MS IN THE 21ST CENTURY - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Member of the Presidium of the All - Russian Society of Neurologists
• Professor

Professor Boyko gained his MD and PhD from the Russian State Medical University, Moscow. He has been a Professor of the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at this university since 1997. Additionally, he was the Chief Neurologist of the Department of Health Care of the Government of Moscow from 2001 to 2015, Director of the Moscow MS Center from 2004 to 2014, and has been Director of the MS Clinical and Research Center at Neuroclinica Hospital, Usupov's Hospital since 2015. Professor Boyko is also a member of the Presidium of the All-Russian Society of Neurologists, co-ordinator of the Medical Consulting Boards of Moscow and All-Russian MS Societies, and President of the Russian Committee for Treatment and Research in MS (RUCTRIMS). He has published 12 books of his own, 12 chapters in other books, and more than 700 original publications. He is a co-editor of three medical journals. His main interests are the epidemiology and genetics of MS, immunopathogenesis, and clinical trials in MS.

Job Titles:

• Co - Chair of the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for
• Honorary Professor at the Preventative Neurology Unit
• Professor

Professor Langdon completed her training as a clinical psychologist at the University of Oxford and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, London, UK. She worked as a clinical neuropsychologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, for 16 years, obtaining a PhD on reasoning in organic brain syndromes from the University of London Queen Square Institute of Neurology. Professor Langdon is registered as both a neuropsychologist and a health psychologist and is now Professor of Neuropsychology and Director of Health and Medicine at Royal Holloway, University of London. Professor Langdon is an honorary professor at the Preventative Neurology Unit within the Queen Mary University of London, and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS). As the neuropsychology lead on a number of multinational trials for the pharmaceutical industry, she has worked extensively on the psychological aspects of MS, including measurement of cognition and its relation to pathology and other disease variables. Professor Langdon is Co-Chair of the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for MS (BICAMS), which has developed a cognitive assessment in MS that is in use in 30 countries (www.BICAMS.net). She is a frequent contributor to international scientific meetings and committees and is a Trustee of the MS Trust, with whom she has authored the MS cognition website www.stayingsmart.org.uk.

Dr Klaus Schmierer completed his training at the Charité Hospital (Humboldt University Berlin) before moving to London to pursue a career in academic neurology. Initially working as a research fellow, from 2005 he was a Wellcome Intermediate Clinical Fellow at the UCL Institute of Neurology and then Consultant Neurologist at The National Hospital, Queen Square. Following appointments in 2009 at Queen Mary and Barts Health, he moved to his current position in East London. MS has been a focus of Dr Schmierer's clinical and research activities from the beginning of his training in Neurology at the Charité Hospital (Humboldt University Berlin). His clinical academic work now includes exploring the pathological substrate of disease deterioration in PwMS using MRI and quantitative histology and studies into the epidemiology and cause(s) of MS/the BartsMS Database; in vivo MRI studies to improve the differential-diagnosis of MS; and investigator-led and commercial clinical trials. From 2013-15 Dr Schmierer served as a member of the Association of British Neurologists' MS & Neuroinflammation Specialist Subcommittee which published the latest UK disease modifying treatment guidelines for people with MS. He has been the Deputy Director of the Research & Development Board in the Emergency Care & Acute Medicine Clinical Academic Group of Barts Health NHS Trust. He is the Past-Chair of the White Matter Study Group of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, and serves on the MS Society's Clinical Trials Network, their consortium for progressive MS, as well as the review board of the MS Register. Dr Schmierer is the sub-speciality lead for MS at the NIHR North Thames Clinical Research Network, and acts as an adviser to the EMA, MHRA and NICE on new drugs for MS.

Job Titles:

• Professor

Professor Celius has a medical degree from the University of Bonn, Germany, and was certified in neurology in 1993. She has worked as a consultant with a special focus in MS at the Oslo University Hospital since 1987, acting as Head of the Neurological Department from 2002 to 2010 and Group Leader of the MS research group since September 2018. Professor Celius is a member of the reference group preparing guidelines for treatment of MS in the Norwegian Directorate of Health, as well as being a member of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS (ECTRIMS). Professor Celius has a special interest in MS epidemiology and clinical studies, but also participates in genetic and gene-environment studies. She regularly takes part in the development of local, national and international data collections and research projects.

Job Titles:

• Consultant
• Professor

Professor Hobart is a consultant neurologist at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, and Professor at the Peninsula Dental School and Peninsula Medical School, University of Plymouth. One of his interests is the diagnosis and management of people with MS, and he is President of the South Devon branch of the MS Society. A primary research interest of Professor Hobart's is rating scales for measuring health outcomes, demonstrated by his PhD in psychometrics from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Professor Donna Lamping), post-doctoral attachments to the University of Chicago (Professor Ben Wright) and, more recently, a secondment to Murdoch University Perth, Western Australia (Professor David Andrich).

Professor Kesselring is Emeritus Head of the Department of Neurology and Neurorehabilitation at the Rehabilitation Centre in Valens, Switzerland. He was Professor of Clinical Neurology and Neurorehabilitation at the University of Bern and the University of Zurich - Neuroscience Center. Professor Kesselring has held various roles in the Swiss MS Society over many years (Vice President 1991-2005, President 2005-2011 and Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board 1984-1995) and has been its first Honorary President since 2015. He is the former Chair of the International Medical and Scientific Board of the MS International Federation (MSIF), as well as Chair of the World Health Organization (WHO) Working Group on MS. Having been a member since 2011, Professor Kesselring is now the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) MoveAbility Foundation and the ICRC.

Ms Kruger has been working with the MS Centre of the San Camillo Forlanini Hospital in Rome as a patient advocate for many years, where she also set up a peer-to-peer support service for people with MS who have been newly diagnosed. She also has a keen interest in patient education and involvement. She is the Scientific Director of the Italian EUPATI training course, member of a busy Ethics Committee and participates in many national and international initiatives promoting patient inclusion. She has been listed as a European Medicines Agency (EMA) expert. One of Ms Kruger's main interests is how to engage patients in clinical research, as she believes that good research needs to involve the patient's voice from the beginning.