Meet our Speakers

Dr Shazia Afridi

Dr Shazia Afridi is a consultant neurologist. She completed her PhD in Neurology at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square looking at functional imaging in migraine. She established the Headache Service in the department of Neurology at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust in London. She is an adjunct senior lecturer at King’s College, London. Her specialist interests include the hormonal aspects of migraine.

She has been on the council for BASH (British Association for the Study of Headache) and scientific committee for the Migraine Trust International Symposium. She is also a trustee for the Migraine Trust and is on the Headache specialty advisory group of the Association of British Neurologists.

Dr. Al-Khazali

Dr. Al-Khazali has conducted more than 250 human provocation experiments, using various substances to elicit migraine and thereby elucidating the signaling pathways involved in the pathogenesis of this disorders.

Dr Thomas Booth

Dr Thomas Booth is a Reader in Neuroimaging at King’s College London. He is also a Consultant Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiologist at King’s College Hospital. He is the Chief Investigator on the largest UK neurology study which recruited 35000 patients. He was awarded the inaugural Royal College of Radiologists Outstanding Researcher Award.

Dr Edoardo Caronna

Dr Edoardo Caronna is a  Neurologist and a post-doc researcher in the Headache Research group at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain. Since Neurology residency, that he completed in 2020, he developed a genuine interest in headache, from the clinical and research standpoint. In 2022 he obtained a PhD in Medicine at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and, to date, has authored several articles in the headache field. He has a special interest in data science. He is currently a Junior Editor for Cephalalgia

Professor Debashish Chowdhury

Professor Debashish Chowdhury is a Director-Professor and Head of Neurology, GB Pant Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, New Delhi; Qualifications include DM (Neurology); Commonwealth fellow (Edinburgh); FRCP (Edinburgh); Special interest in Headache medicine; currently the President of the Indian Academy of Neurology and Delhi Neurological Association; more than 200 published articles and chapters in books; Edited/ coedited 20 books

Irene de Boer

Irene de Boer is a medical doctor with a background in research, patient care, and education. She is finishing her PhD at the Leiden University Medical Centre in the fields of Neurology and Genetics. Next to her PhD she also chairs the Junior Group of the International Headache Society.

Roberto De Icco

Roberto De Icco is a neurologist at the Headache Science & Neurorehabilitation Unit of the IRCCS Mondino Foundation in Pavia (Italy). He is assistant professor at the Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Pavia. He is involved in clinical research with a special interest for neurophysiological investigations and neuromodulation.

Helen Del Rosario

Helen qualified as a nurse in 2004 and have since worked on a Neurology Ward, a Haemodialysis Unit, a Medical Day Unit and in Hepatology Research. Helen has worked as a Headache Specialist Nurse in Hull since 2022, initially in a split role between clinical and research and more recently in a clinical role where, amongst other things the team is working towards developing a specialised clinic for Transition patients.

Jacob Edvinsson

Jacob Edvinsson finished his basic training as MSc Pharm from Gothenburg university in 2018. He subsequently completed a PhD at the department of drug design & pharmacology at Copenhagen university in 2022. In 2023, he was awarded the Stephen Graff Radford and Robert E. Merrill Award at HCOP.

Jacobs research has focused on elucidating pain mechanisms and signaling with relevance to migraine.

Dr. Jean-Philippe Frimat

Dr. Jean-Philippe Frimat is a cell/neurobiologist and engineer. He graduated from Edinburgh University (BSc) and completed his PhD in Dortmund (Germany) focusing on culturing cells on engineered microchips and has worked at several technical universities advancing disease modelling on-chip before coming to the department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands.

Professor Andreas Gantenbein

Prof Andreas Gantenbein is a Neurologist working in private practice and at the Rehabilitation Center ZURZACH Care in Switzerland. Before he worked at the Headache Group in London and the University Hospital Zürich. His main research focus lies in clinical studies, including medication overuse headache, menstrual migraine, cluster headache, and CGRP monoclonal antibodies.

Fiona Greenwood

Fiona Greenwood is a specialist in Headache nursing with over 8 years of experience, working at Kings College Hospital, London. She excels in managing complex Primary Headache conditions, providing advanced patient care, and leading clinical education initiatives.

Dr Jon Hazlehurst

Dr Jon Hazlehurst is a Consultant Endocrinologist and service lead of the Heartlands weight management service. He completed his DPhil at the University of Oxford investigating the interaction between hypoxia, steroids and metabolism. The service he runs is recognised as a European Centre for Obesity Medicine. He has a particular interest in service design and delivery as well as pharmacotherapy trials. As an engaging and though provoking speaker he speaks regularly on a range of obesity related topics

Bethany Hill

Bethany Hill is a senior headache clinical nurse specialist in the Headache Service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, a quaternary referral centre for patients with complex headache and facial pain disorders.

Dr Nazia Karsan

Dr Nazia Karsan is a neurologist and Clinical Research Fellow at King’s College London, UK. She has been researching primary headache, with a particular interest in the neurobiological mechanisms of migraine since 2014, and has clinical expertise in managing complex headache in both adults and children.

Dr Kay Kennis

Kay serves as a Trustee for the Migraine Trust and works as a GP, and a GP with special interest in Headache in Bradford, UK. The Bradford Community Neurology service receives referrals from primary and secondary care. We offer holistic care to people affected by migraine, including where indicated injectable CGRP mAb treatment and botox.

Kay is also a member of BASH, and an active participant in the BASH GP Group.
She is passionate about enabling all those affected by migraine to access the best care in a timely manner.
There have been huge scientific advances in recent years. Now we better understand migraine pathophysiology, and have medication available to target it, Kay is keen that all primary care clinicians are able to diagnose migraine effectively, understand the management options, and direct patients to the treatment they need. In primary care we can make a real difference to those disabled by their migraine.

Dr David Kernick

David Kernick is a GP with a special interest in headache. He runs the Exeter Headache Clinic. He was previous chair of the British Association for the Study of Headache and leads their GP group. A former NICE fellow, he was on the NICE headache guideline group and also the RCGP headache champion.

Anne-Marie Logan

Anne-Marie is a Consultant Physiotherapist in Headache and headache co-lead at St Georges University Hospitals.
She has an MSc from UCL, is a Non-Medical Prescriber and completed a NIHR pre-doctoral fellowship.
She is leading on a population health approach to headache care within the South-West London Integrated Care System.

Professor Antoinette Maassen Van Den Brink

Antoinette Maassen van den Brink is Professor of Neurovascular Pharmacology at the Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She studies the neurovascular aspects of migraine using a translational approach, with a special interest in the role of female sex hormones on its pathophysiology. She is President of the European Headache Federation.

Dr. Roberta Messina

Dr. Roberta Messina, MD, PhD, is assistant professor at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University and headache specialist at San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy. She combines clinical headache experience with research passion. Her research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of primary headaches and identifying biomarkers to predict treatment response.

Dr David Moreno Ajona

Dr David Moreno Ajona M.D.-Ph.D. is a Substantive Consultant Neurologist at Kings College Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He graduated from the University of Navarra as a Medical Doctor in 2013. He completed his specialist training in Neurology from the Clnica Universidad de Navarra, Spain, in 2018. He joined the Headache Group Kings College London in July 2018 and participated in several high profile clinical studies. He joined the Neurootology Group at Charing Cross Hospital Imperial college London in 2019 and received subspecialty training. He completed his PhD in Neurology in July 2022. Dr Moreno-Ajona has more than 25 indexed scientific papers, numerous book chapters, presentations and lectures at national and international conferences. His current research interest is description of vestibular migraine, PPPD, primary cough headache and medication overuse headache.

Dr Katy Munro

Dr Katy Munro was an NHS GP partner for 25 years and now works as a Headache Specialist GP for the National Migraine Centre, a charity providing consultations to people with migraine on a self referral basis.

She co-founded and hosts Heads Up podcast, Podcast of the Year 2021 finalist in the Medical Journalists Awards.

Her book, “Managing Your Migraine”, Penguin Life Expert Series, aims to empower people with migraine to manage their condition better through understanding what is going on.

She has taught widely on migraine and is currently Secretary and Council member of the British Association for the Study of Headache (BASH). She co-organises their GPwSI regular educational meetings.

CEO of The Migraine Trust: Rob Music

Rob Music joined The Migraine Trust as Chief Executive in February 2021. He has over 30 years’ experience working for healthcare charities, starting out as a fundraiser, and before his current position he held similar roles at Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust and Endometriosis UK. Despite being so common, migraine has been poorly invested in and the patient pathway can be a long and challenging one. Rob is determined to see improvements in migraine care, treatments and access for the 10m living with migraine, and for the charity to be a key voice in calling for positive change.

Dr Kuan-Po Peng

Kuan-Po Peng is a neurologist in the Department of Systems Neuroscience at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. His research focuses on exploring the generator of cyclic changes in sensory modalities in migraine and deciphering the mechanism responsible for the efficacy of migraine treatment using psychophysical and functional imaging methods.

Professor Anthony Pickering

Tony is a clinical Anaesthetist and Pain clinician whose research group at the University of Bristol is investigating the role of central noradrenegic neurons in pain control using both genetic interventions to express selective actuators / activity reporters in rodent studies and in matched human studies using fMRI and quantitative sensory testing.

Dr Francesca Puledda

Dr Francesca Puledda is a Neurologist and clinical researcher who has been working in the field of headache for over 10 years. I am particularly interested in migraine and aura disease mechanisms, as well as associated comorbidities.

She is also a keen advocate for the improvement of headache care worldwide, particularly through the work of large international organizations.

Dr Eloisa Rubio-Beltran

Dr Eloisa Rubio-Beltran is a Migraine Trust Research Associate at the Wolfson Sensory, Pain and Regeneration Centre, King’s College London. Her research focuses on the role of sex hormones in migraine pathophysiology.

Elena Ruiz de la Torre

Elena Ruiz de la Torre is one of the leading patient advocates and researchers in the world. She is a tireless and passionate champion for people with headache disorders in the workplace and beyond, with her advocacy career beginning in her native Spain, and then expanding to Europe, and now the world. Elena leads the European Migraine and Headache Alliance, a nonprofit patient umbrella group that represents 33 patient groups from across the continent. She also opened enlarged the EMHA to a winder net of associates as part of the organization with the aim of being aligned in messages and exchange best practices world wide.

Professor Simona Sacco

Simona Sacco is professor of Neurology at the University of L’Aquila in Italy and Director of the local Clinical Neurology and Stroke Unit. Dr. Sacco is author of more than 300 publications in the field of stroke and headache. She is the president of the European Stroke Organisation (ESO). She has extensive editorial activity and has the role of Editor-in-Chief of Cephalalgia and Cephalalgia reports.

Professor Christoph Schankin

Professor Christoph Schankin is a neurologist and head of the headache clinic at the University Hospital Bern. Together with his team, they love seeing and treating all kind of headache patients. As a clinicial scientist,he has a special interest in visual snow syndrome and secondary headaches, such as SIH and IIH.

Professor Alex Sinclair

Professor Sinclair is Professor of Neurology at the University of Birmingham and leads the Translational Brain Science Research Group. She focusses her research on Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH), headache and traumatic brain injury.

Her research portfolio encompasses in vitro and in vitro studies coupled with a clinical trials program and biomarker evaluation. The research is closely linked with the headache service at University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, UK where she works as a consultant neurologist.

Dr. Else Tolner

Dr. Else Tolner is Assistant Professor at the Departments of Neurology and Human Genetics of the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), the Netherlands. She obtained her PhD from the University of Amsterdam in 2005 on neuroplasticity in epilepsy, followed by postdoctoral training in Berlin and Helsinki. She came to the LUMC in 2011 with an LUMC Fellowship, joining the Leiden Headache Group. Her present research focusses on unraveling attack (including aura) mechanisms and improving treatments for migraine and epilepsy, for which she performs neurophysiological and behavioral studies in (transgenic) mouse models. Her parallel involvement in clinical EEG studies allows bidirectional translation of clinical and preclinical findings.

Professor Erling Tronvik

Erling Tronvik is a professor at NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Scientific Director of NorHEAD – Norwegian Centre for Headache Research (www.norhead.com), in addition to working as a senior neurologist at St. Olavs University Hospital.

Massimiliano Valeriani

Mr. Massimiliano Valeriani works in the Bambino Gesù Childrens’ Hospital in Rome where he is Director of the Developmental Neurology Unit. Massimiliano is an Associate Professor of Child Neurology at Tor Vergata University, Rome. He has been dealing with pediatric headaches for more than 20 years.

Arn M.J.M. van den Maagdenberg

Arn M.J.M. van den Maagdenberg (Full professor – Functional and Molecular Neurogenetics (Human Genetics & Neurology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands)). He is a neurogeneticist and neurobiologist and performs genetic and functional research on migraine and related disorders using transgenic mouse models and recently induced pluripotent stem cells.

Dr Britt van der Arend

Britt van der Arend is a medical doctor with a background in research, migraine patient care, and education. She is a PhD candidate in the field of neurology at the Leiden University Medical Center and Erasmus MC. Her research focuses on the relationship between migraine and female hormones (WHAT! Study).

Dr Nancy van Veelen

Nancy van Veelen is a medical doctor and PhD-candidate at the Leiden Headache Center. The focus of her PhD are: triggers and prediction in migraine. She has a proven interest in epidemiology and research design. She has a passion for educating students and sparking interest for research in them.

Dr Michele Viana

Dr Michele Viana, MD, PhD, Consultant Neurologist in Italy. He had worked for 7 years as a clinical researcher at National Neurological Institute “Mondino” Pavia, Italy (Prof. Tassorelli). Since September 2018 he is affiliated with Headache Group, King’s College London (Prof. Goadsby). His main focus of research is clinical aspect of migraine aura.

Dr Rebecca Walker

Dr Rebecca Walker is a Devon-based GP with specialist roles in Headache Medicine and Menopause Care. She works with the National Migraine Centre, a charity which provides advice and treatment for people with headache conditions nationwide, and with the Exeter Headache Clinic. Dr Walker serves as an honorary advisor to the British Association for the Study of Headache.

Dr David Watson

David is an Aberdeen graduate (1984) and has worked since 2005 as a headache doctor in the Department of Neurology at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. David has chaired and been an active group member of a number of national guidelines. He has been involved in a number of educational initiatives.

Lisa Wilson

Lisa Wilson is one of the Headache Specialist Nurses working in Hull. I have been in my current post for 7 Years. Her experience includes previously being involved with clinical research trials for migraine. Currently she is conducting telephone review clinics 3 days per week and a procedure clinic once weekly. She is also involved with the transition clinics from Child to adult headache services.

Dr Andreas Yiangou

Dr Andreas Yiangou is a Clinical Lecturer in Neurology and was successful in being awarded a Clinical Research Training Fellowship by the Association of British Neurologists and Guarantors of the Brain. He is working in the Translational Brain Science group led by Professor Alexandra Sinclair. He has a research interest in headache, cerebrovascular haemodynamics and raised intracranial pressure (ICP). He has been also actively supporting Clinical Trials and other studies within group

Hui Zhou Chen

Hui Zhou Chen has recently completed my PhD under the supervision of Dr Philip Holland. They are interested in the thalamocortical mechanisms behind multi-modal sensory symptoms of migraine. During their project, Hui Zhou investigated these mechanisms by employing in vivo multi-channel electrophysiology and various preclinical models of migraine.