ESO

Didier Leys, MD, PhD

Department of Neurology, Lille University Hospital, Lille, France

Didier Leys is Professor of Neurology and Head of the Neurological Department at the Lille University Hospital in Lille, France.

From 1994-2000, Professor Leys was Vice Dean of the Medical Faculty. He was Chairman of the French Stroke Society from 1998-2000, and is currently a member of the National Council of Universities (2004-2010) and President Elect of the European Stroke Organisation (2008-2010). Professor Leys is also Associate Editor of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

Professor Leys’ research interests involve the relationship between stroke and dementia, a theme under which he has authored numerable publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals such as Lancet Neurology, Neurology, and Stroke.

Professor Leys has edited a total of 7 books, 2 special issues of journals, has obtained 191 international publications and 14 more under a group name. He has obtained 96 national publications. He has also written over 100 national and international book chapters and has been invited to over 250 national and international lectures.

Michael Brainin, MD. Dr (hon), FESO, FAHA

Michael Brainin is Full Professor of Clinical Neurology at the Danube University in Krems, Austria, where he chairs the Center of Clinical Neurosciences. He is Head of the Department of Neurology at the Landesklinikum Donauregion in Tulln, a Vienna Medical School teaching hospital. Since 2005, he has also been Director of the Department of Clinical Medicine and Preventive Medicine at the Danube University.

Professor Brainin’s main scientific interests focus on cerebrovascular disorders including early treatment and rehabilitation. He is co-founder and past-president of the Austrian Society for Stroke Research. Among his international activities are executive positions in the European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS) where he chaired the Scientist’s Panel on Stroke (2000-2004) and was member of the EFNS Scientific Committee (2000-2006). He now acts as Executive and Board Member of the European Stroke Organisation (previously: EUSI 2004-2008, ESO 2008-) as well as of the World Stroke Organisation (WSO, previously WSF 2004-2008). He is Chairman of the WSO Education Committee and has conducted teaching programmes in many regions of the world, such as China, Vietnam and South Africa. He was Chairman of the WSO 6th World Stroke Congress in Vienna, Austria, 2008. He directs several postgraduate teaching programmes at his university among them an MSc Programme for Neurorehabilitation and one Master’s Programme for Stroke Medicine, which is currently attended by students from 24 countries.

Professor Brainin is actively conducting several clinical trials including on stroke recovery and brain protection, and has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles. He is Associate Editor of the European Journal of Neurology and acts on the editorial Boards of Stroke, Cerebrovascular Diseases, and the International Journal of Stroke. He was elected Fellow of the European Stroke Organsiation, International Fellow of the American Heart Association, and received an honorary doctor’s degree from Hanoi University, Vietnam. He is honorary member of several scientific societies, among them the French Neurological Society and the Hungarian Stroke Society.

Kennedy Lees

University of Glasgow and Western Infirmary, Glasgow UK

Kennedy Lees is Professor of Cerebrovascular Medicine at the University of Glasgow and has been Director of the Acute Stroke Unit in the Western Infirmary in Glasgow since it was established in 1990. His research interests include acute neuroprotection and thrombolysis for stroke, stroke trial design and secondary prevention, including the use of antihypertensive drugs and their effect on cerebral blood flow. Recent research has concerned choice of outcome measures for stroke trials, the training of investigators in their use – such as the Rankin training programme - and the optimal analysis approaches.

Professor Lees has helped co-ordinate multicentre stroke trials including PROGRESS, ASSIST, MAST-E and CARESS, acted as principal investigator for the GAIN-International, IMAGES and SAINT I trials. He leads the Virtual International Stroke Trial Archive (VISTA) group, chaired the SAINT and CHANT Trials’ Steering Committee, is a past chairman of the European Stroke Council and an executive member of the European Stroke Organisation. He has chaired data monitoring committees for several acute stroke trials including ICTUS, DIAS, ASSIST, mRECT trials and ECASS 3.

Werner Hacke

Department of Neurology, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Werner Hacke is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurology at Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg in Germany.
Professor Hacke’s main areas of research and clinical interests include neurological critical care, interventional stroke therapy, stroke prevention, and neuropsychology.
Professor Hacke received his medical degree in Aachen, Germany, and also completed a residency in Neurology there. He then became Fellow of the Department of Neurology in Bern, Switzerland. In 1984, Professor Hacke became Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology in Aachen and from 1986-1987 was Visiting Professor at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, La Jolla, CA. In 1987, he took up his professorship at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.
Over the last seven years, Professor Hacke has been president of several societies, including the German Neurological Society (2001-2003), the German Society of Clinical Neurosciences (2002), the German Interdisciplinary Society for Intensive Care Medicine (2003), and the European Stroke Initiative (EUSI) and the European Stroke Council (ESC) in 2004. He is Honorary Member of the Austrian Stroke Society, the French Neurological Society, the American Neurological Association, the Pan-Russian Society of Neurology and the Hungarian Society of Clinical Neurosciences. In 2006, he received an Honorary Doctor Degree from the State University Tbilisi, Georgia. Prof. Hacke was the founding President of the European Stroke Organisation (ESO) and is now the First Vice President of the World Federation of Neurology (WFN).
Professor Hacke has been involved in many clinical trials and was, or is Chairman of the Steering Committee of ECASS I, II and III, DIAS and DIAS II, SPACE, SPACE II and NEST III. He has published more than 300 original papers and is the most cited stroke physician. He also is Editor or on the Editorial Board of Nervenarzt, the Journal of Neurological Sciences, Intensivmedizin, Cerebrovascular Disease, Stroke, and the European Journal of Neurology.