Steering Committee

Edgardo Cristiano, MD, FAAN

Dr. Edgardo Cristiano is Head of the Neurological Department of the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, one of the largest university hospitals in Argentina. He is Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Buenos Aires and at the University Institute of the Hospital Italiano. Dr. Cristiano is interested in epidemiological and clinical research in MS and leads a large MS Center at the Hospital Italiano.

Gavin Giovannoni, MBBCh, PhD

Gavin Giovannoni was appointed to the Chair of Neurology, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, in November 2006. Dr. Giovannoni did his undergraduate medical training in South Africa. He moved to the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, in 1993 to do a PhD in Neuroimmunology. His clinical interests are multiple sclerosis and other inflammatory disorders of the central nervous system. His current research is focused on Epstein Barr virus as a possible cause of multiple sclerosis.

Ralf Gold, MD

Professor Ralf Gold is the chair of the Department of Neurology, University of Bochum at St. Josef-Spital since August 2006. Dr. Gold’s main scientific interest is in translational therapies for multiple sclerosis, experimental immunotherapies in the animal models for multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and neurobiological disease modulators. He serves as leading clinical physician and as principal investigator in a number of controlled therapeutic trials in multiple sclerosis, and is involved in several scientific research programmes and advisory boards. Currently he is member of German Neurological Society board and is panel leader of EFNS demyelinating diseases section. He recently coordinated the update of German Neurological Society MS guidelines. Dr. Gold is a member of a number of societies including The German Society for Neurology, American Academy for Neurology and the Advisory Board of the German Multiple Sclerosis Society. He has received several scientific awards for his experimental and clinical studies. He has also contributed to several editorial boards and contributed to more than 250 original publications.

Jaume Sastre-Garriga, MD

Dr. Jaume Sastre-Garriga received his MD at the University of Barcelona in 1995 and trained as a neurologist at the Neurology Department, Hospital Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona from May 1997 to May 2001. From May 2001 to June 2002 he held a post of clinical research fellow at the Unitat de Neuroimmunologia Clínica (UNiC), Hospital Vall d’Hebron (Barcelona) under the mentorship of Professor Xavier Montalban. From June 2002 to December 2004 he was a awarded a grant from the Spanish Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (Spanish Ministry of Health) and held a post as a clinical research fellow at the MRI and Neurorehabilitation and Brain Repair units, Institute of Neurology, University College London, under the mentorship of Professor Alan Thompson (a post he still holds as honorary). In 2004 and 2005 was awarded by the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN) the prize for the best Spanish paper in an international neurological journal.  From January 2005 to February 2007 Dr. Sastre-Garriga was in charge of the neurorehabilitation centres of the MS Foundation (FEM) in Catalonia acting as a Medical Director, where he helped organize the 2006 Rehabilitation in Multiple Sclerosis (RIMS) annual congress as a member of the scientific committee. He achieved a Master’s degree at the Escuela Superior de Administración de Empresas (ESADE, Number one global Bussiness School as per the Wall Street Journal in 2007) in Governance, Administration and management of Health Service (2006-2007). Since March 2007 he works as a clinical neurologist at the Department of Neurology / Neuroimmunology, MS Centre of Catalonia (Cemcat), Hospital Vall d’Hebron (Barcelona), and now serves as deputy director to Professor Xavier Montalban. He is coauthor of 86 medline-indexed peer-reviewed papers (h-index: 24 – 1900 citations) in national and international journals, among which Annals of Neurology (2), Brain (1), Neurology (8), Archives of Neurology (6), Multiple Sclerosis (19) and Journal of Neurology (6), and of more than 10 book chapters and monographies, mostly in the field of multiple sclerosis. He serves as a member of the Editorial Board of Multiple Sclerosis Journal and Latin American Multiple Sclerosis Journal. He has acted as a reviewer for the journals Lancet Neurology, Neurology, Archives of Neurology, Neuroimage, Multiple Sclerosis, Journal of Neurology and Human Brain Mapping, among others. His main interests are magnetic resonance imaging new techniques (functional MRI and volumetry) and neurorehabilitation with a special focus on the primary progressive forms of MS.

Antonio Uccelli, MD

Antonio Uccelli was born in Genoa (Italy) in 1964 where he obtained his medical doctoral degree in 1987. He completed his residency of neurology at the University of Genoa in 1993. In 1992 he attended, as post-doctoral fellow, the Laboratory of Neuroimmunology - Department of Neurology - University of California San Francisco (UCSF) directed by Professor S.L. Hauser. From 1993 to 2011 he had a faculty position in the Department of Neurology of the University of Genoa. Since February 2012 he is the Coordinator of the Residency School of Neurosurgery of the University of Genoa. Since December 2011 he is Associate Professor of Neurology of the University of Genoa. Since 2014 he is Director of Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Research (CEBR). Since 1995 he is the Director of the Neuroimmunology Unit of his Department focusing his research activities on multiple sclerosis and more recently on adult stem cells. In 2001 he received the Rita Levi Montalcini Award, yearly assigned to the best Italian researcher in the field of MS. In 2009 received the Melvin Jones Fellow Award (for dedicated humanitarian services LIONS CLUBS INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION) and in 2013 the Royan International Research Award - an annual prize awarded to the excellences in Reproductive Biomedicine, Reproductive Health, and Stem Cell Biology and Technology. Since 2001 he joined the Center of Excellence for Biomedical Research of the University of Genoa directed by Professor Benatti. Since 2008 he is the Director of the Neuroimmunobiology Laboratory of the Advanced Biotechnology Center of Genoa. Since 2009 he is the Director of the Center for Research and Cure of Multiple Sclerosis of the University of Genoa. Prof. Uccelli is co-author of 122 peer-reviewed scientific publications with a Total impact factor: 731,197; mean IF/publication: 5993,42). Dr Uccelli’s C.I. (Citation Index) is 6087, H Index is 37, G Index is 72 and E Index 52. He has been invited to give seminar and keynote lectures at many Academic sites and conferences all over the world. Since 1995 he has received numerous scientific grants from national and international agencies.