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Masterstudent at Zipser Lab at Balgrist University Hospital.

Leena R. Chaudhari is currently pursuing a PhD in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, at D.Y. Patil Education Society in Kolhapur, India. In addition, she serves as a Senior Research Fellow at the Lady Tata Memorial Trust, Mumbai. She earned her Master’s degree in Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine from D.Y. Patil Education Society in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India, in 2020. She is an active member of the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS), USA. To date, she has published seven articles and three book chapters in reputable international journals. Her research interests are diverse and include Spinal cord research, stem cell and tissue engineering, 3D printing, in vitro disease modeling, neuroscience, and cancer biology. As a budding researcher, Leena continues to contribute significantly to these fields.

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I am a final year PhD student, graduated in Biomedical Sciences and master in Biochemistry. My research interests revolve around establishing personalized therapies for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. To contribute to developing such therapies, my PhD research focuses on omics analyses of serum samples, collected before and after rehabilitation from SCI patients, to understand the molecular crosstalk between systemic changes and the central nervous system in these patients during rehabilitation. The project aims to identify molecular targets strongly correlated with the patients' functional and motor improvements, that can serve as a starting point to establish personalized therapies with clinical relevance, promoting neurorehabilitation and, potentially, neuroregeneration upon SCI.

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Gillean is an occupational therapist and clinical researcher. Her current work includes evaluating a peer-led Active Rehabilitation approach in Australia, establishment of international basic and extended datasets in vocational rehabilitation following spinal cord injury and in her local state context improving systems and culture to address barriers to accessing healthcare for people with disability. 

Hu Yule is a PhD candidate at the School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and an awardee of the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) scholarship. She began her studies in September 2023 and achieved PhD candidacy by October 2024. Miss Hu completed her undergraduate and master's degrees at the School of Nursing, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC). Miss Hu is deeply committed to research in the mental health and cognitive function of spinal cord injury survivors, magnetic resonance imaging technology, and nutritional management of heart failure. Currently, Miss Hu is interested in developing and implementing a home-based therapy for spinal cord injury survivors to enhance cognitive function and alleviate depression, while exploring neural mechanisms through brain imaging analysis.

Dr Priya Iyer is a dedicated accredited practising dietitian and passionate researcher with a profound commitment to advancing nutritional care in spinal cord injury (SCI). With a strong academic background and extensive clinical experience, Priya continues to actively pursue research in SCI nutrition with a vision to radically transform care and improve health outcomes for persons with SCI.

Najmeh got her diploma in electrical engineering at Shiraz University in Iran and switched to biomedical engineering doing her thesis on the analysis of phonocardiogram signal at 2017. In 2019, she aimed for a second master's at Grenoble-Alpes University in France, majoring in signal and image processing. Her thesis was on the analysis of signals from genetically modified epileptic rats. She's joined Dr. Carl Moritz Zipser's team in December 2020 as a PhD student at the Spinal Cord Injury Center of Balgrist University Hospital, working on the analysis of CSF pressure data. PhD in Neuroscience, Year of graduation 2024.

Ingrid Kouwijzer is a post-doc researcher at the Department of Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. After her study Medicine she worked as a physician for two years before she decided to study Human Movement Sciences. After her graduation, she started her PhD-project entitled ‘HandbikeBattle: a challenging handcycling event. A study on physical capacity testing, handcycle training and effects of participation’. At the moment she continues her HandbikeBattle research as a post-doc researcher and works as an international classifier for paracycling. Dr. Kouwijzer’s research interests are spinal cord injury, exercise physiology, rehabilitation and adapted sports.

Brian Noga is a Professor of Neurological Surgery at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami. He obtained his Ph.D. in Neurophysiology in 1988 in the laboratory of Dr. Larry Jordan, the founding Director of the Spinal Cord Research Center at the University of Manitoba where he studied descending brainstem pathways controlling spinal locomotor circuits. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Elzbieta Jankowska (University of Gothenburg). Here he studied monoaminergic control of physiologically identified spinal neurons involved in reflex circuits underlying spinal locomotor processes. He later accepted a position at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami. There he continued his studies on the descending pathways controlling locomotion and on developing neuromodulation strategies that can improve locomotor function in people with SCI. Nationally and internationally recognized in his field, he has received numerous Federal and Foundation grants. He was lead Topic Editor for two Frontiers Research Topics which were published as eBooks in 2020. The first Research Topic, entitled “Neuromodulatory Control of Spinal Function in Health and Disease” in Frontiers in Neural Circuits consisted of 25 articles. The second Research Topic, entitled “Neuromodulatory Control of Brainstem Function in Health and Disease” collected 36 articles published in seven lead Frontiers journals. These articles have garnered over 350,000 total views and 84,000 article downloads. Currently an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Neuroscience: Neural Technology, he has been an active scientific reviewer for several academic journals and has served as a Scientific reviewer for the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP), the Clinical Neuroplasticity and Neurotransmitters (CNNT) study section of NIH amongst others. He is currently involved in a clinical pilot study of deep brain stimulation of the mesencephalic locomotor region in Parkinson’s Disease patients with severe freezing-of-gait.

Antonio Oliviero (ORCID: 0000-0001-7723-0478) got a degree in Medicine (1993) and a degree in Neurology (1997) at the Catholic University of Rome. In 2001, during the PhD he was Marie Curie fellow at the Institute of Neurology, UCL, London, UK. In 2002 he got his PhD in Neuroscience at the Catholic University of Rome. In 2003, Antonio Oliviero moved from Rome to the "Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos", Toledo (Spain) where he got the position of clinical neurologist and research group leader. At the moment, Antonio Oliviero is Head of the Neurology Section and Research Group Leader at the "Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos". The main clinical interests of Antonio Oliviero are the study of the physiopathology of the spinal cord injury and the diagnosis and treatment of syndromes associated to SCI.

Dr. Lisa Ottomanelli is a clinical psychologist at the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital and an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. Dr. Ottomanelli’s program of research focuses on testing and implementing evidence based vocational rehabilitation to improve employment, participation, and quality of life. Her work began with multisite research studies that adapted the individualized placement and support model of supported employment for spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Current work includes a randomized trial of customized employment and translational efforts engaging interdisciplinary teams. She has authored numerous peer reviewed publications and her work has been translated into practical resources including professional guidelines, toolkits, and consumer educational materials. Lisa completed her doctorate in clinical psychology at Texas Tech University and her internship at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center. She currently serves on the Governance Board the Academy of SCI Professionals (ASCIP) as President of the Psychologists, Social Workers, and Counselors Section; the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Advisory Council on Rehabilitation; and the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) Vocational Rehabilitation Dataset working group. Lisa’s substantive impact on the rehabilitation field is recognized by awards and other honorary distinctions including the prestigious Licht Award from the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, the Clinical Excellence Award from Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Essie Morgan Excellence Award from the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals.

Fascinated by human movement, Janie Provencher pursued physiotherapy, earning M.PT and B.PT degrees from Université Laval, Québec, Canada (2012-2016). Her motivation was rooted in empowering individuals to reach their fullest potential. To advance neurorehabilitation, she transitioned to clinical research, completing an M.Sc at the same institution. Her work focused on novel paired electrical and magnetic stimulations for neuroplasticity. Determined to influence the therapeutic landscape through high-quality research, Janie began her PhD with neurophysiological experts at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), affiliated with the University of New South Wales (UNSW, 2023-2027). She strives to restore hope and movement for people with spinal cord injury (SCI) through innovative, evidence-based neurostimulation solutions. Through her doctoral studies, she seeks to optimise, understand, and refine transcutaneous spinal stimulation as an accessible intervention for chronic SCI. Rigorous, systematic research and collaboration with people living with SCI will support this mission. Valuing human-centred principles, her initiatives successfully involved an Advisory Group of two members with lived experience in a doctoral study, despite the research group lacking prior experience in this approach. Janie co-created the Community Engagement Committee at NeuRA’s Spinal Cord Injury Research Centre, fostering closer relationships between researchers and the SCI community. Mr Antonio Vecchio (BPsycsc&Soci) is the Community and Consumer Engagement Manager at the Spinal Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia. Mr Vecchio has vast experience in program development, facilitation, and community engagement. As a community and consumer engagement manager, he is passionate about ensuring that experience represented across the research is meaningful to ensure research outcomes are representative of their needs. Mr Vecchio brings a background of psychological science and an understanding of trauma to the role. He is passionate about developing a greater understanding of how trauma impacts an individual socially.

Fascinated by human movement, Janie Provencher pursued physiotherapy, earning M.PT and B.PT degrees from Université Laval, Québec, Canada (2012-2016). Her motivation was rooted in empowering individuals to reach their fullest potential. To advance neurorehabilitation, she transitioned to clinical research, completing an M.Sc at the same institution. Her work focused on novel paired electrical and magnetic stimulations for neuroplasticity. Determined to influence the therapeutic landscape through high-quality research, Janie began her PhD with neurophysiological experts at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), affiliated with the University of New South Wales (UNSW, 2023-2027). She strives to restore hope and movement for people with spinal cord injury (SCI) through innovative, evidence-based neurostimulation solutions. Through her doctoral studies, she seeks to optimise, understand, and refine transcutaneous spinal stimulation as an accessible intervention for chronic SCI. Rigorous, systematic research and collaboration with people living with SCI will support this mission. Valuing human-centred principles, her initiatives successfully involved an Advisory Group of two members with lived experience in a doctoral study, despite the research group lacking prior experience in this approach. Janie co-created the Community Engagement Committee at NeuRA’s Spinal Cord Injury Research Centre, fostering closer relationships between researchers and the SCI community.

Enxhi Qama is a researcher specializing in health sciences, self-management, and patient education. She is completing her PhD at Swiss Paraplegic Research and University of Lucerne, where she is investigating how individuals with spinal cord injury integrate self-management into their daily lives post-rehabilitation. Her research interests lie at the intersection of patient decision-making, problem-solving strategies, and patient-provider interactions. Enxhi has collaborated with rehabilitation centers and academic institutions on interdisciplinary projects and has published in peer-reviewed journals.

Sara is currently finishing her masters degree in psychology at Maastricht University. She is also working on a PhD in the field of coping and living with chronic pain in persons with spinal cord injury.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rüdiger Rupp received the Dipl.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering with focus on biomedical engineering and his Dr.-Ing. degree from the Technical University of Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1994 and 2008, respectively. He received his venia legendi in 2018 in Experimental Neurology from Heidelberg University and since 2021 he has a professorship for Assistive Neurotechnology at Heidelberg University. After working at the Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Biocybernetics (Prof. G. Vossius) until 1996, since 1997 he is with the Spinal Cord Injury Center (Head: Prof. N. Weidner) of Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany, where he holds the position as the head of the section Experimental Neurorehabilitation. His main research interests are in the field of rehabilitation engineering for people living with spinal cord injury. This includes neuroprosthetics mainly of the upper extremity, man-machine interfaces, gait analysis, development and clinical validation of novel methods and devices for locomotion therapy and realization of software projects for standardized documentation of rehabilitation outcome. He is author of more than 320 journal, book chapter, textbook and conference publications and holds two patents. He has been awarded several times for his work and is a member of IEEE, IFESS, VDE, DMGP, DGOOC, NervClub, ISCoS and ASIA. Since 2017, he is chair of the ASIA International Standards Committee. He is member of the Board of Directors of ASIA and DSQ and president-elect of the DMGP.

Nurse Practitioner, Wound care nurse at Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital, Ph.d Student at Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital and Oslo Metropolitan University. The Ph.d project is founded by DAM foundation.

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Dr. Widerstrom-Noga, DDS, PhD, is a Professor of Neurological Surgery, Rehabilitation Medicine, and the Principal Investigator of the Clinical Pain Research Laboratory of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. Her work primarily concerns the extremely complex problem of persistent neuropathic pain after neurotrauma. Dr. Widerstrom-Noga’s educational background is in cross-disciplinary pain research (pain physiology and pain psychology) and in the clinical management of chronic pain. Dr. Widerstrom-Noga has performed human pain research for more than three decades and in the field of spinal cord injury (SCI) for over 28 years. Her interests are influenced by her clinical background and interest in elucidating the underlying mechanisms of human pain and the cognitions and behaviors that determine the impact of pain. Dr. Widerstrom-Noga has used highly innovative methods including magnetic resonance spectroscopy to elucidate brain mechanisms and adapted outcome measures used in other chronic pain populations to people with SCI. She has also been instrumental in developing, presenting, and promoting the International SCI Pain Data Sets and the NINDS CDEs for SCI and Pain. She serves as the Chair or as a member in both National and International efforts to standardize pain outcome measures and pain classification, and clinical guidelines related to pain management. Dr. Widerstrom-Noga has a strong interest in the perspectives of SCI stakeholders because these can significantly influence both the experience and management of pain. These perspectives have guided her recent research regarding multimodal non-pharmacological pain treatment approaches and pain education using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Dr. Widerstrom-Noga’s laboratory also develops and investigates the effects of pain education and various neuromodulatory methods such as exercise, bodily illusions and tDSC. She has extensive interdisciplinary and translational clinical pain research experience in persons with neurotrauma, including the use of a wide spectrum of pain outcome measurements and pain phenotyping.