“ Bassam Al-Fatly is a clinical neuroscientist and postdoctoral researcher at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. He earned his MD/PhD at Charité, following his primary medical qualification (MBChB) and a postgraduate MSc from his hometown Baghdad, Iraq. His research focuses on neuroimaging in movement disorders and deep brain stimulation, with particular interest in using connectomics to predict clinical outcomes and identify therapeutic targets across conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, tics, and essential tremor.

Dr. Al-Fatly investigates the neural circuits underlying neurological symptoms through lesion network mapping using both structural and functional connectome analyses. By integrating tools like brain transcriptomics and the spatial distribution of neurotransmitter systems, he aims to deepen our understanding of the pathophysiology of neurological disorders. His work supports the development of precision medicine strategies in neuromodulation, with the goal of refining DBS targeting and establishing reliable neuroimaging biomarkers.”

Prof. Jan Vesper is a Professor and Head of the Department of Functional Neurosurgery and Stereotaxy at the University Clinic Düsseldorf, where he also leads the Center of Neuromodulation. He completed his medical studies at Humboldt University of Berlin and received his doctoral degree (Dr. med.) in 1993. After completing his residency and board certification in neurosurgery at the Benjamin Franklin Medical Center, Free University of Berlin, he held academic positions in Berlin and Freiburg, focusing on stereotactic and functional neurosurgery. He obtained his venia legendi(PhD) from Charité, Berlin in 2004. Since 2012, Prof. Vesper has been serving as Full Professor in Düsseldorf, where his clinical and academic work continues to focus on neuromodulation and stereotactic techniques.

Jens Volkmann is full professor and chairman of the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital Würzburg, Germany. He is an internationally renowned movement disorder specialist with an extensive scientific record in the field of movement disorder pathophysiology and deep brain stimulation therapy. He has planned and executed several seminal studies on deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s disease, tremor and dystonia, which have helped to establish level I evidence for this therapy. He is responsible for the dystonia treatment guidelines of the German Neurological Association. He coordinates or serves on the board of several national and European research consortia such as ERANet-Neuron (Eurdyscover), SFB-TRR 295 “Retune” (collaborative research center on DBS mechanisms) or DYSTRACT (German dystonia research network). He is past president of the German Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders society, co-founder and president of the German Parkinson Foundation, past president of the German Society for Clinical Neurophysiology and active member of the International Movement Disorder Society.
Dr. Volkmann graduated in medicine at Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf in 1993 and received a doctoral degree in medical sciences in 1995. In his doctoral thesis project Dr. Volkmann studied central oscillations related to parkinsonian resting tremor using magnetoencephalography. This work was conducted as visiting researcher in the laboratory of Prof. Rodolfo Llinás at the Department of Physiology of New York University from 1991 to 1993. From 1994 to 2001 Dr. Volkmann trained in neurology and psychiatry at Heinrich-Heine-University Hospital, Düsseldorf, and worked in several research projects related to the pathophysiology of movement disorders. He was among the first neurologists in Germany to start a program for deep brain stimulation in movement disorders in collaboration with Prof. Volker Sturm at the Department of Stereotaxy and Functional Neurosurgery of Cologne University in 1995. He continued this work during an appointment as associate professor of neurology at Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Germany from 2001 to 2010, where he worked with Prof. Günther Deuschl on several larger clinical trials on deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease and dystonia. He was appointed full professor and chairman of neurology at Würzburg University Hospital in 2010. His current research activities include human and translational research into mechanisms of deep brain stimulation, clinical trials for optimized DBS therapy and pathophysiologivcal studies on the circuitry dysfunctions underlying movement disorders.

Professor Joachim K. Krauss is Director and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Hannover Medical School, Germany, since 2005. He is the also the Head of the Center for Neurooncology at Hannover Medical School, and the Deputy Speaker of the Center for Systems Neuroscience Hannover. He received his MD degree for his experimental work in neuropharmacology of the basal ganglia. He trained in neurology, and later in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, and general neurosurgery with Professors Mundinger and Seeger in Freiburg. Thereafter, he moved to Houston, Texas, to collaborate with Drs Grossman and Jankovic. He went back to Europe to establish functional neurosurgery in Berne, Switzerland, and in Mannheim, Germany, where he served as Vice Chairman from 1999 to 2005. His clinical routine includes functional neurosurgery, complex spine, skull base, microvascular decompression, neurooncology and hydrocephalus.

Prof. Krauss has been President both of the European (2010 - 2014) and the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (2013 - 2017). He served as President of the German Academy for Neurosurgery from 2018 to 2019. He is an active member of several international societies, committees and advisory boards. One of his missions is to bridge the gap between Neurosurgery and Neurology why he is also active in the Movement Disorders Society where he served as chair/ co-chair in several tasks forces and working groups: Neurosurgery, Deep Brain Stimulation for Dystonia, Neuromodulation for Gait, and Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus.

He has published more than 700 scientific manuscripts and book chapters, and he has edited four books in the field of functional neurosurgery. He introduced pallidal deep brain stimulation for cervical dystonia in 1997, and spinal cord stimulation for orthostatic tremor in 2002. He received several awards including the Oppenheim prize for his work in dystonia, the Tasker award and the Spiegel and Wycis award for his contributions to functional neurosurgery. In the past few years he put a particular focus on education and training. He is a member of the ESSFN training committee and chair of the WSSFN education committee.

Dr. Kliment Gatzinsky is Senior Consultant and Associate Professor at the Department of Neurosurgery, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. He has served as head of the Functional Neurosurgery Pain Unit at the hospital since 2004. Dr. Gatzinsky’s main interest is in neuromodulation treatment of chronic pain disorders. He has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, reviews and book chapters and is reviewer for several scientific journals. He has served on various medical and professional boards within the field of neuromodulation both in Sweden and internationally. At present he holds the position as president of the regional INS chapter in the Nordic region.

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 the current President of the International Neuromodulation Society (INS), Immediate Past President of the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery and Past President of the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery.
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.

Leon Amadeus Steiner, MD/PhD is a Clinician Scientist at Charité -University Medicine Berlin and splits his time between clinical duties as a Neurology Resident with a focus on movement disorders and his research that is driven by a translational interest in the single cell mechanism of action of deep brain stimulation (DBS). He gained his MD/PhD (with Prof J. Geiger) interrogating synaptic dynamics in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) using simultaneous muti-patch recordings. Subsequently, he joined Prof L. Milosevic at the Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto, Canada, where he completed a postdoctoral fellowship focusing on single neuron recordings during simultaneous extracellular stimulation delivered during DBS implantation surgery. Currently based at the Charité movement disorders and neuromodulation unit directed by Prof A. Kühn, Dr Steiner persues his intraoperative research projects as both a Fellow of the des Hertie Network of Excellence in Clinical Neuroscience and the Berlin Institute of Health Clinician Scientist Program. Ultimately, he is interested in how translational efforts to understand the DBS mechanism of action at single cell resolution can help to develop novel stimulation strategies.

Professor Paresh K Doshi is a pioneer in functional neurosurgery and neuromodulation in India. He is the Director of Neurosurgery, Functional Neurosurgery, and Regenerative Medicine at Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai. He is the President of the Neuromodulation Society of India, Secretary of the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery and the board member of the International Neuromodulation society and the AASSFN.
He had successfully organized the WSSFN Interim meeting in 2015 and INS-Interim meeting in 2022.
A dedicated academician, he has trained neurosurgeons globally and published extensively. He also founded the Parkinson’s Care Trust, supporting patients with free camps and treatment.
He has been awarded various awards, the recent being an honorary PhD by the Rajasthan Health University.

Director Pain Medicine at Jaslok Hospital &Research Centre, Mumbai Program head for Pain Fellowship (FIAPM) at JHRC
Hon Secretary- The Neuromodulation Society (Indian Chapter of International Neuromodulation Society)
Faculty on board for EEPIN/PGCC COURSE ON NEUROMODULATION (Queen Mary Uni. London UK)
Org. Secretary INS-IM Meeting2022(MUMBAI)
Former Vice President –Indian Society for Study of Pain
Ex-GC member Indian Academy of Pain Medicine and ISSP
Chair for 2017 IASP-ISSP Hybrid Pain Course at JHRC
Org. Secretary for “Comprehensive Review of Interventional Pain Therapies” international symposium and live workshop on Advanced Pain Therapies in collaboration with Weill Cornell Medical college New York in November 2007 at Jaslok hospital ,Mumbai Organizing Chairperson for ISSPCON2014 in Mumbai /Scientific Chairperson for Global Update on Pain 2009 and 2012 /Organizing Vice chair- Global Update on Pain 2015 ,Mumbai
Winner of Pain Ambassador award(2018-2019) at ICRA2019
Authored many articles on pain in TEXTBOOKS and national and international journals
SPECIAL INTERESTS: NEUROMODULATION/SPINE PAIN/REGENERATIVE MEDICINE

My specialty is magnetoencephalography (MEG), a noninvasive neuroimaging technique that is sensitive to neuromodulation. I have extensive experience in MEG, both in clinical medicine and basic research. My dual specialties—physics and medicine—make this possible. Before becoming a medical doctor, I studied physics and worked as an engineer at a consumer electronics company. I also have experience in neurosurgery and primary care. Therefore, I understand both the technical and clinical aspects of MEG.
I acquired fundamental skills in MEG in Japan, then moved to University College London (UCL), the developer of Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM), one of the most widely used tools in neuroimaging. I worked there as a postdoctoral research fellow for six years, an experience that elevated my expertise in MEG to a new level.
Currently, I serve as the director of the Functional Neuroimaging Centre at our hospital, where I lead studies on neuromodulation induced by nonpharmacological techniques.