EBC is please to take a part in “Building Brain Health in Europe” session at EANS Congress 2024. The session will take place on 13th of October 2024 from 9:00 till 12:00 in Hall 6 of the Venue in Sofia.

About the session

This session, organized by EANS, will cover topics such as advocacy, brain health imaging, the brain tumours, neurosurgery in psychiatry and traumatic brain injuries. 

EBC will present the advocacy work in the brain space undertaken at the European level and explore not only the importance of the work being done but the potentials for strengthened collaboration and the needs going forward, for the benefit of all within the brain space, particularly with a spotlight on neurosurgery, neurology and neurological conditions (including the clinicians that treat them and the patients that live with them).

Session will feature a series of presentations by prominent experts in the field of brain health. Prof Torstein R. Meling will chair the session. Speakers include Prof Thomas Berger, Prof Suzanne Dickson, Tarek Yousry, Prof Johnny Duerinck, Dr Niklas Marklund, Majda Thurnher, Dr Ricardo Chavarriaga, and Dr Eric Suero Molina. Topics will cover various aspects of brain health, including neuroradiology, the impact of brain tumors, traumatic brain injury, and stroke, as well as the role of neurosurgery in modern psychiatry. Prof Suzanne Dickson will put forward the role of EBC in the advocacy of Brain Health and Dr Ricardo Chavarriaga will explore the ethics of neuroprosthetics.

Professor Suzanne L Dickson is a neurobiologist and Professor of Neuroendocrinology at the University of Gothenburg. She graduated with a Ph.D. in Neuroendocrinology from the University of Cambridge in 1993, where she later became Senior Lecturer in Physiology. She is a leading figure in neuroendocrinology and works within many European Union and international organisations and societies to promote research, facilitate grant funding and training of Early Career Scientists. Her research into the neurobiology of appetite aims to unravel neurobiological pathways that respond to orexigenic signals, such as the hormone, ghrelin, and that drive feeding behaviours, not only food intake but also food choice, food anticipation, food reward and food motivation. This work involves mostly preclinical studies and includes behavioural tasks, viral vector mapping, chemogenetics and RNAscope. She is Secretary and Executive Board member of the European College for Neuropsychopharmacology, and also chairs ECNP’s Workshop for Early Career Scientists in Europe. She also is founder and co-chair of ECNP’s nutrition network and EBRA’s BRAINFOOD cluster.

Neuroscientist and public speaker in neurotechnologies, artificial intelligence, and responsible innovation. Dr Chavarriaga leads the Responsible AI Innovation group at at the Center for Artificial Intelligence of the Zürich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and is the head of the Swiss office of the Confederation of Laboratories for AI Research in Europe (CLAIRE). His work is focused on leveraging neuroscience, AI, and ethics for advancing responsible innovation and governance of human-centered technology.