Harvard Medical School
United States of America
Dr Jeffrey Arle (MD, PhD, FAANS) is a Board Certified, Fellowship-Trained Neurosurgeon at the Spine Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is also a Visiting Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. His clinical interests include; neuromodulation, epilepsy, pain, neuroprosthetics, complex spine disorders and brain tumors.
He completed his fellowship at the New York University Medical Center in Neurological Surgery, New York in 1997. Dr Arle completed his residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Neurological Surgery, Philadelphia, 1999 and his internship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in General Surgery, Philadelphia, 1993. He graduated from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington in 1992.
He is a member of the North American Neuromodulation Society, the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the International Society of Intraoperative Neurophysiology. Dr Arle is certifited by the American Board Neurological Surgery
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
United States of America
Dr Robert D. Foreman PhD is George Lynn Cross Research Professor in the Department of Physiology and Adjunct Professor in Anesthesiology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He has published more than 200 articles in peer reviewed journals, and his research was supported by the National Institutes of Health throughout his career. Dr Foreman is Past President of the North American Neuromodulation Society and of the North American Neuromodulation Society Foundation, and Past Treasurer of the International Neuromodulation Society. He is Section Editor of Basic Science forNeuromodulation: Technology at the Neural Interface Journal.
Consultant
United States of America
Elliot S. Krames, MD, is a board-certified anesthesiologist who has been practicing pain medicine solely since 1982. He is a pioneer and one of the leading experts in the field of intraspinal analgesia. He is a worldwide-recognized leader and educator in the field of neuromodulation for pain control. He has written extensively on implantable technologies for pain management and has conducted national and international symposia related to this topic. Until 2014 Dr Krames was the Medical Director of Pacific Pain Treatment Centers in the San Francisco Bay Area, an organization of pain clinics dedicated to interdisciplinary pain medicine.
He is co-founder of the National Pain Foundation, a founding member of the North American Neuromodulation Society and has participated on the boards of the North American Neuromodulation Society, the International Neuromodulation Society, the World Institute of Pain, the American Academy of Pain Medicine, and the American Board of Pain Medicine. Dr. Krames has published more than 180 research papers and was the founding editor of Neuromodulation: Technology at the Neural Interface, the journal of the International Neuromodulation Society. He also served as INS President from 2006 to 2009, as Immediate Past President from 2009 to 2011, and since 2011 has been Emeritus Director-at-Large.
Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm
Sweden
Dr Bengt Linderoth is Professor and former Head of the Section of Functional Neurosurgery; and also faculty at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. He also holds a position as Adj Professor of Physiology at Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center, OK USA and Honorary Professor at the University of Maastricht NL.
Dr Linderoth´s recent and on-going research projects relate mostly to physiological mechanisms of spinal cord stimulation for pain and ischemic syndromes e.g. intractable angina pectoris, and for heart failure, as well as clinical studies e.g. on pharmacological enhancement of effects of neurostimulation and neurostimulation for colonic disorders. Other projects cover treatments for facial pain syndromes, deep-brain stimulation (DBS) for movement disorders and stereotactic cell implantations in Alzheimer´s disease as well as intraventricular infusion of PDGF in Parkinson´s disease.
Dr Linderoth has published numerous original papers on these subjects and more than 90 book chapters and reviews. His research teams collaborate with teams from several universities internationally.
Stanford University
United States of America
Dr Sean Mackey, M.D., Ph.D, is Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine, Redlich Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Neurosciences and Neurology (by courtesy) and Director of the Systems Neuroscience and Pain Laboratory (SNAPL) at Stanford University. He is the Immediate Past President of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. Dr. Mackey received his BSE and MSE in Bioengineering from University of Pennsylvania and his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering as well as MD from University of Arizona. Dr. Mackey is author of over 200 journal articles, book chapters, abstracts, and popular press pieces in addition to numerous national and international lectures.
Under Dr Mackey’s leadership, the Stanford Pain Management Center has been designated a Center of Excellence by the American Pain Society, one of only two centers to receive this honor twice. In 2011 he was a member of the Institutes of Medicine committee that issued the report on Relieving Pain in America. He is currently Co-Chair of the Oversight Committee for the NIH/Health and Human Services National Pain Strategy, an effort to establish a national health strategy for pain care, education and research.
Under Dr Mackey’s leadership, researchers at the Stanford Pain Management Center and the Stanford Systems Neuroscience and Pain Laboratory have made major advances in the understanding of chronic pain as a disease in its own right, one that fundamentally alters the nervous system. Dr Mackey has overseen efforts to map the specific brain and spinal cord regions that perceive and process pain, which has led to the development of a multidisciplinary treatment model that translates basic science research into innovative therapies to provide more effective, personalized treatments for patients with chronic pain.
University of Wollongong
NSW Australia
Professor David Adams joined IHMRI in December 2015 and is former Director of the Health Innovations Research Institute at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University. He was an ARC Australian Professorial Fellow from 2010 to 2015 and was previously Professor and Chair of Physiology at the University of Queensland, Head of Department of Physiology & Pharmacology (1998-2000), Head of the School of Biomedical Sciences (2000-07) and Professorial Research Fellow in the Queensland Brain Institute (2008-09).
He is a Chief Investigator on an NHMRC Program Grant (2005-2019) to identify novel pain therapeutics based on venom peptides (conotoxins) from cone snails. He has published over 180 refereed journal articles (112 as first or senior author) in leading journals and 16 book chapters. He has been principal supervisor and co-supervisor of more than 30 PhD students.
Professor Adams is the past President of the Australian Physiological Society, a former member of the National Committee for Biomedical Science, Australian Academy of Science and a member of five Editorial Boards of international scientific journals. He is currently a member of NHMRC Assigners Academy and a member of the Research Management Council for Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia.
Genesis Research Services
NSW Australia
Dom Bailey is CEO of Genesis Research Services, providing innovative and holistic services for research industry stakeholders.
Dom has studied Nursing, Occupational Health and Safety and Clinical Trials Research at University. He is a highly experienced healthcare professional having worked extensively in public and private companies undertaking numerous roles in a variety of areas such as operating theatres and major trauma to anaesthetics and consulting on staff health for the Rail, Manufacturing and Mining industry.
Dom has written and presented international webinars on Social Media in Clinical Trials, presented at the 2016 Association of Clinical and Regulatory Scientists Congress on Ethics and within 3 years has led the development of Genesis Research Services from a small clinical trials unit into a multi-service company that now manages commercial international trial recruitment services, a local investigative network of specialist investigators and vendors, a national trial registry of over 10 thousand trial participants and comprehensive trial design and conduct consultation services while also obtaining ISO9001 accreditation for Quality Business Management.
With a focus on business development, innovation and sustainability, Dom’s professional goal is to provide simple plans and modern project management for clinical research business success.
Five Corners
NSW Australia
Deborah is the managing director of Five Corners, a boutique clinical research organisation specialising in medical devices, biologics and hybrid products. Her past life as a registered nurse and counsellor has stood her in good stead for developing a practical approach to clinical research and in negotiating between commercial sponsors and sites! Deborah enjoys the challenges of working with innovative technology and the thrill of seeing successful outcomes rise from great ideas.
NOI Group
SA Australia
David Butler is a physiotherapy graduate of the University of Queensland (1978). He has a graduate diploma in advanced manipulative therapy (1985), a masters degree by research from the University of South Australia (1996) and a doctorate in education from Flinders University (2010).
David is a clinician, an international freelance educator, an Adjunct Associate Professor with the University of South Australia and an Honoured Lifetime Member of the Australian Physiotherapy Association. His professional interests focus around the integration of neurobiology into clinical decision making and public and professional education in pain, stress and performance management. Food, wine and fishing are also research interests.
Author of numerous book chapters and articles and the texts Mobilisation of the Nervous System (1991), The Sensitive Nervous System (2000), David has also co-authored of Explain Pain (2003, 2nd Edn 2013), The Graded Motor Imagery Handbook (2012) and The Explain Pain Handbook: Protectometer (2015).
Victoria Pain Specialists
VIC Australia
Dr Nick Christelis is the Victoria Pain Specialists Director and Co-Founder, he holds two specialist medical qualifications (Fellowships) in pain medicine: one from the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (FFPMANZCA), for which he received with a Merit Award and the other, from the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (FFPMRCA) in London (UK).
Dr Christelis is trained in all aspects of pain medicine including interventional pain medicine techniques. His expertise covers most types of chronic pain like spinal pain and neuropathic pain that is proving difficult to treat by other specialists. He is also specialised in advanced pain interventional techniques like nerve and joint blocks, epidural injections, radiofrequency ablation, spinal cord stimulation and other advanced neuromodulation techniques. He has particular expertise in managing lumbar pain and sciatica, neck, shoulder and arm pain, facial pains/headaches.
Originally from South Africa, he completed his medical training before moving to the United Kingdom, where he completed his specialist training in pain medicine and anaesthesia at London’s prestigious Imperial School of Anesthesia. He worked as a pain consultant for almost 2 years in the pain management unit located at The Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in London before moving to Melbourne in 2009 to take up appointments as Consultant in Pain Medicine, Head of Pain Service and Anaesthetist at The Alfred Hospital. He is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Monash University. He is a Director and co-founder of Victoria Pain Specialists, a specialist pain management group and is a Visiting Pain Specialist in a number of Melbourne hospitals. He has published pain-relevant research. He is a reviewer for the British Journal of Anaesthesia (BJA). He is part of an Alfred-Monash based research collaboration focused on translational pain research. He teaches extensively in pain medicine both to his patients and training pain doctors.
Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics
SA Australia
Professor Mark Hutchinson is an ARC Australian Research Fellow and is the Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP), he is also a Professor within the School of Medicine at the University of Adelaide. Professor Hutchinson returned to the University of Adelaide in 2009 as an NHMRC CJ Martin Research Fellow, and established the Neuroimmunopharmacology research laboratory. From 2005 to 2009 Mark worked in the world leading laboratory of Professor Linda Watkins in the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Here he pioneered with Professor Watkins the research which has led to the discovery of novel drug activity at innate immune receptors.
Professor Hutchinson's research has implicated the brain immune-like cells in the action of drugs of dependence and the negative side effects of pain treatments. His work has enabled the translation of compounds at the lab bench to clinical agents used at the bedside.
Professor Hutchinson has published over 100 papers in journals and refereed conference proceedings. He has now added Director of the CNBP to his roles. The CNBP is an ARC Centre of Excellence headquartered at The University of Adelaide, with nodes at Macquarie University, Sydney and the RMIT, Melbourne. They are partnered with universities and companies in Europe, the US and China, as well as other Australian institutions. The CNBP has a mission to "Discover new approaches to measure nano-scale dynamic phenomena in living systems".
Medtronic
United States of America
Dr. Lisa Johanek has been supporting scientific research and communication on neuromodulation therapies in Medtronic for over 10 years. She has led clinical and pre-clinical research studies investigating translational research concepts relating to various stimulation therapies for chronic pain. Data from these projects have been published in Neuromodulation, Anesthesiology, Pain, European Journal of Pain, Neuroscience, and Neuroscience Letters. She has presented at national and international conferences. In her current Medical Science role, Dr. Johanek supports scientific information and communication across neurostimulation therapies. She obtained an Honors Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and Anthropology from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, and received a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Neuroscience from the University of Minnesota. Her dissertation research focused on pain systems, specifically the ability of cannabinoid molecules to inhibit pain behaviors and neuronal activity in rodent models. She completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, investigating the neuronal mechanisms of pain and itch sensation.
Flinders University
SA Australia
Dr Kapur is a Senior Lecturer in Pain Medicine at Flinders University and has previously held the position of Director of the Pain Management Unit at Flinders Medical Centre. He is a very experienced pain medicine physician with an interest in interventional and multi-disciplinary pain medicine. Dr Kapur has published original research and review articles on the pharmacology and physiology of pain, interventional procedures and occupational injury management.
Nevro Corp
California
Dongchul C. Lee works for Nevro Corp as a Director of Theoretical Research to study the core mechanism of HF10 therapy. He has received his PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in 2004. He received a Master’s Degree from the University of Houston in 1997. From 1995 until 2000, he was a research assistant in the Division of Restorative Neurology and Human Neurobiology at Baylor College of Medicine and the Center of Excellence on Healthy Aging with Disabilities at the Houston Veterans Affairs Medical Center. From 2006 to 2013, he worked for Boston Scientific Neuromodulation as a principal scientist. His major interest is computational neuroscience to develop a computer model as a tool for understanding the mechanisms of spinal cord and brain stimulation.
Saluda Medical Pty Ltd
NSW Australia
Dr John Parker is Founder and CEO of Saluda Medical Pty Ltd. Saluda Medical was established in 2013 with the goal of commercializing four years of research from NICTA, Australia’s information communications technology center of excellence.
John has over 20 years of experience in medical devices, including 13 years at Cochlear Limited, where he served in the role of Chief Technology Officer / executive member of the board of directors. Cochlear is the worlds leading supplier of cochlear implants. John has experience in working in every aspect of commercialisation of R&D, from pure research through to full industrialisation. John has an academic background (PhD ANU) and has worked in both Australian and international universities. He has authored numerous scientific publications and patents and is an ATSE fellow, Harvard Business School (PMD) graduate, Docent at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm Sweden, ATSE Clunies Ross Medallist (2010), Adjunct Professor UNSW School of Biomedical Engineering and University of Sydney Department of Medicine.
Hunter Pain Clinicv
NSW Australia
Dr Marc Russo is the Director of the Hunter Pain Clinic, Hamilton Day Surgery, Hunter Clinical Research and Co-Director of the Innervate Pain Management Program in Newcastle NSW Australia. He founded the Hunter Pain Clinic in 1999, Hamilton Day Surgery in 2001, Hunter Specialist Medical Centre 2003, Hunter Clinical Research in 2005. He also founded NAPS (Newcastle Anaesthetic Peri-operative Services).
Dr Russo is the founding member and a past President of the Australian Chapter of the International Neuromodulation Society. He was the 2013-14 Secretary of the International Chapter of Neuromodulation Society and resides on advisory boards, scientific advisory boards and committees nationally and internationally. Dr Russo has a special interest and expertise in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. At present he is Principal Investigator supervising a clinical trial 2012-03-699 into the treatment of CRPS.
Queensland Brain Institute
QLD Australia
Professor Pankaj Sah is Director of the Queensland Brain Institute. He is renowned for his work in understanding the physiology of excitatory synapses and synaptic plasticity in the amygdala, an area of the brain involved in emotional processing. Previously he was group leader at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University and moved to The University of Queensland as a founding member of QBI in 2003.
His laboratory continues to study the amygdala using a combination of molecular tools, electrophysiology, anatomical reconstruction and calcium imaging. More recently his laboratory has begun research work on humans doing electrophysiological recordings in patients undergoing electrode implantation for deep brain stimulation for the treatment of movement disorders in Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor and Tourette’s syndrome. He has published over 110 papers in international peer reviewed journals.
Precision Brain, Spine and Pain
VIC Australia
Dr Richard Sullivan (MBChB, FANZCA, FFPMANZCA) is an anaesthetist and pain specialist with Precision Brain, Spine and Pain in Melbourne, Victoria. There he helps coordinate a multidisciplinary team (MDT) focused around the contemporary, integrative and holistic care of patients with pain. He is the medical director of the Ascend Pain Management Program with MDT programs around Melbourne and in Tasmania. He is also an interventional pain physician with an avid interest in neuromodulation techniques. His research interests are in MDT program outcomes for injured workers and novel neuromodulation techniques and outcomes. Originally from Dunedin, New Zealand, he has worked and trained in anaesthesia and pain medicine in Victoria, New Zealand, New South Wales and Northern Territory. He is the current President of the Neuromodulation Society of Australia and New Zealand.
Boston Scientific
United States of America
Dr Tianhe Zhang was born in Changchun, China in 1987. He received his B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering from Duke University in Durham, NC in 2009, and he received his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering with an emphasis on neural engineering from Duke University in Durham, NC in 2015. Tianhe is currently a Senior Biomedical Systems Engineer in the Neuromodulation Research and Advanced Concepts group at Boston Scientific Neuromodulation in Valencia, CA. His research interests include spinal cord stimulation, deep brain stimulation, computational modeling of neurological systems, and the design of algorithms and devices to optimize neural stimulation.