thesis on “Slow eye movements as marker of sleepiness in humans” as went on to attend the Laboratory of Polysomnography of the Department of Neuroscience of Bologna, from 2006 to 2009. In 2008, Margherita completed a 7 months-fellowship at the Neurology Service of the “Universidade Federal do Pernambuco”, in Recife (Brazil). At that time she began the specialization in Neurology in 2009, at the University of Bologna, obtaining the certificate of specialist in Neurology in 2015, with a thesis on the “Response to Levodopa test in advanced and late Parkinson’s disease (PD)”. Margherita would begin her PhD in 2015 at Institute of Molecular Medicine of Lisbon, focusing her research on advanced therapies for PD. Currently, Margherita is completing the last year of her PhD in Turin and continuing my researches on the management of advanced PD and disease progression. She has two little children and her principal hobby is travelling.
Christos Ganos, MD
Dr. Ganos was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. He completed his medical training at the University Medical center in Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany, and undertook a three-year fellowship at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Clinical Movement Disorders Group of Prof. Kailash Bhatia. Dr. Ganos is an adult neurologist in the university clinic of Charité in Berlin and currently sees patients of all ages with movement disorders with a particular focus in hyperkinetic and unusual or rare movement disorders. He leads the Movement Disorders and Body Control lab within the Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Unit of Prof. Andrea Kühn. Dr. Ganos research primarily focuses on hyperkinetic movement disorders, such as Tourette syndrome and Dystonia and he is currently a “Freigeist” Fellow of the VolkswagenStiftung. Within the field of tic disorders, Dr. Ganos is interested in the pathophysiology of tics and premonitory urges with the particular scope of developing novel treatment methods. In dystonia, Dr. Ganos's current research focuses on the interaction between the somatosensory system and the abnormal body postures. Dr. Ganos closely collaborates with several working groups from related areas in the shared effort of maximizing scientific crosstalk, working efficiency and output. He serves as a secretary of the European Society for the Study of Tourette Syndrome and as a panel member of the German Academy of Rare Neurological Diseases.
Ali Shalash, MD, PhD
Ali Shalash graduated from faculty of medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt in 1999, completed his PhD in 2007, and his professorship of neurology in 2017. Ali participated in training programs in Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany under supervision of Prof. Günther Deuschl in 2012 and University college of London, UK, in 2014. He has also been an active participant in MDS attending a number of schools, congresses and courses. Ali is the founder of the first movement disorders clinic at his institute, an active member of Egyptian Society of Neurology, and the Clinical Coordinator of Egyptian Network of Neurodegenerative Diseases (ENND). Ali has published several papers in high impact journals and has published 2 books of general neurology and examination. In addition, he also joined research projects in the field. Currently, Ali is organizing the first MDS School for Young Neurologists in Cairo, Egypt, is a member of the MDS African Steering Committee and MDS Education Committees and an active participate on the Telemedicine Taskforce. His hobbies include reading, drawing, traveling, scouting activities, and camps.
Mario Conejo-Olivas, MD
Mario is the chief of the Neurogenetics Research Center at Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Neurologicas (CIBN-INCN) in Lima. Mario grew up in Huancayo city, small town from central highlands in Peru. He received his MD degree at Universidad Nacional de San Agustin in Arequipa, Peru and completed his neurology training at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima. Mario was trained in Neurogenetics, movement disorders and epidemiology by Pilar Mazzetti, MD at INCN in Lima and Thomas T. Bird at University of Washington in Seattle. Additionally, Mario was global health scholar and fellow on Global health research program, as well as current mentor for residents in Neurology and research fellows. He served as board member and scientific coordinator at the Peruvian Society of Neurology. Mario is committed to develop a National Health care program for orphan neurogenetic disorders, which combines molecular diagnosis, neurological care, genetic counseling and other strategies like telemedicine and focused Outreach Clinics. Mario’s research is focused on epidemiology and genotype-phenotype interactions affecting neurodegenerative disorders such Huntington and inherited ataxias, myotonic dystrophy type 1 and Parkinson’s disease. His personal interests or hobbies include watching movies, swimming and traveling.
Lana Chahine, MD
Lana completed her undergraduate studies and medical school at the American University of Beirut. After which time she went on to complete her Neurology residency at Cleveland Clinic, where she was co-chief resident. Lana then went on to complete a Movement Disorders fellowship, a Sleep Medicine fellowship, and a Masters of Science in Clinical Epidemiology at University of Pennsylvania. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her main clinical and research focus is on Parkinson’s disease and her areas of interest include (i) epidemiology and clinical/biomarker characterization of prodromal/preclinical Parkinson’s disease (PD) (ii) sleep abnormalities and their implications in PD and prodromal PD (iii) design and implementation of clinical trials for individuals with PD and related disorders. She is also interested in medical education especially as it relates to dissemination of evidence-based practice standards.
Jorge Llibre-Guerra, MD, MSc
Jorge Llibre Guerra is a neurologist from Cuba. He completed his medical training at the Medical University of Havana, receiving honors as best medical science student in his graduating class. He went on to earn his master’s degree at the National Institute of Neurology in Havana and completed an internship in internal medicine at Carlos J. Finlay Hospital. Carlos also completed a residency in neurology at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, where he was Chief Resident in Neurology. Jorge has received awards from the Cuban Ministry of Health, American Academy of Neurology, World Federation of Neurology, and the Medical University of Havana. He has worked since 2007 as co-investigator of the 10/66 Dementia Research Group program in Cuba. His main focus of research is on neurodegenerative disease in particular the study of MCI-Dementia. He completed a full training scholarship in Dementia, Mental Health and leadership at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) at UCSF. Jorge created and runs a Research Unit at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery. Jorge has received support from the Alzheimer’s Association and GBHI the Cuban ethnicity and admixture studies in AD. His recent research focuses on non-motor symptoms in Parkinson Disease with a special focus in MCI and Dementia.
Daniel Martinez-Ramirez, MD
Daniel was born in Monterrey, Mexico and he would go on to receive his MD from the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon in 2005. He completed an internship at Universidad Autonoma de Puebla and his Neurology residency at Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico in 2012. He was recognized as Chief Resident during his senior year and trained in Movement Disorders for one year at the Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía and for additional two years at University of Florida. After his training, Daniel joined the faculty as Research Assistant Professor and Clerkship Director at UF for two years, where he was recognized as Exemplary Teacher and Clerkship Director of the Year for the UF School of Medicine in 2017. Currently, he is a Clinical and Research Professor of the Neurology Department at Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico. He is distinguished as Mexican National Researcher Level 1 and co-authored the Amazon best-seller book Parkinson’s Treatment: 10 Secrets to a Happier Life (Spanish version). Daniel’s professional interests include clinical aspects of Parkinson’s disease, atypical parkinsonisms, Deep Brain Stimulation, primary and secondary dystonias, tremors. His personal interest include watching and playing soccer, watching movies, going out to dinner with friends, and spending time with family.