Messoud Ashina is Professor of Neurology in the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is also Director of the Human Migraine Research Unit at the Danish Headache Center and Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Denmark.

He received his medical degree from Azerbaijan Medical University and completed his residency in neurology at the University of Copenhagen, where he was awarded his PhD and DMSc.

Prof. Messoud Ashina will be presenting in the Headache Research for Young Scientists session on Thursday 7 September 2017, 08:30 - 10:00, the Biomarkers of the Migraine Brain session on Saturday 9 September 2017, 11:00 - 11:45, The Role of Neuropeptides in Priamry Headaches on Saturday 9 September 2017, 14:00 - 15:00 and the Clinical and Basic Highlights on Sunday 10 September 2017, 11:40 - 12:20. 

Dr Becker is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, and has served as Neurology Division Chief, Interim Department Head, and Quality Improvement Physician for the Department.  Other positions held in the past include Chief Examiner in Neurology for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and chair of the Curriculum Committee for the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary.  He received his MD degree from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, and did his neurology training at McGill University in Montreal.

Werner Becker will be presenting in the Secondary Headache Course on Thursday 7 September 2017, 08:30 – 12:15 and Low Pressure Headache session on Friday 8 September 2017, 13:00 - 14:00. 

Silvia Benemei, MD, is a fellow scientist at the Health Sciences Department at the University of Florence, Florence, Italy. A substantial part of her scientific career has been dedicated to preclinical studies aimed to investigate mechanisms of migraine and trigeminal pain in animal models. Her scientific activity has mostly focused on the pathophysiological role of the transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) channel in trigeminal neurogenic inflammation and migraine. Since 2010, she has also been working at the Headache Centre at Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy. She has authored over 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts on headache and pain pharmacology, and in April 2017 she has been habilitated as Associate Professor in Pharmacology.

Silvia Benemei will be presenting in the Peripheral vs Central Mechanisms in Migraine session on Friday 8 September 2017, 09:00 - 10:00.

Prof. Florian Deisenhammer is presently Professor of Neurology at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. After graduating in 1989 from the University of Vienna Medical School, he finished training in clinical Neurology at Innsbruck Medical University in 1996 and became senior staff member since then. He is director of the neuroimmunological laboratory and his clinical work focuses on stroke and neuroimmunology, particularly multiple sclerosis. His main scientific interest is MS therapy monitoring, specifically antibodies against interferons and other biomarkers in CSF and blood. He issued guideline papers on CSF and led a workpackage in an EU project on interferon antibodies (NABINMS) and he is currently involved in a broader EU project on immunogenicity of biopharmaceuticals in general (ABIRISK). He received several prices for his scientific work. He is a member of various international and national societies including the Austrian Medical Society, the International Society of Neuroimmunology, the EFNS task force on beta interferon neutralizing antibodies, board member of the German society of neurochemistry and CSF diagnostics, the task force on CSF, and member of the editorial board of the Journal Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders (MSARD).

Prof. Florian Deisenhammer will be presenting in the CGRP and Monoclonal Antibodies session on Friday 8 September 2017, 15:00 - 16:00. 

Fanziska Denk’s main research interest is exploring the potential link between epigenetic mechanisms and the development of chronic pain. Does epigenetics make certain individuals more vulnerable to pain or prolong their pain? To address these questions, Franziska uses transgenic mouse models and high-throughput molecular analyses, such as RNA-seq and ChIP-seq, on sorted cell populations. Franziska studied Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford and completed her DPhil there in 2009 studying alternative splicing of the tau protein in neurodegenerative disease. She has been the recipient of an IASP Early Career Research Grant in 2014, an EFIC-Grühnenthal Grant in 2015, and an MRC New Investigator Research Grant in 2017.

www.franziskadenk.com

Franziska Denk will be presenting in the Vulnerability to Migraine session on Friday 8 September 2017, 10:00 - 11:00. 

David W Dodick, MD, FRCP (C), FACP, is Professor of Neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He is the Founder and Program Director of the Mayo Clinic Neurology Residency Program and Headache Medicine Fellowship Program. He is the Founder and Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Headache Program as well as the Comprehensive Concussion Center at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr Dodick is board certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He also holds United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties certification in headache medicine and American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology certification in vascular neurology.

David Dodick will be presenting in the Secondary Headache Course on Thursday 7 September 2017, 08:30 – 12:15, the Clinical and the Oral Communications 3 - Migraine and Cluster session on Saturday 9 September 2017, 11:00 - 11:45 and the Basic Highlights session on Sunday 10 September 2017, 11:40 – 12:20. 

Gregor Dussor, PhD is an Associate Professor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas in the United States. His laboratory uses preclinical models of headache to investigate mechanisms that lead to activation/sensitization of afferent nociceptive signaling from the meninges.  He has published over 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts on pain and headache and his work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Migraine Research Foundation, National Headache Foundation, and several industrial sponsors.  Dr. Dussor received a Future Leaders in Pain Research Award from the American Pain Society and is on the Editorial Boards for PAIN, PAIN Reports, and Headache.

Gregory Dussor will be presenting in the Peripheral vs Central Mechanisms in Migraine session on Friday 8 September 2017, 09:00 - 10:00 and Ion Channels in Head Pain on Saturday 9 September 2017, 13:00 - 14:00

Lars Edvinsson is a Professor at Lund University in Internal Medicine, MD DMSci, and Chairman of the Swedish Migraine Society. In addition he is a Board member of the European Headache Federation.

In 2008 Lars Edvinsson was called to be professor at the Copenhagen University in "Receptor Regulation in Cerebrovascular and Cardiovascular Diseases" and in 2007 was Founder, and is now Director, of the Glostrup Research Park, Copenhagen. In 2012 he received a Lifetime Achievement award from American Headache colleagues (Stowe, VT), and an Honoray Dr Hon Causa in Szeged, Hungary

Stefan Evers received his MD in medicine and his PhD in musicology at the University of Münster, Germany. After training in general neurology including 1 year of research at the Institute of Neurology, London, he became consultant and Professor of Neurology at the Department of Neurology, University of Münster. In 2012 he became Head of the Neurological Hospital "Lindenbrunn".

Stefan Evers was President of the German Migraine and Headache Society from 2003 to 2007 and Chair of the Headache Panel of the European Federation of Neurological Societies from 2003 to 2010. Since 2011 he has been Honorary General Secretary of the IHS.

Stefan Evers will be presenting in the Headache Classification session on Thursday 7 September 2017, 12:30 – 13:30. 

Peter Goadsby specialises in the diagnosis and treatment of headache disorders, including migraines and cluster headache and other forms of chronic daily headache. He is one of the world's leading headache experts and researchers.

Peter Goadsby will be presenting in the Cluster Headache session on Thursday 7 September 2017, 10:30 – 12:00 and in the IHC Special Lecture on Thursday 7 September 2017, 16:00 – 17:00. 

Richard B. Lipton, M.D., is the Edwin S Lowe Professor and Vice-Chair of Neurology, Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Einstein.  He also is Director of the Montefiore Headache Center. After graduating from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, he did both a neurology residency and a fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy at Einstein.  He did a second fellowship in Neuro-epidemiology at the Columbia University. A UCNS-certified headache clinician, he is also a clinical trialist and epidemiologist. He is Past President of the American Headache Society.  He is also Chair of the AHS’s Chronic Migraine Education Program (CMEP).

He has written over 750 articles in peer reviewed journals and 10 books, including two editions of Wolff’s Headache, as well as Headache in Clinical Practice and Migraine and Other Headaches.  His research interests include the epidemiology and burden of episodic migraine as well as risk factors and prevention of chronic migraine.  He has developed several measures widely used in clinical practice and research, including ID-Migraine, ID-Chronic Migraine, the Migraine Disability Assessment Scale (MIDAS), the Migraine Treatment Optimization Questionnaire (mTOQ), as well as the Allodynia Symptom Checklist (ASC).  His work has also examined migraine genetics and biomarkers, migraine’s comorbidities as well as health-related quality of life and health economics.  He has conducted numerous clinical trials and lead national and international clinical trials. He is on the Editorial Boards of several journals including Neurology. He is a four time winner of the Wolff Award and recipient of the Enrico Greppi Award, all for excellence in headache research.

Richard Lipton will be presenting in the Refractory Headaches session on Thursday 7 September 2017, 10:30 - 12:00, the Vulnerability to Migraine session on Friday 8 September 2017, 10:00 - 11:00 and the Oral Communications 5 - Epidemiology session on Sunday 10 September 2017, 08:00 - 08:48. 

Jes Olesen is a Professor of Neurology, dr.med. (Copenhagen, Denmark), dr. hon.c. (Rome, Italy), dr. hon.c. (Yekaterinburg, Russia), fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP)

Medical career

Born 9.9.1941 in Hobro, Denmark. M.D. University of Copenhagen 1967. Specialist education in neurology at major teaching hospitals in Copenhagen. The National Hospital, Queen Square, London. Cornell Medical Center, New York. Consultant neurologist. Gentofte Hospital 1985-1993

Glostrup Hospital 1993-. Founder Danish Headache Center 2001-.

Academic career

Danish thesis 1974. Professor of Neurology, University of Copenhagen 1985 -. Chair, Lundbeck Foundation Center for Neurovascular Signaling 2006-2013. Visiting professor Harvard, 1999 and UCLA 2009.Chair Center for Experimental Headache Research 2016-

Jes Olesen will be presenting in the Headache Classification on Thursday 7 September 2017, 12:30 – 13:30. 

Prof. Dr. Uwe Reuter is a neurologist and partner in the headache program at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. After finishing his residency training in Berlin he went to Harvard Medical School for a postdoc fellowship as a scholar for three years.  During his time in Boston he focused on basic research in primary headaches and migraine aura and published several peer reviewed publications in high impact journals.   Ever since Dr. Reuter has a strong interest in basic and clinical headache research. After returning back to Berlin he went to Berlin School of Economics to acquire a degree (MBA) in Health Care Management.  In the last years he participated in multiple clinical trials and research projects as PI and is an advisor to several international pharmaceutical companies with a scope on headaches.  The Berlin group has now a strong focus on clinical research and patient care.  The outpatient Headache Clinic at Charité works with an integrated headache care concept and consists of 3 Neurologist and 1 Resident, 1 Psychologist and 2,5 Headache Nurses. Uwe Reuter is a member of several national and international headache organizations and currently serves as board member of the European Headache Federation (EHF).  

Prof. Dr. Uwe Reuter will be presenting in the CGRP and Monoclonal Antibodies session on Friday 8 September 2017, 15:00 - 16:00. 

Jean Schoenen, MD, PhD, after graduating from high school “Collège Patronné” in Eupen, gained his medical degree in 1972 from Liège University. He studied for 2 years at International Fogarty Fellow in the departments of Neurology and Neuropathology of the Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard Medical School where he obtained certificates in Clinical Neurophysiology and Neuropathology. He has been a board-certified neurologist since 1979 and holds doctoral and post-doctoral degrees from Liège University. He was Research Director of the National Fund for Scientific Research-Belgium and Clinical Professor in Neurology before taking over Full Professorship at Liège University in 1998. He is former chairman of the Department of Biomedical and Preclinical Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine – ULg. 

Jean Schoenen will be presenting in the Peripheral vs Central Mechanisms in Migraine session on Friday 8 September 2017, 09:00 - 10:00 and Neurophysiology in Primary Deadaches session on Saturday 9 September 2017, 14:10 - 15:10.

Gisela Terwindt received her MSc in Biology and MD in Medicine at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. Her PhD encompassed epidemiology and genetics of migraine, with the discovery of the first migraine gene. She is associate professor of Neurology, and Consultant Neurologist, at the Department of Neurology, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Netherlands, where she also runs the Headache Clinic. Gisela Terwindt is chair of the scientific committee and the national migraine guideline committee of the Dutch Headache Society. She is member of the International Headache Classification Committee and Board member of the IHS. She has published ≈200 scientific papers and several book chapters on headache and migraine.  She received a prestigious personal grant from the Dutch Organisation of Scientific Research (VIDI-award).

Gisela’s research interest is to unravel neurobiological and molecular triggering mechanisms leading to migraine attacks, and to identify treatment targets for the acute treatment and prevention of attacks and disease-chronification. In addition, she is studying the pathogenesis of rare monogenic disorders such as FHM (familial hemiplegic migraine) and CHA (Cerebral Hereditary Angiopathies) which may serve as genetic models to study the pathogenesis of migraine but also improve mechanistic insight in the pathophysiology  of other common neurovascular disorders, including stroke and dementia. With this Gisela is increasingly involved in the relationship between migraine and stroke with a special focus on women, and has a special interest to study female-specific trigger factors and complications in migraine. 

Gisela Terwindt will be chairing the Nurses Teaching Course on Thursday 7 September 2017, 08:30 - 12:00 and presenting in the Vulnerability to Migraine session on Friday 8 September 2017, 10:00 - 11:00. 

Prof. Arn van den Maagdenberg is Full Professor since 2011 at the Departments of Human Genetics and Neurology of the Leiden University Medical Centre (Leiden, the Netherlands). He is a neurobiologist and neurogeneticist. He studied biology in Nijmegen. He received his PhD in 1993 in Leiden where he investigated genetic and functional aspects of apolipoprotein E in familial dyslipidemia in patients and transgenic animal models. During his first years of postdoctoral research he focussed on the application of basic cell biology to investigate human disease mechanisms. In 1998, he moved to Leiden to investigate the genetics of migraine, together with Prof. Michel Ferrari and Dr. Gisela Terwindt. Central to his research is the use of monogenic forms of migraine, foremost familial hemiplegic migraine, to generate and characterize transgenic mouse models in which patient mutations were introduced in the orthologous mouse gene. These models are being investigated in many (inter)national collaborations. As part of the International Headache Genetics Consortium, he is actively involved in all major migraine genome-wide association studies, which have led to close to 50 genetic variants for the common forms of migraine. In addition to migraine he has investigated genetic and functional aspects of various episodic brain disorders, such as alternating hemiplegia of childhood and focal epilepsy. Recent research initiatives in Leiden intend to use induced pluripotent stem cells of patients with brain disorders to ultimately make a diseased ‘brain-on-a-chip’. He co-authored over 240 peer-reviewed publications.      

Juliana VanderPluym, MD, FRCPC is an Assistant Professor and Senior Associate Consultant in the Department of Neurology within the Division of Headache at the Mayo Clinic Arizona. She received her Doctor of Medicine with Special training in Research from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and also completed her residency training in Pediatric Neurology at the University of Alberta. 

Dr. Shuu-Jiun Wang is a practicing neurologist and currently the Professor and Chairman of Faculty of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine and Director of The Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital. He is currently the president of Taiwan Neurological Society.