EBC Board and Administrative Officers

President
Mary G Baker, MBE

EFNA Past President

Mary G Baker MBE, is President of the EBC, Past President of the European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA), Past President of the European Parkinson’s Disease Association (EPDA), a consultant to the WHO and Chair of their Working Group on Parkinson’s Disease. She serves on the Innovative Medicines Initiative Scientific Committee, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry’s (ABPI) Code of Practice, and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) Management Board. She is Director at Large for the World Stroke Association and Chair of the British Medical Journal’s Patient Advisory Group.

Vice President
Monica Di Luca

FENS

Monica Di Luca has been professor of Pharmacology  at the University of Milano since 1999.

In 1986 she graduated in Pharmacology and medicinal Chemistry at the University of Milano, in 1992 she discussed her PhD thesis at the University of Milano, and in 1993 she completed a PhD programme in the laboratory of Molecular Biology  of the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.  Her primary research interest in related to brain and synaptic plasticity both in physiological and pathological conditions, with the primary aim to apply her basic findings to the cure of neurodegenerative diseases. She is author of more that 100 scientific publications on peer reviewed journals.

Monica DiLuca is member of Council and Executive committee of several  national and international scientific organization. From 2000 to 2006 she performed as secretary general of Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and form 2005 she is Chair of the Western Europe Chapter of IBRO. She is actually Vice-President of European Brain Council.

Vice President
Prof David Nutt

ECNP

Prof David Nutt is currently the Edmund J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and director of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit in the Division of Experimental Medicine at Imperial College London.

He received his undergraduate training in medicine at Cambridge and Guy's Hospital, and continued training in neurology to MRCP.  After completing his psychiatric training in Oxford, he continued there as a lecturer and then later as a Wellcome Senior Fellow in psychiatry. He then spent two years as Chief of the Section of Clinical Science in the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in NIH, Bethesda, USA. On returning to England in 1988 he set up the Psychopharmacology Unit in Bristol University, an interdisciplinary research grouping spanning the departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology before moving to Imperial College London in December 2008 where he leads a similar group with a particular focus on brain imaging especially PET. 

He is currently Chair of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and President of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), a council member of the European Brain Council, President-elect of the British Neuroscience Association, the UK Director of the European Certificate and Masters in Affective Disorders Courses and a member of the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy. In addition, he has edited the Journal of Psychopharmacology for over a decade and acts as the psychiatry advisor to the British National Formulary. He has published over 400 original research papers, a similar number of reviews and books chapters, eight government reports on drugs and 26 books.

Previously he has been member and Chair of the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD – 1998-2009), President of the British Association of Psychopharmacology (BAP), member of the HEFCE/NHS Senior Lecturer Selection Panel and member of the MRC Neuroscience Board.  Other previous national contributions include membership of the Independent Inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act (2000 Runciman report), and membership of the Committee on Safety of Medicines (2000 – 2005) and member of the Ministry of Defence Science Advisory Board (2005-2007).  He was the clinical scientific lead on the 2004/5 UK Government Foresight initiative “Brain science, addiction and drugs” that provided a 25-year vision for this area of science and public policy and in 2006 he was Director of Bristol Neuroscience. 

He broadcasts widely to the general public both on radio and television including recent BBC Horizon on drug harms and their classification. He also lecturers widely to the public as well as to the scientific and medical communities; for instance has presented three time at the Cheltenham Science Festival and several times for Café Scientifiques.  In 2010 he was listed as one of the 100 most important figures in British Science by The Times Eureka science magazine.

Secretary General
Dolores Gauci

GAMIAN EUROPE

Dolores Gauci is President of GAMIAN-Europe, a pan-European federation of patient advocacy groups whose mission is to encourage and promote information, education and awareness on current knowledge of the treatment and support available to those affected by mental illness. She holds an M.Sc in Health Services Management and is a Social Worker by profession. Dolores is the Chief Executive Officer of the Richmond Foundation – the only NGO in Malta working in Community Mental Health. Mrs Gauci also lectures at the University of Malta providing a service to both the Department of Social Policy and Social Work and the Department of Psychology.

Treasurer
Alistair Newton

Alistair Newton is Executive Director (and Past President) of the European Dystonia Federation, Past Secretary-General of European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA) and Treasurer of EBC. He has held positions in a number of British and European organisations involved in patient-related and scientific activities and has led or contributed to many projects which aim to improve the lives of people living with brain disorders.

Board member
Manfred Westphal

Manfred Westphal is Secretary General of the EBC, past Secretary of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS), Director of the Department of Neurosurgery. He is a member of the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (German Neurosurgical Society), the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and currently the chairman of the Committee for Neuro-Oncology of the World Federation of Neurological Surgeons.

Board member
William Gray

William Gray is Professor of Neurosurgery in the Division of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Southampton. He is Secretary of the UK Chapter of the International League against Epilepsy (ILAE), chairs the Academic Committee of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons (SBNS) and is a member of the Nervous System Diseases Specialist Group of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in the UK. His research interests include studying neural stem cells in the adult brain, particularly in the context of their reaction to epilepsy and traumatic brain injury.

Board member
Jes Olesen

Jes Olesen is Past President and founding member of the EBC. Professor of neurology at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Neurology (Glostrup Hospital), he is a specialist in the area of migraine and other headaches. He is past President of the Danish Headache Society, the Scandinavian Migraine Society and the International Headache Society, a co-founder of the European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA) and past President of the European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS).

Board member
David Vodušek

David Vodusek is Medical Director of the Division of Neurology at the University Medical Center, Ljubljana, and Professor of Neurology at the Medical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is a member of the EFNS Management Committee, Treasurer of EFNS, and also a member of the European Board of Neurology of the European Union of Medical Specialists.

Board member
Patrice Boyer, MD, Ph.D

Patrice Boyer, MD, Ph.D is currently full professor of clinical neurosciences psychopathology and psychiatry at the University of Paris 7- Denis Diderot(France), professor of psychiatry (geographical) at the University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and professor of post graduate studies in the same University.

On a European and international level Pr Boyer is the president of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) and the chairman of the ECNP networks Initiative (ENI) coordinating 6 research networks in Europe. Prof. Boyer is member of the EPA board and executive committee since June 2000.

On a national level Prof. Boyer is member of the steering committee for the development of the research in clinical neurosciences in the new INSERM-ITMO institute in France (Institut Thématique des Neurosciences, Psychiatrie). He is co-chairman of the Master and Doctorate curses for neurobiology at the Universities of Paris 5 and Paris 7 (France) and he has been the president of the second edition of the French Congress of Psychiatry in Lyon, France (17-20 November 2010). He is now the general co-secretary for this congress.

Prof. Boyer has been trained at the Sainte Anne and Pitié- Salpétrière hospitals in Paris and was previously the research unit director of the schizophrenia Research Unit at the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR), Ontario, Canada.

Pr Boyer has been the founding editor in chief of the journal European Psychiatry and is still member of the editorial board. He was a regional editor for the British Journal of Psychiatry (1989-1999) fostering the collaboration between European Psychiatry and the BJP.

Patrice Boyer is the author of 220 scientific articles (indexation into the «current contents» and «pubmed») of 180 didactic manuscripts and of 20 books.

Board Member
Cyril Höschl

Cyril Höschl is a representative of the European Psychatric Association (EPA), and President of FEAM (Fédération Européenne des Académies de Médecine). Born in Prague, he started his career at the Psychiatric Research Institute (PRI) in Prague. Currently he is a director of Prague Psychiatric Centre and Centre of Neuropsychiatric Studies, and Professor of Psychiatry and Chairman at Charles University in Prague. He is also Professor of Psychiatry at the University of P.J.Safarik in Kosice, Slovakia. His research interests include psychoneuroendocrinology, psychopharmacology and biological psychiatry.

Board member
Prof. Sten Grillner

Sten Grillner is Professor of Physiology at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. He is Chair of the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) and President of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS). He is past Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Medicine or Physiology, and for the Section for Biology of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He is a member of Academia Europeae and the National Academy of Science (US). His research is focused on the cellular mechanisms underlying motor behaviour - from the forebrain level to networks in the spinal cord.

Board member
Paul Arteel

Paul Arteel is Executive Director of the Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy networks (GAMIAN Europe), Belgian Member of the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), Flemish Member of Mental Health Europe, member of the Human Rights Committee, Belgian delegate in Council and treasurer of the Comité Européen Droit Éthique et Psychiatrie (CEDEP) and co-founder and treasurer of the Belgian Schizophrenia Ligue. Mr Arteel, a qualified solicitor, is active in the fields of Patients Rights and Advocacy in Mental Health and anti stigma campaigns and image building on mental health.

Stuart Hurst

Stuart Hurst is Director, European Government & Public Affairs for Eli Lilly, based in Brussels. Prior to this, Mr. Hurst was International Market Access Director for Nycomed and spent twelve years with Pfizer, with whom he also held a variety of roles in Public Affairs, Sales and Marketing, both in Europe and the UK. Before Pfizer, Stuart worked for Astra and Servier in the pharmaceutical industry, having started his career with Duracell.

Marc Barlow

Marc Barlow was born in Wrexham in North Wales. He attended the University of Wolverhampton and graduated with an honors degree in Biological Sciences. After university, in 1983, he joined the pharmaceutical industry as a sales representative. Marc spent a total of 22 years working in the pharmaceutical industry holding a variety of sales and marketing roles including Global Product Director for neurology and cardiovascular products, Director of Strategic Marketing and Business Development and Sales and Marketing Director. Marc joined GE Healthcare in 2005 initially his as Head of Neurology marketing responsible for the development and delivery of cross business strategies for central nervous system conditions and more recently he has been appointed to run the Disease Strategy group in the Global Marketing organization.

Reinhard Krickl

Reinhard Krickl is Marketing Head for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for Medtronic Europe and Central Asia and is based in Switzerland. Reinhard has worked for Medtronic's Neurology division for more then 10 years in various positions in Austria and in Medtronic's European Headquarter in Switzerland. In his current role Reinhard is responsible for developing the European DBS market for Parkinson's disease, Essential Tremor, Dystonia, OCD, and soon to be added Epilepsy and Depression. Market development includes managing Medtronic's DBS product portfolio, driving product development and coordinating clinical research. Reinhard has a Master of Electrical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration.

Marie-Claire Rettori

Marie-Claire Rettori

After completing a Degree in Pharmacy, a hospital residency, and University Diplomas in Biochemistry and in Medical Pathology, Marie Claire Rettori joined Sevier some 25 years ago.

She spent the first 15 years in the neuropsychiatry department, first as pharmacologist in the preclinical studies of centrally acting agents, then in charge of the development of new drug targets in the neurosciences, such as melatonergic derivatives.

She then moved to the International Training Department to run scientific training sessions for our marketing teams in the subsidiaries around the world, on several Servier drugs in the fields of diabetology, cardiovascular disease, and the neurosciences.

In recent years Marie Claire Rettori has worked in the International Scientific Communications Department of Servier, where she oversees international communications, is in charge of raising awareness of Servier psychotropic drugs, manages Servier’s international grants in the field of psychiatry, and is responsible for relationships with scientific associations.

Executive Director
Dr Alastair Benbow

Dr Alastair Benbow is Executive Director of the European Brain Council and project leader of The European Year of the Brain 2014. He is a physician with 8 years of clinical and 20 years of Pharmaceutical experience. He has extensive drug development, clinical safety, medical affairs and public policy experience including running a Government affairs and public policy team in Brussels. He has previously served on the board of EBC as an industry member

Liaison Officer and Administrator
Evelyn Sipido

Evelyn Sipido is Liaison Officer and Administrator for the EBC and Liaison Officer for EFNS, a position which involves close contact with European and other international scientific societies, as well as government institutions and the EC. She is a former Project Coordinator of EFNA. Evelyn Sipido is based in the Florence office of the EFNS.

Project Manager
Tadeusz Hawrot

Tadeusz Hawrot is Project Manager for the European Brain Council. He is responsible for encouraging the development of European National Action Groups, as well as National Brain Councils. He is responsible for the national and international dissemination of EBC Studies and projects. He also plays a major role in coordination between European institutions and the EBC.

Board meetings are also attended by observers from important organisations whose mission is relevant to that of the EBC. Currently the EBC has five observers:

Guy Vingerhoets

Guy Vingerhoets represents the Federation of the European Societies of Neuropsychology (ESN). The objects of the federation shall be the furtherance of scientific and professional issues within the field of neuropsychology including cognitive neuropsychology, clinical neuropsychology, behavioural neurology, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological rehabilitation.

Nikolay Gabrovsky

Nikolay Gabrovsky is neurosurgeon, Head of the Department of Neurosurgery at University Hospital "Pirogov", Sofia, Bulgaria and Vice President of the Bulgarian Society of Neurosurgery. Since 2011 he is National Consultant in Neurosurgery. In 2011 he coordinated the first meeting of the EBC in Bulgaria. Actually he is involved in different scientific projects mainly dedicated to gliomas and biobanking.

Kevin Jones represents the European Federation of Associations of Families of People with mental illness (EUFAMI), which was founded in 1992 after a congress, which took place in 1992 in De Haan, Belgium, where carers from all over Europe shared their experiences of helplessness and frustration when living with severe mental illness. They resolved to work together to help both themselves and the people they cared for. EUFAMI is a democratic organisation, registered in Belgium as an international non-profit organisation. EUFAMI have an ongoing commitment to improving care and welfare for people affected by mental illness.

Matilde Leonardi is the EBC-WHO Liaison Officer. A neurologist, paediatrician and child neurologist, she works at the Italian National Neurological Institute (INN) Besta in Milan, where she leads the Neurology, Public Health and Disability Unit. She is responsible for all the INN Besta’s liaison activities with the EU. She is Co-chair of the WHO-FIC Implementation Committee. She coordinates several national and EU projects on neurology, health and disability policy. She is Vice President of the Italian Federation of Neurological Patients Associations (FIAN – Federazione Italiana delle Associazioni Neurologiche).

Roland Pochet

Roland Pochet is Professor of Cell Biology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. His scientific fields are Cell Biology and Neurosciences. He has been an EMBO predoctoral fellow and a NATO fellow. One of his achievement is the discovery of a new calcium binding protein. He is the General Secretary of the European Calcium Society and of the Belgian Brain Council. His research interest include calcium signalling and cell therapy using neural stem cell and a rat model for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. He aims to promote Science in a higher standard in terms of European value.