Konstantin Slavin, MD, FAANS is Professor, Chief of Section and Fellowship Director for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

Dr. Slavin graduated from medical school in Baku, Azerbaijan in the Soviet Union and completed his neurosurgery residency in Moscow. He then completed his second neurosurgery residency at UIC and a fellowship in functional and stereotactic neurosurgery at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, OR.

Dr. Slavin is current President of the International Neuromodulation Society (INS) and past Secretary of the North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS). He is also the President of the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (WSSFN) and the Past President of the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (ASSFN). For many years, he was an Executive Committee member of the Joint Section on Pain of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

Dr. Slavin is published in many books and peer-reviewed journals and is an associate editor or editorial board member for a number of publications, including Neuromodulation, Neurosurgery, Brain Sciences, Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Acta Neurochirurgica and others; he is the current editor-in-chief of Progress in Neurological Surgery. His first book on Peripheral Nerve Stimulation was published in 2011; another book, co-edited with Sam Eljamel on Neurostimulation: Practice and Principles, came out in 2013; the third one, Stimulation of Peripheral Nervous System: The Neuromodulation Frontier was released in 2015. The most recent book on Neuromodulation for Facial Pain came out in 2021.

A/Prof Marc Russo was born in Sydney, Australia and commenced medical studies at Sydney University graduating in 1989. He undertook training in anaesthesia, intensive care and pain medicine with postgraduate qualifications as a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and Fellow of the Faculty of Pain Medicine.

He set up in 1999 a large multidisciplinary pain clinic in Newcastle, NSW that now employs over 45 clinical/allied health/administrative and research individuals making it one of the largest such units globally. He has been involved in neuromodulation since 1999 with spinal cord, peripheral nerve, occipital, sacral nerve stimulation and intrathecal therapy for both pain and spasticity. He has conducted a number of first-in-man studies of novel neuromodulation implants as well as designing unique leads and waveforms in spinal cord stimulation (SCS).

He was the founding President of the Australian chapter of the INS, served as Secretary of the INS as well as Scientific Convenor of the INS 14th World Congress. He is a visiting Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong and Conjoint Associate Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Newcastle.

He established Genesis Clinical Research in 2005 and has conducted over 60 trials including device and analgesia trials for pain relief.

He has published over 60 papers as well as several book chapters, is a reviewer for multiple journals including Neuromodulation and has lectured nationally and internationally and led teaching courses in Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Singapore,Thailand and the USA.

His current interests are in complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) pathology and treatment, exploring new frontiers in neuromodulation and supporting consensus guidelines and centres of excellence.

He enjoys music, skiing and wine but ideally not all at the same time.

Department of Functional Neurosurgery and Stereotaxy University Hospital Duesseldorf Germany

Scientific Education and Employment

1987-1993 Medical School, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
1993 final practical training at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA and Kantonsspital Frauenfeld, Switzerlandbr
1993–1995 Internship at the Neurosurgical Department, Friedrichshain Hospital, Berlin, Germany
1993 Doctoral degree (Dr.med.) by the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
2000 Board Certification for Neurosurgery
2000–2002 Board-certified Neurosurgeon, Department of Neurosurgery, Benjamin Franklin Medical Center, Free University of Berlin (Director: Prof.Dr.med.Dr.h.c. Mario Brock)
2000-2003 Associate Professor for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosurgery, Benjamin Franklin Medical Center, Free University of Berlin (Director: Prof.Dr.med.Dr.h.c. Mario Brock)
2003-2007 Associate Professor for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Department of Stereotaxy, Neurocenter, University Clinic Freiburg, (Director: Prof. Dr. med. C.B. Ostertag)
2004 venia legendi, (PhD) Charité, Berlin
2007-2012 Full Professorship for Functional Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery, University Clinic, Duesseldorf
Since 2012 Full Professorship for Functional Neurosurgery and Stereotaxy, University Clinic, Head of the Center of Neuromodulation, Düsseldorf, Germany

Membership: DGNC, ESSFN, German working group for Deep Brain Stimulation, Movement Disorder Society, ESSFN, DGNM

Dr. Poree holds the position of Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesia at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) where he serves as the director of the Neuromodulation service. He started his neuromodulation career as a basic science researcher at UC Berkeley where he investigated the analgesic properties of CNS hormones. He continued his research at Johns Hopkins University in the department of Biomedical Engineering where he investigated the neural pathways involved in spinal cord stimulation. He decided to apply his research to medical practice and enrolled at Stanford University where he earned his medical degree and completed his residency in anesthesia while continuing to conduct research on new non-opioid based pain medications. He then completed an interventional pain fellowship at UCSF. He founded and served as medical director of a private practice comprehensive pain management clinic for the next 15 years. During this time, he was able to consult with neuromodulation companies and completed a pivotal multi-center trial for DRG stimulation. He returned to academia 2 years ago to help advance the use of neuromodulation technologies at the University of California San Francisco Pain Management Center. He continues his academic research on the investigation of novel spinal cord stimulation systems. For the past 8 years he has served on the North American Neuromodulation Society board of directors where his focus is on education and credentialing. He has co-authored several publications in the neuromodulation field including spinal cord stimulation and intrathecal therapy training guidelines.

Prof. Philippe Rigoard is senior surgeon and coordinator of the Spine & Neuromodulation Unit within the Neurosurgical Department at the Poitiers University Hospital in France. He is also an Honorary Consultant in the pain clinic of Guy's and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust hospital in London, UK; an Anatomy Conference reader at the Human Morphology Institute, Faculty of Medicine of the University of Poitiers; a researcher at Inserm CIC (Clinical Investigation Center) 802; and the research program director of the N3Lab (Neuromodulation & Neural Networks Lab) in Poitiers. He has expended a lot of effort to rebuild the INS French chapter (Société Française de NeuroModulation, SFNM), which is now represented again in the global community.

While studying anatomy and morphology at National Art Institute, Beaux-Arts, Paris, from 1994-1996, Prof. Rigoard decided to enter into medicine. He received his medical degree as 1st Laureate of the Faculty of Medicine in Poitiers in 2006 and completed postgraduate medical training in spine surgery in 2008 and a fellowship in functional neurosurgery in 2009.

From 2002-2007 he also completed his PhD of Sciences in Poitiers, as well as several degrees including in neuromuscular diseases, acute pain, chronic pain and pain management in emergency conditions, microsurgical techniques and surgical robotics.

His main research interests are neuromodulation and spine biomechanics. He has been involved in intensive scientific collaborations with several researchers worldwide, e.g., Prof. Krishna Kumar (Canada); Dr. Mehul Desai, Prof. Richard North, and Prof. Konstantin Slavin (USA); and Dr. Adnan Al-Kaisy (UK).

Prof. Rigoard is a reviewer for several scientific journals. He is also a member of professional societies, including the International Association for the Study of Pain, International Neuromodulation Society, European Association of Neurosurgeons, French and North American Society of Spine Surgery. Prof. Rigoard is the INS Registry Project Chair.

Prof. Rigoard has also published dozens of journal articles, abstracts, and book chapters, and has lectured at more than 100 conferences and symposia worldwide.

Dr. Robert Levy earned his medical degree at Stanford University, where he also received his Ph.D. in neurosciences and completed a postdoctoral fellowship. He performed a second postdoctoral research fellowship and his residency in neurological surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, where his mentors included Dr. Howard Fields, Dr. Charles Wilson, and Dr. Yoshio Hosobuchi. He then moved to Northwestern University where he rose to the level of Tenured Professor of Neurological Surgery, Physiology, and Radiation Oncology at the Feinberg School of Medicine. During this period, he served as Acting Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery.

He was then recruited to serve as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery and Co-Director of the UF Health Jacksonville Neuroscience Institute at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Jacksonville, FL. He most recently served as the Founding Director of the Marcus Neuroscience Institute and Director of the Harvey Sandler Center for Neurosurgery in Boca Raton, FL.

Dr. Levy has authored several textbooks and published 300 peer reviewed journal articles. He has been the recipient of many national and international honors and awards and has been listed in the Best Doctors in America. His current research involves novel applications of neurostimulation and targeted drug delivery to the brain. He has assisted with the design and implementation of multiple new neuromodulation technologies and instruments.

Tia Sofatzis graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, with a B.A. in American and English Literature. Tia had served as Managing Editor of Neuromodulation since its inception in 1998, as Supervising Journal Manger since 2023, and as INS Executive Director since 2001. She is perpetually inspired by the people who are working wonders in this field and helping those in need.

Mary Bockman Price graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor of science degree in business management, and a master of arts degree in counseling psychology from Argosy University. Mary has served as the Editorial Assistant of Neuromodulation since 2009, and Managing Editor since 2023. Mary currently resides in Huntsville, Alabama. She greatly enjoys working for the Society and the journal during this time of growth.