MOROCCO
Head ENT-HNS Department Mohammed VI University Hospital Marrakech Morocco. Director of ENT-HNS training program Medical Faculty Cadi Ayyad University Marrakech Morocco. President of ENT-HNS Moroccan College ( CEMORL). Founding member of International Society for Inner Ear Therapeutics ( ISIET). Past Vice President of ENT-HNS Moroccan Society (SMORL). Past General Secretary of Moroccan Society of dizziness & balance disorders ( SMEVE)
NETHERLANDS
Ad Snik obtained a master’s degree in physics. After completion of his PhD study, he got a position as trainee clinical physicist/audiologist and was registered as such in 1986. In 1998, he became the head of the Nijmegen Audiological Centre and Implant Team. In 2006 he was appointed as a professor in Audiology. He published over 250 (peer reviewed) papers. Ad Snik was employed at the Nijmegen University Medical Centre (until his retirement in 2017) and at the Biophysics department.
ITALY
Honorary Professor of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Padova. Former Head dept Neurosciences, University Hospital, Padova. Coordinator Scientific Board Research Center “International Auditory Processing Project Venice: IApprove”, Padova University. Member Accademia Galileiana di Scienze Lettere Arti. Honoray President AUORL. Editor-in-Chief Hearing, Balance and Communication (Informa) 2013-today. Scientific editor Italian Journal Audiology & Phoniatrics (Padova University Press)
IRAN
Prof. Alimohamad Asghari is an Otolaryngologist and Head and Neck Surgeon with a subspecialty in Otology-Neurotology. His research focuses on a variety of hearing-related topics such as cochlear implantation, hearing loss, balance and vestibular disorders, vestibular schwannoma. Additionally, He is exploring the use of stem cells and genetics to address ear diseases, as well as sleep disordered breathing. He is the professor of Otolaryngology at Iran University of Medical Sciences. Tehran, Iran.
SPAIN
Full professor in Genetics at the University of Navarra, Director of the Medical Genomics Unit and Researcher at the Laboratory of Advanced Therapies for Pediatric Tumors. Co-PI of the laboratory of CIMA LAB Diagnostics (https://en.unav.edu/web/cimalab/), the genomics platform of our institution for research and diagnosis. Scientific production: 167 original papers (H index 44, total cites 5900), 21 scientific awards and 46 funded research projects.
SPAIN
Professor and Chairman of Otorhinolaryngology. Member of the cochlear implant team at the Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago since 1995. President of the Galician Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Cervical-Facial Pathology. President of the Research Commission of the Spanish Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery. Corresponding Academic of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Galicia
BELGIUM
Prof. Dr. Andrzej Zarowski is ENT consultant and neurootologist with a background of electronic engineering. He is the Chairman of the European Institute for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery and professor of clinical audiology at the Thomas More University College in Antwerp (Belgium). He is currently the General Secretary of EAONO and the Executive Board Member of IFOS. He is an internationally acclaimed scientist and innovator with different publications and patents on his name.
NETHERLANDS
Andy Beynon is CI (1986) and BAHA (1988), director Vestibular & Auditory EP-Lab at Radboudumc Nijmegen; received PhD Medical Faculty of Radboud University (auditory electrophysiology). Invited professor at international courses on objective assessment, member editorial board J. Audiol Res & ORL Hear Balance Medicine, advisory & council board member and senior researcher in animal/human auditory electrophysiology, speech processing, oto-genetic audio-vestibular assessment and CI
ITALY
Head of ENT Department. Head of Otology and Regiona Referral Center for Paediatric Cochlear Implant. President of Mediterranean Society of Otology and Audiology ( MSOA). Past President of Italian Society of Hearing Science ( SIOSU)
ITALY
Prof. Anna R. Fetoni is MD, she completed her training in ENT and the doctoral studies in Neuroscience at the Catholic University in Rome. She is Member of the Committee and Senior Researcher of the Audiolab for fundamental research for hearing and deafness in Rome. She is full professor in Clinical Audiology, Head of the Audiology Institute and Director of the Campania Regional Center for early diagnosis of deafness and Cochlear implant program in the University of Naples Federico II.
URUGUAY
Medical doctor at Facultad de Medicina, UDELAR, Uruguay. ENT residency at Otolaryngology Department, Facultad de Medicina, UDELAR, Uruguay. Magister in Biomedical Sciences, PROINBIO, Facultad de Medicina, UDELAR. Attending Physician, Hospital Británico, Montevideo, Uruguay. Cochlear Implant Program director, Hospital Británico, Montevideo, Uruguay. Member of Laboratorio de Otoneurología. Hearing Health Advocate, Coalition for Global Hearing Health.
GERMANY
Otorhinolaryngology. Her main research interest is the development and clinical testing of novel therapies for the inner ear. She is member of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Association of Research in Otology (ARO) and the Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amicitiae Sacrum (CORLAS).
SAUDI ARABIA
Professor, King Saud University 2013. President, Saudi ORL Society 2010 until present. Founder and President, Arab Academy of Otology and Cochlear Implant (AAOCI) 2018-now. Founder and First Director of National Saudi Neonatal Screening Program. Director, King Abdullah Ear Specialist Center (KAESC) 2011 till 2023. Director of Prince Sultan Research Chair for Hearing Disability & Implantable Devices. International Federation of ORL Societies (IFOS) Congress Program Chair 2023. Author of ten books
GERMANY
PD Dr. Anja Kurz is the head of audiology and has been the technical director of the Comprehensive Hearing Center since 2015 at the Würzburg University Hospital. She holds a background in Communication Sciences, Technical Acoustics and Clinical Audiology. Her research interest is broad and currently focuses on single sided deafness, intraoperative monitoring in all implantable prosthesis and fitting cochlear and auditory brainstem implants.
GERMANY
Prof. Antje Aschendorff is an ENT surgeon and specialized in Cochlear Implants. She is currently acting chief of the ENT department at the University of Freiburg and head of the Cochlear Implant Center Freiburg. Special interstests are: cochlear implants, quality control, imaging of the temporal bone, development of intracochlear electrodes.
SPAIN
Ángel Ramos de Miguel holds degrees in Computer Engineering and Audiology, with a Ph.D. in Computing and another in Health Science. He serves as the Head of Engineering at the Laboratory of Hearing and Balance within the Hearing Loss Unit at Hospital Insular in Las Palmas, Spain. His research focuses on intraoperative testing for cochlear implants and development in vestibular implants. He is renowned for his contributions as a scientist and innovator, boasting numerous publications and patents.
SWITZERLAND
Angélica holds a M.S. in biomedical engineering from the Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico) and a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Geneva. She is the head of engineering of the Western Switzerland University Cochlear Implants Center and of the laboratory of Audiology of the Geneva University Hospitals. Angelica has >80 publications in the field of sensory neuroprostheses and participates in pre- and post-graduate teaching in medicine, bioengineering, speech therapy, and audiology.
GERMANY
Head of pedagogic-therapeutic team of the German Hearing Center Hannover, ENT clinic of Hannover Medical School, lecturing at Leibniz University and Hannover Medical School
UNITED STATES
Anu Sharma Ph.D. is Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Speech Language and Hearing Science and Fellow in the Institute for Cognitive Science and in the Center for Neuroscience at University of Colorado, Boulder. Her research examines neuroplasticity in hearing loss and deafness. She has given the Carhart Memorial Lecture at the American Auditory Society, the Marion Downs Lecture at the American Academy of Audiology and the Ted Evans Lecture at the British Society of Audiology.
GERMANY
Andrej Kral studied medicine in Bratislava (MD 1993, PhD 1998). He moved to the Institute of Sensory Physiology, J.W.Goethe University, where he was appointed associate professor of physiology in 2002. 2004 - 2009 he was Professor of Neurophysiology at Hamburg School of Medicine. Since 2009 he has been Chair of Auditory Neuroscience (Hannover Medical School), and later Professor of Systems Neuroscience at Macquarie University, Sydney, member of the National Academy of Science and of the CORLAS.
POLAND
Prof Artur Lorens Ph.D. Eng. -head of the Implants and Auditory Perception Department in the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Warsaw. His scientific interests focus in the field of application of cochlear implant systems, psychoacoustics and auditory perception modeling. Member of the Polish Scientific Association of the Hearing and Communication Disorders, the American Auditory Society, the International Society of Audiology, the European Society for Artificial Organs
SPAIN
Degree in Medicine , University of Navarra 1980.Phoniatrician and Audiologist 1983-1986. Hearing aid technician 1988. ENT Collaborator at the University Clinic of Navarra from 1987. Coordinator of the Cochlear Implant Programme at the University Clinic of Navarra from 1989. Master's programs at the School of Humanities of the University of Navarra from 2007. 2000 Award FIAPAS: Research into hearing impairments. Honorary Doctor. San Pablo University, Tucumán, Argentina, 2014.
UNITED STATES
Angelika Doetzlhofer PhD, is an Associate Professor in Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University. Her lab investigates how cochlear hair cell and supporting cells form during development. Insights gained from these studies are used to develope cell-based strategies for regenerating cochlear hair cells and restore hearing in deafened animals.
UNITED STATES
Dr. Akria Ishiyama is the Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Director of Otology-Neurotology at UCLA School of Medicine. He directs the NIDCD National Temporal Bone Laboratory at UCLA.
UNITED STATES
Bruce J Gantz, MD is currently Professor and Chair emeritus of the Department of Otolaryngology. Head and Neck Surgery and Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. He is the principal investigator of the Iowa Cochlear Implant Clinical Research Center, funded by the NIH since 1985. In May, 2023 the Center was awarded their eighth five-year NIH renewal that will run through 2028. He has led the Iowa CI Team in development of the Hybrid Cochlear Implant.
TURKEY
Bulent Satar graduated from Gülhane Military Medical School in 1990. He was trained in ORL H&N surgery at the same hospital. He attended University of Michigan and UCSF for postdoctoral fellowship. When he was there, he specifically studied on otology and neurotology. He also visited Royal Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, University of Stanford and Gruppo Otologico. He received professor title in 2010. His practice is mostly on otological diseases and vestibular disturbances.
EGYPT
Professor Emeritus, MD,DU. Head of Cochlear implant Unit National Health Insurance. Member: CORLAS, ELS, American Academy, Societe Francaise d’ORL-CCF, Korean ENT-HNS Society, Egyptian ORL society, Egyptian Skull Base Society, Egyptian CI Society. Regional representative MSOA, executive committee Vertigo Academy International (VAI), board member Politzer society. Publications: 103 articles, 5 books. Interests: Otology-neurotology, laryngo-tracheal stenosis, vestibulogy , cochlear implants.
SERBIA
Bojana Bukurov is currently employed by Faculty of Medicine at University of Belgrade as Ass. Professor in Otolaryngology and ENT surgeon at University Clinical Center of Serbia. After graduation in 2006, she earned MSc in Otorhinolaryngology in 2010 and PhD in Epidemiology and Clinical Research in 2017. Her special research interests are clinimetric research - especially in the assessment of treatment outcomes and vestibulopathy – in congenital deafness and cochlear implant recipients.
UNITED KINGDOM
Prof Brian Lamb OBE, MSc, is the policy and strategy advisor to the Cochlear Implant International Community of Action, chairs the Hearing Loss and Deafness Alliance in England and policy advisor to the National Sensory Impairment Partnership. He is a Visiting Professor in Special Educational Needs and Disability at Derby University. Brian has contributed to several publications on the health economics of CI and improving access to hearing technology, access criteria and patient experience.
ITALY
Beatrice Cusmai is the Vice President of EURO-CIU (European Association of Cochlear Implant Users) and Vice President of AGUAV, the association supporting Varese Audiology. She was born in Milan where she graduated in Languages and Communication and worked in PR agencies and a magazine. She worked as Public Relations Officer at Yamaha Motor Italy. Then she switched to digital PR, she moved to Gran Canaria and has stayed in the field of communication with my Digital Hub Canaria.
FRANCE
Head of ENT Service Toulouse University Hospital, France
TURKEY
Started Cochlear Implantation in 1995.Done personally more than 4300 cochlear Implantations, not only in Turkey,but many international centers worldwide. These cases include many malformed cochleas,cochlear ossifications and auditory brainstem implantations. Speaker in numerous national and international meetings as a presenter,panelist, moderator in the field of cochlear implantation.Author of many publications and took part in many international projects about cochlear implantation.
SPAIN
Head of ENT Department of HUJimenez Diaz, HIE& HUgeneral de Villalba QuuironSalud Madrid. Full professor of Otolaringology Autonoma University of Madrid. Ex General Secretary of SEORL-CCC. Member of board of EAONO. Member of nominating commitee of IFOS
UNITED KINGDOM
Consultant Otolaryngologist with special interest in paediatric and adult auditory implants. Previous board member to ENT UK and ESPO. Founding member of British Society of Otology and the British Cochlear Implant Group. Past President of the section of Otology, Royal Society of Medicine. Senior examiner for the Intercollegiate exams and also the European ORL examinations. Advisor to the NHS health care on specialised ear services. Publication of > 140 peer-reviewed papers and 20 book chapters.
UNITED STATES
Camille Dunn, PhD, an Associate Professor and Director of the Cochlear Implant Program in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Iowa, received her Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She holds her Audiology license from the State of Iowa and maintains her Certificate of Clinical Competence in Audiology. She is a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and a Board member on the American Cochlear Implant Alliance. She is a Principal Investigator on a NIH-funded grant to determine the impact of intervention on hearing-related functions and disability in natural environments.
SPAIN
(MD, PhD)(Hospital Universitario la Fe de Valencia.Otology and Implants Unit). Associate professor. Made about 200 communications at scientific conferences. Author of 55 scientific articles and 16 book chapters. Proofreader of scientific journals: Acta Otorrinolaringológica Española and European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology . Acta Otorhinolaryngológica Española Award for the best article in 2016 and 2017.
AUSTRIA
Vice Chairman Department of Otolaryngology, Medical University of Vienna. Director, Christian Doppler Lab for Inner Ear Research. Main interest : Otology and Skull Base Surgery, Head of Skull Base Program in Vienna. Residency: Vienna, Frankfurt and Hanover. Fellowship: Otology and Skull Base Surgery, University of Toronto. More than 100 peer reviewed papers, 1 surgical textbook
AUSTRALIA
Dr. Bester studied for his BSc (Honours) in neuroscience and received his PhD from the Auditory Lab at the University of Western Australia. Since completion, he has worked as a clinical research fellow under Prof Stephen O’Leary at the The University of Melbourne and Marcus Atlas at the Ear Science Institute Australia. He works in cochlear electrophysiology and mechanics, with a focus on the development of electrophysiological biomarkers to improve the outcomes of cochlear implantation
FRANCE
Head, Otology and Oto-Neurology Department Lille University Hospital
CHILE
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AUSTRALIA
Dayse Tavora completed her PhD on cochlear implant, unilateral deafness and brain plasticity at the School of Surgery, University of Western Australia and obtained her Doctorate at the University of Florida, USA. She is the Head of the State-Wide Audiology Services in Western Australia and a faculty member at the University of Western Australia and Curtin University. Her main research interest is focused on cortical activity, binaural hearing pathway and brain plasticity after hearing implantation.
ITALY
Full Professor of Otolaryngology at the University of Parma. Head of the Otolaryngology Department at the Hospital ‘G. da Saliceto’ in Piacenza. Past President of the Italian Society of Otorhinolaryngology (SIOeChCF). Vice President of the Italian Society of Audiology and Phoniatrics (SIAF). Promotor and member of the working group for the implementation of the Register of Hearing Implants at the Italian Superior Health Institute (ISS).
UNITED KINGDOM
Dan Jiang is a consultant otolaryngologist, skull base surgeon and lead clinician of St Thomas' hearing implant centre of Guy's and St. Thomas Hospitals, London. Dan is professor of otology and auditory implantation surgery at King’s College London. His interests include auditory implant research and regeneration of damaged inner ear structures
SPAIN
He is a physicist and a professor of otorhinolaryngology at the University of Salamanca (Spain). He is the director of the Auditory Computation and Psychoacoustics Group at the Neuroscience Institute of Castilla y León. He has authored over 90 research articles on hearing. He is an associate editor for Trends in Hearing and JARO. He is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and the International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology (ICRA).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Dr. Corrales is a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital specializing in otology, neurotology and skull base surgery. He is also an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. He completed an otolaryngology residency and a neurotology and skull base surgery fellowship at Stanford University. His interests include otosclerosis and stapes surgery, superior semicircular canal dehiscence, hearing loss, gene therapy to treat diseases of the ear and acoustic neuroma (vestibular schwannoma). (ICRA).
FRANCE
MD 1988. Graduated in ENT 1991, Phoniatrics 1991. Master of Science: 1992. Habilitation for Conducting Researches: 1994. Professor of Otolaryngology, 1996-present. Head of the School for Speech Therapists (elected), Lyon University, 2001-2010. Head of ENT departments at Edouard Herriot Hospital and Hôpital Femme Mère Enfant; Lyon. Present. INSERM Research fellow 1986-1988. Research Unit CNRS 1447 1988-2001; RU CNRS 2001-2008; RU INSERM U1028-CNRS UMR5292: 2008-present.
ITALY
Chair of the Audiovestibology Dept since 2010. As otosurgeon and medical doctor she has the possibility to follow the entire programme both in children than in adults. Her personal casistic is a thousand cochlear implantations (CI) both in very small babies and adults/elderly as first surgeon and about thousand CI and second surgeon. Her first objective is to operate to give the opportunity to deaf people to hear the life and to be independent and totally involved in the society
UNITED kINGDOM
Emma is Consultant Otolaryngologist and Clinical Lead for the Manchester Cochlear Implant Programme. President of the North of England Otolaryngology Society. Editorial Board member of a number of ENT journals, and Trustee of several charities and foundations including the British Cochlear Implant Group. Recipient of numerous awards including the 2022 Hunter Doig Medal from RCSEd. She is regularly invited to lecture on her areas of expertise, which include auditory implants under LA.
NETHERLANDS
After qualifying as an otorhinolaryngologist in 1999, he became a staff member at the department of Otorhinolaryngology Head & Neck surgery at the Radboud UMC in Nijmegen. His interest in implantable hearing aids has led to clinical work, research projects, and presentations at international meetings on semi-implantable bone conduction devices, active middle ear implants and cochlear implants. In 2022 he was assigned a chair at the Radboud University in Nijmegen called Implants in Otology.
SPAIN
Eulalia Juan Pastor is a Speech Therapist, with around 30 years of experience in this area. She comes from the beautiful island of Mallorca, where she works at Son Llàtzer Hospital. She has the privilege of working with both children and adults, thanks to the neonatal and school screening programs. One of the exciting aspects of her work is our involvement in the auditory implant program, where we have some experience with bone conduction devices and cochlear implants.
SAUDI ARABIA
Professor & Consultant of ORL-HNS. Otologist & Neurotologist. Medical Director of King Abdulaziz University Hospital
CANADA
Pr. Bergeron completed his doctoral studies in biomedical sciences at the Université de Montréal. He then did a postdoctoral fellow in health technology assessment at the Agence Nationale d’Accréditation et d’Évaluation en Santé (Paris). His research activities are focused on the efficacy of assistive technologies for the hearing impaired, notably on cochlear implants, and on auditory assessment. Pr Bergeron is the scientific director of the Quebec cochlear implant program.
MEXICO
Med school 74/80 University of Nuevo León. Otolaringology 1981/1985 University Hospital Nuevo León. Otology neurotology skull base surgery 1985/1986. University Zurich. Centro Implantes Cocleares Monterey since 1998
FRANCE
Fabian Blanc is Surgeon-Scientist based in Montpellier, France. He is engaged in clinical and surgical practices at the Pediatric Otolaryngology Department of Pr. Michel Mondain and Cochlear Implant Center of Montpellier. Concurrently, he contribute to regenerative hearing science research at the laboratory of Pr. Jean-Luc Puel at the Institute for Neurosciences, Montpellier. He had the privilege to join the Heller Laboratory at Stanford University School of Medicine, with ongoing collaborative projects.
UNITED STATES
Dr. Lin is an otologic surgeon & Professor at Johns Hopkins University. His mission is to improve public health and the everyday lives of people around the world through changing how people understand and are enabled to optimize their hearing across their lifetimes. Since 2010, he has pursued this mission through establishing the impact of hearing interventions on dementia risk, enactment of the U.S. Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017, and launching the Hearing Number awareness initiative.
ARGENTINA
Federico Di Lella -MD PhD-, is an otologist, actually the Head of the Otorhinolaryngology Department at the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina. He focused on objective measurements with cochlear implants. One of the most relevant issues at present are based on the complex study of electrical impedances within the cochlea as an indicator of cochlear damage after cochlear implant surgery with hearing preservation and drug eluting electrodes in humans.
SAUDI ARABIA
An associate professor at King Saud University - collage of Medicine - Saudi Arabia. Otologist/neuro-otologist at King Abdullah ear specialist center (KAESC). Head of the KAESC
MEXICO
Graduate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Otolaryngology from the UNAM, Ear and Skull Base Surgery in Toulouse, France. Director of the Mexican Institute of Otology and Neurotology SC, since 1993. Founder of the Asociación Mexicana para la Audición "Ayúdanos a Oír", A.C., since 1995, a non-profit NGO created to support low-income people with hearing problems. Postgraduate professor in high speciality of neuro-otology at UNAM.
BELGIUM
Griet Mertens (PhD, MSc AUD) holds a position as professor at the Antwerp University and is coordinating the clinical cochlear implant research program at the ENT department of the Antwerp University Hospital (UZA) in Belgium. She completed her PhD on Single-Sided Deafness and partial deafness at the Antwerp University in 2015 and her MA studies in Audiology at the Catholic University of Leuven in 2011.
RUSSIA
Professor George Tavartkiladze. Head of the Department of Clinical Audiology, Russian Medical Academy of Continuing Professional Education, Moscow. Research interests: Electrophysiology of hearing, cochlear implantation, objective measures in auditory implants, audiological screening. Secretary General, International Society of Audiology; Member of the Expert Advisory Panel, World Health Organization; Member of the Lancet Commission on Hearing; President of the Russian Society of Audiology
SAUDI ARABIA
Medical Director of the Cochlear Implant Center, King Fahad Medical City. Chair of Audiology Subcommittee for the development and improvement of cochlear Implant services, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia. Board Member and Chair of the Scientific Committee, Saudi Society for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (SSSPA). Consultant to local and regional hospitals/centers on establishing cochlear implant programs, candidacy criteria, clinical policies, and managing difficult/complex cases.
SPAIN
Dr. Gloria Guerra-Jiménez (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain, 1985). ENT Consultant. Otology and Otoneurology Unit, Department Otolaryngology H&N Surg. CHU University Hospital Gran Canaria. Tertiary University Hospital. 2010-2024. Phd MD. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University. May 2019. Author of several scientific publications and chapters related to otology and neurotology. Founder member of VAI.
UNITED KINGDOM
Gerard O’Donoghue qualified in medicine at University College, Cork, Ireland and undertook his otolaryngology training in London and Oxford, availing of Fellowships at University Hospital in Boston, USA and at the University of California in, San Francisco. He is a Consultant Neuro-Otologist at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust where, in 1989, he established the Nottingham Cochlear Implant Programme and led many research studies in this and related fields.
BELGIUM
Glynnis De Greve received her board certification in otolaryngology in 2022 and has since applied her expertise as a full-time staff member at the European Institute for Otorhinolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery at St. Augustinus Hospital in Antwerp, Belgium. Her field of interest is otology, especially middle ear surgery and cochlear implantation. She is currently involved in research on cochlear implantation techniques.
SWEDEN
Senior Professor at the Uppsala University, Department of Surgical Sciences, section of ORL. Ear Surgeon and skull base surgeon, Head of the Inner Ear Research Laboratories at the Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden. Focus on cochlear implants, Cochlear anatomi, Synkrotron Imaging and Electron Microscopy and Immune Chemistry, super resolution microscopy and RNA scope technique for gene localization in human inner ear tissue
CHINA
Chief Physician, Professor. Director of 9th people's Hospital Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine. Prof. WU has long been committed to the basic and clinical research of otology and auditory medicine, especially in sensorineural hearing loss, auditory implantation and acoustic neuroma surgery. He led the Chinese newborn hearing screening and intervention program for more than 20 years and developed systematically the management strategy of congenital hearing loss.
FRANCE
Prof. Thai-Van, MD, PhD, worked as a post-doctoral fellow from 2004 to 2006 at NIH (USA). Building on his expertise in complex auditory disorders, tinnitus and vestibular pathologies, he coordinates a national training program in audiology and otoneurology. Author of more than 100 scientific publications, he is the co-director of the Center for Research and Innovation in Human Audiology at the Paris Hearing Institute. He will chair the next World Congress of Audiology in Paris (19-22 sept 2024).
PORTUGAL
Institution: Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Central (CHULC). Senior Graduate Assistant and Otolaryngology. Chair, Otolaryngology Department - Since January 2022. Chair, CHULC Cochlear implant reference Center – Since 2017. Relevant Work Experience: Cochlear implant surgery in children and adults, Functional and aesthetic surgeries of the nose, Surgery of ear malformation, Chronic ear infection, Skull base endoscopic surgery
PORTUGAL
Speech therapist and professor of higher education for more than 35 years (School of Health, University of Aveiro, and earlier, in collaboration, School of Health, University of Algarve and School of Health, Coimbra). Vice director/Adjunct Professor in the SLT course at the Health School of the University of Aveiro; Erasmus Pivot for SLT Course; MD Developmental Psychology; CCC-SLT in Cochlear Implants and Early Language. Development Intervention. Isabel Monteiro's interests are mainly focused in the field of communication disorders in children with hearing loss and their families and in a very incisive way in the development track that is early intervention.
FRANCE
1. Unité Fonctionnelle Implants Auditifs, ORL, GH Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP Sorbonne Université, Paris, France 2. Technologies et thérapie génique pour la surdité, Institut de l'audition, Institut Pasteur / Inserm/ Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
AUSTRIA
Ingeborg Hochmair PD DI Dr. Dr. hc mult. is CEO and Chief Technology Officer of MED-EL. She heads the global Group of 2.700 people including a team of 470 in R&D working on innovations based on translational research in the field of CIs, EAS, BCIs, Middle Ear Implants, ABIs and other active implantable systems designed to improve quality of life. She had co-founded MED-EL after developing the very first microelectronic multichannel CI implanted in 1977 together with Erwin Hochmair
SPAIN
Professor and Chairman. Department of Otorhinolaryngology. La Paz University Hospital. Madrid, Spain. 10 books and 92 book chapters. Over 300 papers in scientific journals. Visiting Professor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, University of Toronto and University of Pittsburgh. Speaker, Panelist or Moderator in more than 600 meetings. Organized more than 70 scientific activities. Recipient of 56 different awards and grants. Member of more than 25 different scientific societies. Research Secretary of the HEARRING group since 2017
republic of KOREA
Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Seoul National University College of Medicine. Director, Dizziness Center, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. President-Elect, Korean Balance Society. Past-President, Korean Otological Society
PAKISTAN
Dr. Jawwad Ahmad, is currently Director, CDA Cochlear Implant Centre, Capital Hospital, Islamabad. His academic focus is on otology especially Implantation with particular focus on outcome related to Hearing preservation techniques. He has performed more than 900 cochlear implant surgeries and has a vast experience in ear surgery. He has been involved in teaching and research in the field of otology and has published 30 articles pertinent to his field.
UNITED STATES
MD Central University of Venezuela (UCV). Otorhinolaryngology at UCV. Fellow in Neurotology at Addenbrooke's Hospital NHS - Cambridge University Hospital. Clinical Professor of Otolaryngology at UCV Director of CI program. Vice President of the Venezuelan Otology Foundation Director of CI program. Assistant Professor of Clinical Otolaryngology at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Director of the Cranial Access Neuroanatomy & ENT Surgical Laboratory (CANES LAB)
NETHERLANDS
Johan H.M. Frijns is ENT-consultant, director of the Center for Audiology and Hearing Implants and professor of Otology and Auditory Physics at LUMC, and Medical Delta Professor at Delft University of Technology. He earned his MSc (hons, 1983) in Applied Physics at Delft UT, his MD (hons, 1988) and his PhD (hons, 1995) at Leiden University. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers. His research interests include (neuro-)otology and audiology, especially cochlear implants.
AUSTRALIA
Clinical and research audiologist (PhD) with over 20 experience in the cochlear implant field. Jaime is a senior clinician at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. Jaime has published in a diverse range of cochlear implant areas including; candidacy, speech and language outcomes, benefits of early implantation and barriers to considering CI. Jaime is also actively involved in the training of Master of Audiology and PhD students.
PORTUGAL
Otorhinolaryngologist at the Coimbra Hospital University Centre (Portugal) and Cochlear Implant Reference Center Coordinator. Coordinator of the Otorhinolaryngology Department at CUF Coimbra Hospital, Portugal. Current General Secretary of the Portuguese Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery (SPORL-CCP).
AUSTRALIA
Jan Janssen, Chief Technology Officer at Cochlear Limited, oversees Research & Development and Strategic Investments. His team of 550+ engineers and scientists implement the R&D strategy, identifying and developing cutting-edge technologies bringing these innovations through to commercialisation. Jan joined Cochlear in 2000, previously from Philips Electronics. He holds 12 granted patents in the field of Implantable Hearing Technology. Jan also oversees Quality & Regulatory Affairs at Cochlear.
SPAIN
Dr. Jaime Monedero was born in 1991 in Gran Canaria, he attended the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, obtaining the degree in 2016. Since then, he has worked in the otorhinolaryngology team of the "Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular-Materno Infantil", leds by Professor Angel Ramos first as a resident, and then in the otology team, currently he is working with the cochlear and vestibular implantation team and carrying out several research projects in the area of otology and otoneurology.
SPAIN
Chairman ENT Department Hospital Clínico Universitario. University of Valencia Medical School. Valencia. Spain.
SPAIN
Audiologist, PhD. Director of Audiology at Clínica Universidad de Navarra.
COLOMBIA
M.D. , Otolaryngology, Otology , Neurotology. Chair Department of Otolarynyngology Fundación Santa Fe de Bogota. Professor Faculty of Medicine University of los Andes. Profesor Otology Neurotology fellowship Fundacion Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud FUCS. Fellow of the Triological Society and Fellow of American Neurotology Society. IFOS representative for South America.
CANADA
Medical & Radiological certificate - Leuven, Belgium. Fellowships at UCLA and Gainesville Univ., U.S. 1986. PhD on inner ear in 1994 - Univ. Ghent. Radiologist in Bruges, Belgium, 1988-2023, chairman 2004 – 2022. ESHNR president 1999-2002. 300 scientific publications, HI 60, over 1300 scientific presentations. Guest-Professor University Ghent 2011-2023. “Lifetime achievement” award ESHNR 2018. Since 2013 Professor Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, Canada & consult. radiol. AZ St.-Lucas Gent, Belgium.
SPAIN
Javier Santos-Garrido, Au.D., manages the audiology team at Clínica Universidad de Navarra in Madrid. He also provides aural rehabilitation services for adult and pediatric patients, including hearing aids and cochlear implants. Dr. Santos also collaborates with multiple research projects at both Clinics in Madrid and Pamplona. Dr. Santos is currently vice-president of the Spanish Association of audiology and is an active advocate of the need for better programs in audiology in Spain.
ROMANIA
Katalin Gál is President of the Association for Hearing Impaired Children in Romania and is also a speech and language therapist and psychologist. She is very active in supporting families in Romania where services have been limited for so long. She has been working in the CI field for more than 12 years, using the natural-aural approach. Her experience shows that „The parents are their child`s first and the most important teacher” with a specialized assistance.
CANADA
Karen Gordon, PhD, Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology and Graduate Faculty Member, the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. She works at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as a Senior Scientist, and Audiologist. She is Director of Research in Archie’s Cochlear Implant Laboratory and holds the Bastable-Potts Health Clinician Scientist Award in Hearing Impairment and Cochlear Americas Chair of Auditory Development.
BELGIUM
PhD Leo De Raeve is Director of the Independent Information and Research Center on Cochlear Implants (ONICI) and is Scientific Advisor of the European Users Association of Cochlear Implant Users. He is also a member of the World Hearing Forum (WHO). In 2022 he became chair of the International Foundation CIICA (Cochlear Implant International Community of Action) and one of the co-chairs of the Task Force of the Living guidelines project.
DOMINICIAN REPUBLIC
Felllowship in Otology at hospital materno infantil , las Palmas de gran Canaria. MIR ORL at the Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Vigo. Owner and Medical Director , Centro Otologico Deive Maggiolo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Coodinator of the ""hearing lost program"" National Helth Service . Dominican Republic. Profesor of ENT , Universiad Nacional Pedro Henrriquez Urena (UNPHU)
PORTUGAL
Otorhinolaryngologist with special interest in pediatric ENT, deafness and cochlear implants. Master degree in Audiology. Founder of the Cochlear Implant Program at the pediatric hospital in Lisbon (2007), Hospital Dona Estefânea. Head of the ENT Department at Hospital Lusíadas since 2013. Founder of the GRISI steering group that implemented UNHS in Portugal. Member of the WHF, Make Listening Safe sub-group. Author of a text book on Pediatric ENT an another on Audiology.
ROMANIA
Prof. Luminita Radulescu is an ENT surgeon specialized in ear surgery, cochlear implant and vestibular disorders. She is currently Chief of Otorhinolaryngology Clinic at The Hospital of Rehabilitation Iasi and ORL Professor at University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Grigore T Popa” Iasi. Her special interests are: cochlear implants, genetics of hearing loss and the use of nanoparticles in inner ear pathology.
SPAIN
Luis Lassaletta is Head of Otology, auditory implants and skull base surgery at the Department of Otolaryngology, La Paz University Hospital in Madrid. He is Professor of Otolaryngology at the Department of Surgery of the Autonomous University of Madrid. President of the Otology Board, Spanish Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Director of the Facial Paralysis Unit at La Paz University Hospital, a member of the Hearring International Network of Experts in Hearing Implants,
TURKEY
Levent Olgun was born in 1952 in Bingol-Turkey.Graduated from Ege University in 1975 and completed ENT residency at ENT Clinic of the same institution.Worked at Bozyaka Training Hospital between 1980-2017 (Chairman between 2010-2017). Estabilished and Cochlear Implant Center of the Bozyaka Hospital in 2000.In 2017 moved to Baskent University Zubeyde Hanim Research Center -Izmir .Currently chairing Cochlear Implant Center of this institution
ITALY
Letizia Guerzoni is Speech and language therapist. She works in cochlear implant service
ISRAEL
Liat Kishon-Rabin is a Full Professor of Communication Disorders at the Faculty of Medicine and is the Dean of Innovation in Teaching & Learning at Tel Aviv U. She is former Head of the School of Health Professions and past president of the European Federation of Auditory Societies. She has over 100 publications on the influence of listening and communicative experience on auditory perception and language development in special populations, including infants and children with cochlear implants.
SWITZERLAND
Prof. Marco Caversaccio is chairman of the Department of ENT, Head and Neck Surgery at the University Hospital in Bern (Switzerland) . Dr. Caversaccio is a well-known technology expert for the development and implementation of novel surgical techniques . He has conducted First in Man studies like the Robotic Cochlea implantation as well the insertion of the Bone Anchoring Port for Nephrodialysis. He is member of different societies, as well of of the Collegium ORL Amicitiae Sacrum.
UNITED STATES
Margaret Dillon, AuD, PhD is an Associate Professor, Director of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck (OHNS) Clinical Research, and Director of the Cochlear Implant (CI) Clinical Research Laboratories in the Department of OHNS at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research investigates outcomes of CI and electric-acoustic stimulation (EAS) device use for new indications for cochlear implantation and the effectiveness of methods to individualize the mapping of CI and EAS devices.
ITALY
Graduated in 1978. Specialized in ENT in 1981. Specialized in Audiology in 1988. PhD at Karolinska Institut, Stockholm, Sweden, in 1988. Full professor in Otorhinolaryngology from 2005. Head of ENT Clinic at University Hospital Sant’Andrea, Rome, Italy. Head of NESMOS Department in 2017-2022. Coordinator of the Sapienza PhD Program “Sensorineural Plasticity” in 2018-2023. Author of more than 180 publications.
UNITED STATES
Dr. Holcomb is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Hearing Implant Program at the University of Miami Ear Institute. She is a cochlear implant audiologist who manages patients across the lifespan. She is a consultant for Advanced Bionics, Cochlear, Med El, Hemideina, ICIT and ASHA. She currently serves on the Joint Committee for Infant Hearing and is an active member of the American Cochlear Implant Alliance and the Hearing Health Collaborative.
SPAIN
Specialist in Otolaryngology, Otology & Neurotology at Hospital Ramon y Cajal, Madrid. Professor of Speech Therapy Degree, Universidad de Alcalá. Author of several publications in specialized journals. Author of several presentations and communications in congresses of the specialty.
SLOVAKIA
Comenius University Bratislava, Medical Faculty, Department of ORL HNS
UNITED KINGDOM
Manohar Bance is an Otologist/Neurotologist and clinician-scientist at Cambridge University, and the inaugural Professor of Otology and Skull Base Surgery at the University of Cambridge, UK. Previously he was Professor and Head of the Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck surgery at Dalhousie University until April 2017, where he was also Director of the EAR and SENSE labs.
UNITED KINGDOM
Marcelo Rivolta is Professor of Sensory Stem Cell Biology at the University of Sheffield and the Founder Director and Chief Scientific Officer of Rinri Therapeutics. His lab identified and isolated a population of stem cells from the human foetal cochlea and generated one of the first developmentally informed protocols to direct human pluripotent stem cells into auditory cell types. He established the proof of concept that stem cells can be used to functionally repair the damaged cochlea.
INDIA
Professor. Mohan Kameswaran is the Managing Director & Senior Consultant of Madras ENT Research Foundation (P) Ltd, Honorary Distinguished Professor, The Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University. Special Interests: Cochlear Implants and Auditory Brainstem Implants. Past President APSCI and Former board member Politzer board. One of the Pioneers of Auditory Implants
CHINA
Professor Michael Tong is the Chairman of Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is pioneering in development of advanced endoscopic ear surgery techniques. His interest has extended to epidemiology and public Health especially in elderly health. As a distinguished skull base surgeon and otologist, he has 260+ peer-reviewed publications on otology, cochlear implantation, auditory brainstem implantation, and nasopharyngeal cancer research
SPAIN
María Costales Marcos has a degree in Medicine from the University of Oviedo (2007) and a PhD in Medicine from the University of Oviedo (2012). She is a specialist in Otorhinolaryngology at the Hospital Central de Asturias (2008-2012). Fellow of the European Board of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery (2015). She is a full-time ENT Attending Physician at HUCA. Areas of interest: Otology and cochlear implants and genetic of hearing loss
GERMANY
Manuel works as an attending at the University Hospital in Freiburg, Germany. His areas of focus include CI surgery, cochlear imaging, dislocation analyses, and tinnitus research.
ARGENTINA
Professor of Otorhinolaryngology, Catholic University of Cordoba. Professor of Otorhinolaryngology, National University of Villa Maria. Professor of Hearing, National University of Cordoba
SPAIN
During her ENT training (2018-2022) in Clínica Universidad de Navarra (Pamplona), she began to develop her research career in the field of animal experimental research (macaques). Along these lines, she forged her PhD (2018-2022), which sought to study inner ear drug delivery and cochlear pharmacokinetics. She is also collaborating researcher in some other research projects and published scientific articles in high-impact medical journals. Today, she is working in Clínica Universidad de Navarra (Madrid).
IRAN
Full Prof. Otolaryngologist. Fellowship in neurotology and skull base surgery from UNSW Australia. More than 15000 ear surgery 2500 cochlear implant,70 published articles
PORTUGAL
Specialist in Otorhinolaryngology since 2013. Dedicated to otology and hearing rehabilitation. She works at Auditory implant unit at Hospital CUF Porto
FRANCE
Professeur Mondain Michel, MD, PhD. ENT surgeon – CHU Montpellier France. Head Pediatric ENT & pediatric audiology Unit. Head Cochlear Implant Center Montpellier Palavas
BELGIUM
Marc Leblans, PhD physics, worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the fields of materials science, electron and optical spectroscopy, laser development and isotope enrichment via laser ionisation (1990–1999). Later he was active in high-throughput biomedical screening, middle-ear implants and deep-brain stimulation at several startup companies. Since 2014 he is a researcher at St-Augustinus hospital Antwerp EIORL, specializing in transimpedance measurements and medical imaging in cochlear implants.
AUSTRIA
Dr. Maria Huber is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist. She has been associated with the CI Center, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Salzburg for many years. In addition to her clinical work, she has been active for many years as a researcher and leader of multicenter scientific projects. Her current scientific interest is in the cognitive performance of adults with severe and profound hearing loss and CI patients.
ISRAEL
Prof. Michal Luntz is a surgeon-scientist specializing in CI. She is deaf and uses CIs. With over 40 years of experience in patient-centered care and post-market surveillance, her unique perspective enables her to create innovative solutions for those living with hearing loss. She is the president of the Israel Society for Auditory Research, and a co-founder of Humelan, a tech-enabled platform dedicated to empowering individuals with hearing loss to achieve their communication potential.
UNITED KINGDOM
Neil Donnelly is a Consultant Otoneurological & Skull Base Surgeon at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He is a Fellow of Homerton College, University of Cambridge and is a Council Member of the British Skull Base Society. At Cambridge University Hospitals, Neil is a member of a team delivering high quality care in Skull Base Surgery, Otology and Hearing Implantation.
ITALY
Prof. Nicola Quaranta graduated at the Medical School of the University of Bari with a graduation thesis in Otolaryngology.
He completed his training in Oto-Rhino-Laryngology at the University of Parma.
He is Full Professor of Otolaryngology. He is author of more than 200 papers and his research interest are in the field of Audiology, Otology, Cochlear Implants and Otoneurological and Skull base Surgery.
BELGIUM
Prof. Dr. Nicolas Verhaert is a researcher and well-trained otologic surgeon, with a PhD. He regularly performs hearing implants, cholesteatoma and stapes surgery and lateral skull base surgery. He is currently a part-time Associate Professor at KU Leuven and Deputy Clinical Head at University Hospitals Leuven. In 2009-2011 he performed an international fellowship in otology-neurotology in CHU in Lyon, France and a one-year fellowship at the Hannover Medical School in Germany.He completed his training in Oto-Rhino-Laryngology at the University of Parma.
He is Full Professor of Otolaryngology. He is author of more than 200 papers and his research interest are in the field of Audiology, Otology, Cochlear Implants and Otoneurological and Skull base Surgery.
TURKEY
President, International Vertigo Society, Past President - Turkish Otology, Neurotology Society, Politzer Society, EAONO, MSOA. Board Member – IFOS. Editor in Chief – The Journal of International Advanced Otology "Ingeborg and Erwin Hochmair" Award for Services to the Deaf. 2011 Dubai. Honorary Member – Indian ORL Academy. Contributions in more than 250 International Organizations
TURKEY
Prof. Özgür Yiğit, MD, is currently the Chief of Otorhinolaryngology Clinic - University of Health Sciences, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital. He is the current General Secretary of the Turkish ORL-HNS Society and the Central and West Asian ORL-HNS Associations. He is the president of upcoming International Federation of ORL Societies congress (IFOS-2026). He is also board member of Balkan Society of ORL-HNS and Skull Base Society.
PORTUGAL
He is a Speech and Language Therapist for 23 years. He is a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist and mentors professionals to obtain LSLS Cert. AVT credentials. He is currently a member of the AG Bell Academy Board of Directors. He is a guest assistant on the SLT course at the Health School of Aveiro University. He is part of the Hearing Implants team at Hospital Lusiadas Porto, working with babies, children, teenagers and adults with hearing loss.
POLAND
Participated in the 3rd Stakeholders Consultation meeting during which the World Hearing Forum WHO was announced. A member of the Roster of Experts on Digital Health WHO, Institutional Representative of ISfTeH, President of International Advisory Board of AAO-HNS, member of Congress and Meeting Department of EAONO, Vice-President of Hearring Group, Auditor of EFAS. Member of Implantable Hearing Devices Committee and Otology & Neurotology Education Committee of AAO-HNS and more.
SPAIN
Full dedication to diagnostic neuroradiology since finishing my residency program at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, in 2006, with a preference for inner ear imaging in close contact with the ENT Department. This includes PhD work on hydrops imaging and numerous communications and papers on different inner ear pathologies.
DENMARK
Professor Otology/Neurotology, University of Copenhagen. Surgical experience more than 20 years, extensive research related to hearing and balance (+220 peer-reviewed papers). Board Member Politzer Society and The Nordic Association of Otolaryngology. IFOS Executive Committee, European Regional Secretary. Past-president, Danish Society of Oto-rhino-laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery and The European Academy of Otology and Neurotology. President, Confederation of European ORL Societies (CEORL)
PORTUGAL
Head of the Coclear Implant Reference Center of the Egas Moniz University Hospital in Lisbon, Portugal. Associate Professor at Nova Medical School. Vice-President of the Portuguese Society of Otorhinolaringology–Head and Neck Surgery. Aimed at improving accessibility for cochlear implants, his center has implanted more than 500 patients since 2017, 100 implants per year in the last 2 years. He organized more than 50 hands-on ear surgery courses for portuguese or other residents or specialists.
BELGIUM
Emeritus and consultant involved in research and education. His main scientific interest is inner ear pathology and cochlear implants. He published > 600 publications (pubmed) and supervised >70 PhD theses. In 2018 in Antwerp he was the president of the 15th International Conference on Cochlear Implants and other Implantable Technologies. He is cofounder, former chairman and now co-chairman of HEARRING, an international network of innovative comprehensive auditory implant centres.
UNITED KINGDOM
Qais Khan, a cochlear implant user, is a public speaker and disability rights advocate across international platforms, including the Economic and Social Council Youth Forum at the United Nations in New York, at the World Health Organisation in Switzerland, and at Parliament in London. Qais is currently working with the Cochlear Implant International Community of Action, where he’s developing a stakeholder group of young adults with cochlear implants and shaping an agenda for change.
NORWAY
In 2016, Ralf Greisiger received his PhD degree at University of Oslo, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Topic: Objective Measurements and Cochlear Implant Imaging. His working experience with Cochlear Implants (CI) started in 1997 at University Hospital Freiburg, Germany and University Hospital Basel, Switzerland. Since 2003, he is working for the ENT department at Oslo University Hospital, Norway. Research focus: Intra-operative measurements and imaging of electrode arrays.
SPAIN
She finished her ENT training in 2011 and her Ph D in 2013. She has been working on the following research topics in an animal model: hearing preservation with cochlear implantation, drug delivery in the inner ear, vestibular damage after cochlear implantation and in the clinical scenario in the analysis of vestibular and radiological assessment in meniere disease. She has participated in 20 research projects and published more than 80 papers in the otology and neuro-otology area.
AUSTRALIA
Robert Briggs is an Otolaryngologist with a clinical practice and research specializing in Otology and Neurotology. His current appointments are Clinical Professor in the University of Melbourne Departments of Surgery and Otolaryngology and Medical Director of the Cochlear Implant Clinic at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. He has a large experience with acoustic neuroma surgery and with cochlear implantation.
INDIA
Master in otorhinolaryngology. Professor. Teaching experience of 20 years. Special interest in otology, especially cochlear implants. Done over 1400 cochlear implants. Several publications done. Research in cochlear implantation
GERMANY
He has his clinical focus on middle ear and skull base disease with particular interest in cholesteatoma, middle ear, lesions of the lateral skull base including cochlear implantation and active middle ear implants. His scientific focus lies on passive and active implantable hearing systems as well as the inner ear and auditory pathway. He is an invited guest surgeon as well as teacher at several national and international otosurgical and lateral skull base courses
ISRAEL
Ranin Khayr is a senior audiologist within the cochlear implant program and the ear & hearing center at the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Bnai-Zion Medical Center. Currently, she is completing the final year of her PhD studies in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Studies, Haifa University. Her research focuses on Perceptual learning and speech recognition in adult cochlear implant users.
GERMANY
Doctor of medicine, 1991 Assistant Professor, 2005 Associate Professor Univ.Tübingen, 1998 Extraordinary Professorship Würzburg, 1991 Habilitation, 1992 Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 1995 Allergology, Chief Senior Physician, 1996 Phoniatrics, Special head and neck surgery, 1998-2005 Medical director Clinic for ORL Katharinenhospital, Stuttgart, Germany, 2005-2023 Head of Otorhinolaryngology, Plastic, Aesthetic and reconstructive Head and Neck Surgery Department University of Würzburg,
ISRAEL
Professor Ronen Perez MD, Director of the Otology Unit and Cochlear Implant Center, Shaare-Zedek Medical Center and Associate Professor at the Hebrew-University of Jerusalem Medical School. Currently serves as the President of the Israeli Society of Otoneurology and President Elect/Vice President of the Mediteranean Society of Otology and Audiology. In addition to clinical/surgical work in Otology conducts basic/clinical research in cochlear implantation, inner-ear physiology and ototoxicity.
FINLAND
Robert Mandara was born in the UK in 1968, severely deaf, and got a hearing aid at age 4. He is married, lives in Finland, and has adult sons. He has a degree and extensive international work experience. Robert was offered CI in 1996 but stubbornly declined until getting cochlear implants to both ears c. 2015. Cochlear implants have transformed his life. Now he's a highly motivated CI advocate. He recently became President of EURO-CIU, the European Association of Cochlear Implant Users.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Education: 2005 - Charles University in Prague, 2nd Faculty of Medicine (2LFUK) - MUDr. Degree. 2014 – 2LFUK – Ph.D. degree. Since 2005 clinical geneticist at the DBMG 2LF and UHM. Since 2017 teaching and research position at the 2nd Faculty of Medicine, DBMG. Citation report (without selfcitations): 158 in WoS, 180 in SCOPUS, H-index = 8. Author and co-author of 20 scientific papers in journals with IF, 2 reviews and 3 editorials. Field of interest: Genetics of Hearing Loss
JAPAN
Prof. Usami has been Professor and Chairman of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of Shinshu University from 1999 to 2020. He is currently emeritus Professor and is continuing his clinical and basic research as a Professor of the Department of Hearing Implant Sciences. His scientific interests include molecular genetics and the therapy of hearing loss with a focus on cochlear implantation. He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles in international scientific journals.
GERMANY
Professor Plontke was President (2020/2021) of the German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. He is member of the Collegium ORLAS, member of the board of directors of the Prosper Menière Society, and editor in chief of the Journal 'HNO' (Springer). His clinical research interests focus on otology, hearing implants, lateral skull base surgery, audiology, innear ear surgery, drug delivery to the ear and outcome parameters for clinical trials.
GERMANY
2008 - 2008 Engineer at MED-EL. 2009– 2011 Research assistant at ENT clinic Großhadern Munich (Germany). 2012 – 2014 Head of experimental audiology at ENT clinic Großhadern Munich and researcher at the Munich School of BioEngineering/Group of Prof. Werner Hemmert. 2014 – 2015 Postdoc at ENT clinic Freiburg/Germany. 2015 – today Professor for electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg
UNITED KINGDOM
Sue co-ordinated Nottingham Implant Programme until 2004. At The Ear Foundation, she led the support, information, education and research programme, to ensure lifelong benefit from implantation. She has published widely on cochlear implantation and feels passionately that the impact of deafness and hearing loss is not recognised by the public or decision makers, and seeks to influence public policies and practice on hearing care, working with major international organisations, including WHO.
INDIA
Dr Shankar Medikeri is a Practicing ENT surgeon for the last 40 years in Bangalore, India. He has two decades old robust CI program with 900+ implants to his credit. He has mentored 40 ENT surgeons from different parts of India and Vietnam in CI surgery. He has conducted many live surgical workshops and conferences in Otolaryngology and Cochlear implants. He was President of Cochlear implant group of India, 2015-17. Presently He is the President of The Association of Otolaryngologists of India.
UNITED KINGDOM
Professor Shakeel R. Saeed. MBBS, M.D., F.R.C.S (ORL). Emeritus Professor of Otology / Neuro-otology University College London, Ear Institute. Consultant ENT and Skullbase Surgeon, Royal National Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital and National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London. Honorary Consultant Guy’s St Thomas’ and King’s College Hospital, London. Honorary member of the Spanish ENT Society since 2022 (by invitation)
ITALY
Sandro Burdo graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Milan, where he specialized in Medical Audiology. As director of audiovestibology at the Varese Hospital, he made it a leading center in Italy for cochlear implants and among the main European centers for pediatric-age patients. Personal surgical case histories for implants reached 1,000 in 2009, introducing binaural surgery.
BRAZIL
Clinical professor and chairman: department of otolaryngology, head and neck surgery. School of medicine, federal university of Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil. Chief of the service: otolaryngology, head and neck surgery. University Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre – Brazil
IRAN
Dr. Susan Abdi Neuro Audiologistsognition. She managed the CI Programme from its inception in 1991 in Iran . She has published and lectured widely on this work. Over the years, she has participated as a speaker in more than 60 scientific communications to national and international congresses and published widely on CI and topics related to hearing in national and international journals. She is as Hearing Health Advocate in Iran.
CHINA
Dr. Sui Huang is currently the director of Hangzhou R&D center in Nurotron Biotechnology Inc., Hangzhou, China. His interests include developing novel implantable active devices in the field of neuroelectronics, and studying the mechanism of neural modulation. His primary research involves cochlear implant, artificial retina, auditory brainstem implant, etc. He is the Vice Chairman of the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Branch of the Chinese Equipment Association.
CANADA
Sumit Agrawal, MD, FRCS(C) is the current Chair/Chief of the Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery at Western University and London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario, Canada. He completed his fellowship in Neurotology & Skull Base Surgery and his clinical interests include cochlear implantation, vestibular surgery, and lateral skull base tumours. His current research involves middle-ear biomechanics, surgical simulation, imaging techniques, and artificial intelligence.
ITALY
Dr. Ghiselli is a Medical Doctor at the ENT department at "Guglielmo da Saliceto" Hospital in Piacenza (Italy). She has a Master School on training specialist in Audiology and Phoniatry and a PhD in Medical and Surgery Translational Science. Ghiselli MD is interested in hearing loss (cochlear implants and hearing aids), genetics, malformation pathology of ear and newborn hearing screening. She has published more than 40 scientific articles in impacted journals and book chapters.
AUSTRALIA
Prof O’Leary is the Head of Otolaryngology at the University of Melbourne and a senior Otolaryngologist at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. His clinical and research interests are in cochlear implantation, drug delivery to the ear and otology. His group specializes in experimental research and CI-related clinical research, and pioneering virtual reality surgical simulation of the ear. Prof O’Leary’s special interest are preservation of inner ear function during surgery on the cochlea.
INDIA
Shelly Chadha is the technical lead for ear and hearing care at the World Health Organization. She is an otolaryngologist and public health expert from India and has worked as professor of otolaryngology in India prior to joining her current position. Her current work focusses on global hearing health, including advocacy for prioritisation of hearing care; technical support to countries for development of hearing care strategies and development of technical tools and guidance.
SOUTH KOREA
Professor Shi Nae Park is a Professor and Head of the Department of Otolaryngology-HNS, Seoul St Mary’s Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea. Her major interests are in Otological Surgery, Tinnitus and Hearing Loss. She has more than 200 Scientific journal and many textbook chapter publications. Now, she serves as the President-Elect of Korean Otological Society and the President of Tinnitus Research Initiative Conference 2025 Seoul.
UNITED STATES
Dr. Prentiss is an Associate Professor at the University of Miami. She is distinguished for her expertise focusing on patient-oriented outcomes for individuals with cochlear implants. She is invested in researching subjective outcomes for cochlear implants, aiming to provide a holistic understanding of patients' experiences and improve their quality of life. Additionally, she is passionately dedicated to addressing healthcare disparities by striving to enhance access to cochlear implants.
SPAIN
Teresa Amat is Linguist Philologist and Speech Therapist (University of Barcelona) and she has been working in the deaf world more than 45 years; even before her deaf daughter was born and was implanted at 11 years old, she was recently reimplanted. She has as well a teenager nephew who wears bilateral CI. She worked 10 years as speech therapist doing rehabilitation to CI of all ages; but the last years she is the Director of the Spanish cochlear implant Federation AICE as well as EURO-CIU President.
FRANCE
Professor of Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery in Clermont-Ferrand. Head of the Department of Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery. Head of the Cochlear Implant Program of the University Hospital Center. Head of Lateral Skull Base surgery. Researcher at INSERM UMR 1107. President of the Humanitarian Committee of the French Society of Otolaryngology (SFORL), “Action d’entraide Globale en ORL Française” (AEGOF). Representative of the Humanitarian and Global Outreach Section of IFOS
GERMANY
Dr. Thomas Wesarg is the technical head of the Implant Center Freiburg and head of the Audiology Division at the Department of ORL of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. He studied electrical and biomedical engineering at the Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany. Thomas has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers in international journals. His main research topics include speech perception, sound localization and listening effort in CI and BCD recipients
UNITED STATES
Teddy McRackan is a fellowship trained neurotologist with a research career focused advancing our comprehensive understanding of the functional benefits of cochlear implantation in adults and developing interventions to enhance pre-cochlear implant (CI) patient counseling and post-CI outcomes. He also maintains an active clinical practice and serves as the Medical Director of the MUSC Cochlear Implant Program and Director of the MUSC Skull Base Center.
GREECE
Professor Thomas Nikolopoulos has been trained in Greece, USA, and United Kingdom. He is Professor in Athens University. He is a Visiting Professor in several Universities (USA, Australia, United Kingdom, China, Russia, Japan) and has participated in 150 round tables and guest lectures worldwide and has more than 150 publications in scientific journals (Lancet, Otology Neurotology, etc.).
SWEDEN
Ulrika Löfkvist is Associate professor at Uppsala University. She has worked at University of Oslo in Norway (2015-2020), and before that at the Hearing Implant Section, Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden (2001-2015). She is certified SLP and LSLS Cert AVEd. Dr Löfkvist’s research focus is to explore the variation in linguistic, cognitive and verbal communication in individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, and to develop new assessment tools and intervention options for caregivers.
RUSSIA
Dr. Vigen Bakhshinyan, MD, PhD. Assistant Professor at the Department of Clinical Audiology, Russian Medical Academy of Continuing Professional Education, Moscow. Head Specialist in Audiology, Ministry of Health, Republic of Armenia. Head of CI Rehabilitation Center, Erebouni Medical Center, Yerevan, Armenia. Research interests: Electrophysiology of hearing, cochlear implantation, objective measures in auditory implants, genetics of hearing loss, otosurgery.
BELGIUIM
Professor Vedat Topsakal was born in the Netherlands in 1974. He specialized in ENT HNS in Belgium and has worked almost 7 years in the Netherlands. Since 2020 he is head and chair of the department of Otorhinolaryngology, head and neck surgery.Since 2022 he is also head of the department of Maxillo-Facial surgery. He takes a great interest in otogenetics but also cochlear implant surgery. He will present at ci2024 the world's first autonomous or fully robotic cochlear implant surgery
PORTUGAL
Victor Correia da Silva is director of the ENT Department and coordinator of the Auditory Implants Unit (responsible for CI program since 1993)
GERMANY
He received his Engineering degree from the Technical University Catalonia and his PhD degree (Dr.-Ing) from the Leibniz University Hannover in 2003 and 2009, respectively. In 2008 he joined the R&D division of Advanced Bionics. In 2011 he became Post-Doc at the Department of Information and Communications Technologies of the Pompeu Fabra University. Since 2013 he leads the Auditory Prosthetic Group (Prof. Dr.-Ing) of the cluster of excellence "Hearing4all" and the Medical University Hannover.
ISRAEL
Prof. Henkin is Head of the Hearing, Speech, and Language Center, Co-director of the Cochlear Implant Program, and Head of Communication Disorders Services at the Sheba Medical Center. She manages a diverse spectrum of diagnostic and therapeutic activities in the field of communication disorders. Prof. Henkin is a faculty member of the Department of Communication Disorders, Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. Her research focuses on neurophysiological biomarkers of auditory processing across the life span, in normal hearing and hearing-impaired listeners habilitated by hearing aids and cochlear implants. Prof. Henkin chaired the 2018 International Symposium on Objective Measures in Auditory Implants (OMAI) that took place in Tel Aviv, Israel.
AUSTRALIA
Zachary Smith is Director of Algorithms & Applications at Cochlear Ltd, where he leads teams of hearing scientists, data scientists, and research engineers at multiple sites in Australia. Dr. Smith received his PhD from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology and additional postdoctoral training at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He is an Honorary Adjunct Fellow at Macquarie University Hearing and an international expert on algorithms for cochlear implants.