Edward S. Andrle is General Manager, Neuromodulation for LivaNova PLC, based in Houston, TX. His group focuses on electronic implantable devices to treat epilepsy, depression, sleep apnea and heart failure. Previously, he was Senior Vice President of Business Development and New Ventures for LivaNova and Sorin Group. While at Sorin, his team lead the $2.7 billion merger of Sorin Group and Cyberonics to form LivaNova PLC in October, 2015. Mr Andrle joined Sorin Group in 2010 and his group subsequently spearheaded investments in, or acquisitions of, six companies in the heart failure, sleep apnea and percutaneous mitral valve markets.

Prior to Sorin, Mr. Andrle co-founded, developed, and sold three medical device companies in the Minneapolis area. TERAMED was focused on an endovascular system to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms and was acquired by Johnson&Johnson. Myocor developed an implantable device to treat mitral valve regurgitation and was acquired by Edwards. In addition, StarFire Medical developed technology to treat brain aneurysms and was acquired by NFocus Neuromedical (Covidien).

Mr. Andrle also spent five years as a Vice President of Boston Scientific. Mr. Andrle lead a new business unit that developed a number of peripheral vascular catheters and guidewires that eventually accounted for over $100 million in sales for Boston Scientific. He has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

Allen Burton is Divisional Vice President and Medical Director for Neuromodulation at Abbott. In this capacity, he provides input on research and development, clinical study strategy, design, and execution, regulatory and health policy matters, and he acts as a liaison with physicians and payers. Dr. Burton joined Abbott in September of 2015 after 20 years in clinical practice. Prior to Abbott, he served as Chairman of the Department of Pain Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center from 2000-2011. From 2011 until August 2015, Dr. Burton practiced privately with Houston Pain Associates, where he directed clinical research and participated in many clinical trials.

Dr. Burton received his M.D. from the Baylor College of Medicine and a B.S from The University of Notre Dame. He trained in anesthesiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, serving as chief resident. He completed fellowship training at The University of Texas Medical Branch as a Carl Koller Scholar. Dr Burton has trained more than 25 fellows, and authored more than 100 manuscripts, in addition to coauthoring two textbooks. He holds multiple patents and co-founded a pharmaceutical company focused on pain and inflammation.

Rafael Carbunaru is Vice President of Research and Development for Boston Scientific Neuromodulation based in Valencia, CA. He is focused on developing a portfolio of neuromodulation products and technologies and creating a culture of meaningful innovation and high performance. His team has developed breakthrough products in spinal cord stimulation for the treatment of chronic pain and deep brain stimulation for movement disorders. Rafael’s mission is to transform lives through innovative medical technologies.

Prior to this role, Rafael was the Research & Development Director for Emerging Indications. He led the development of micro stimulation and MRI compatible technologies as well as supported clinical trials in migraine and overactive bladder, among others.

Rafael received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Universidad Simon Bolivar in Venezuela. He was named to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Rafael holds over 60 U.S. and International patents.

Patrick is an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology at Georgetown University, and the Director of Graduate Studies for the Ph.D. program in Pharmacology. He received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Georgetown in 2011. Research in his laboratory focuses on the neural circuitry underlying seizure propagation and complex behaviors, and the pharmacological treatment of neonatal seizures. He is particularly interested in understanding sub-cortical circuits that can be exploited to disrupt seizure activity to improve targeting for deep brain stimulation in the treatment of the epilepsies. He is a member of the Professional Advisory Board for the Epilepsy Foundation of America, and a member of the Network Diseases task force of the International League Against Epilepsy.

Dr. Colleen Hanlon is an associate professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. There she leads a human addiction research laboratory dedicated to mapping and modulating fronto-striatal systems that contribute to the cycle of initiation, use, and relapse among multiple substance dependent populations. The majority of her work to date has focused on functional neuroimaging and brain stimulation in cocaine dependent individuals, tobacco smokers, and alcohol users. She has published over 50 manuscripts primarily related to neuroimaging and brain stimulation in substance dependence patients. In 2011 she was honored with an Early Career Investigator award from the National Institute of Drug Abuse. In 2017 her NIH-funded brain stimulation research was highlighted in National Geographic (Sept 2017) and Science Magazine (Sept 2017). She also serves as the Associate Director of the Brain Stimulation Core at MUSC, is the Director of the Advanced TMS Training Course sponsored by the MUSC National Center for Neuromodulation for Rehabilitation, and is a standing member of the NPAS NIH Study Section. In addition to primary clinical research, she also has strong collaborations with several preclinical addiction researchers. The only professional thing she loves more than Science itself is mentoring/teaching/and learning from other scientists.

Dr. Kirton is Professor of Pediatrics, Radiology, and Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary and an attending Pediatric Neurologist at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. His research focuses on applying technologies including non-invasive brain stimulation and neuroimaging to measure and modulate the response of the developing brain to early injury to generate new therapies. He is a CIHR Foundation Grant recipient. Dr. Kirton directs the Calgary Pediatric Stroke Program, Alberta Perinatal Stroke Project, and the University of Calgary Noninvasive Neurostimulation Network (N3).

Jeff is the Vice President of Research and Core Technology for the Restorative Therapy Group at Medtronic. In this role, Jeff is responsible for managing a team of scientists and engineers that are developing next generation neuromodulation therapies across multiple therapeutic areas. Jeff has been conducting neuromodulation-based research for over 20 years and has been a part of multiple neuromodulation therapy and product development efforts. Prior to joining Medtronic Jeff was CSO at Spinal Modulation as well as Vice President, Fellow at St Jude Medical, then Abbott Neuromodulation. Jeff has also served as a senior advisor and consultant for multiple start-up companies in the neuromodulation and neural technology space to advance technology and therapy development.

Jeff received his PhD in Molecular and Integrative Physiology focusing on neuroscience from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His areas of research have crossed several fields of systems neuroscience including sensory, motor, autonomic and neural plasticity. He serves on multiple public and societal advisory committees and continues to publish extensively.

Dr. Krinke is currently Chief Executive Officer and Director at Magstim Group Inc. Previously, Dr Krinke served as Vice President and General Manager of Deep Brain Stimulation at Medtronic, Inc. from May 2011 to June 2017 and Vice President Research and BD, Neuromodulation from March 2004 to May 2011. He served as Vice President of Pharmaceutical Practice at A.T. Kearney Inc. and was responsible for helping biopharmaceutical companies to develop research and development and marketing strategies. Dr Krinke served as Vice President of Business Development for Celera Corporation. He served as a Senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, another leading management consulting firm. Dr Krinke obtained his undergraduate degree in Biology from Technische Universitaet Braunschweig in Germany and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the State University of New York at Albany. He also held an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology.

Nick B. Langhals, Ph.D. serves as a Program Director within the Division of Translational Research at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Nick Langhals is a team lead in both the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative and the Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC) program as well as a Program Lead with the Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative. He currently manages a grant portfolio in the areas of neurotechnology development, validation, and translation for applications in neuroscience, neurophysiology, movement disorders, pain, neuromodulation, and other interfaces with the nervous system. Dr. Langhals received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering (B.S.E. - 2001) from Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ). He received both a Master of Science in Engineering (M.S.E. - 2003) as well as a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D. - 2010) in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI). Prior to arriving at the NIH in 2015, Dr. Langhals served as a Research Assistant Professor in Plastic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan and Co-Director of the Neuromuscular Laboratory. He has worked as a Senior Research Engineer within the Center for Neural Communication Technology, served as a consultant for Neuronexus Technologies (Ann Arbor, MI), Biotectix (Ann Arbor, MI), Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI), and was also co-founder of Rhythm Solutions and CUL Medical.

Dr. Lewis’s current NIH- and GSK-funded projects have fostered a multidisciplinary research program including expertise in autonomic neurophysiology/neuropharmacology and techniques in rodents ranging from (1) in vivo and in vitro recordings of neural activity within the brainstem and vagal, sympathetic and phrenic motor nerves, (2) in vivo recording of peripheral nerve activity (e.g., aortic depressor nerve, carotid sinus nerve, cervical sympathetic chain, lumbar sympathetic chain, renal nerves), electrical stimulation, (3) in vivo recordings within ganglia (e.g., nodose, superior cervical, inferior mesenteric), (4) in vivo electrical stimulation of autonomic (e.g., cervical sympathetic chain, thoracic and splanchnic) nerves and sensory (e.g., aortic depressor, superior laryngeal, carotid sinus and renal) nerves, (5) determining blood flows and vascular resistances in regional beds (e.g., hindlimb, renal, mesenteric, hepatic, coronary), (6) recording/manipulation of cardiorespiratory systems (e.g., baroreceptor, cardiopulmonary, (7) single cell patch-clamp electrophysiology, (8) monitoring of ventilatory parameters (e.g., minute ventilation, apnea indices, airway resistance) via whole body and double-chamber plethysmography, and (9) tract-tracing within brain and peripheral neural pathways. Dr. Lewis’s current funded projects involve collaborations with brilliant younger scientists including Drs. Michael Jenkins, Yee-Hsee Hsieh, Sarah Hassan and James Seckler. These projects include (1) analyses of the physiological roles (e.g., cardiorespiratory function, pain regulation, anti-inflammatory) of post-ganglionic projections from the superior cervical ganglia including those to the brainstem, carotid bodies and protein-secreting cells within the submandibular glands, (2) roles of renal afferents in cardiorespiratory function including arterial blood pressure, cardiac output and minute ventilation, (3) mechanisms by which infrared light modulate the activity of sensory cell bodies within the nodose ganglia, (4) how opioids modulate neural activity within brainstem and peripheral ganglia and (5) the roles of endogenous S-nitrosothiols in cardiorespiratory control systems within the brain and periphery. Dr. Lewis has published 200 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Morrell has been Chief Medical Officer of NeuroPace, Inc. and a Clinical Professor of Neurology at Stanford University since July 2004. Before joining NeuroPace, she was the Caitlin Tynan Doyle Professor of Clinical Neurology at Columbia University and Director of the Columbia Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. Previously she was on the faculty of the Stanford University School of Medicine where she served as Director of the Stanford Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. A graduate of Stanford Medical School, she completed residency training in Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as fellowship training in EEG and epilepsy.

Dr. Morrell has been actively involved in helping to bring new therapies to patients. Her responsibilities at NeuroPace include all clinical and pre-clinical research for a novel responsive neurostimulator for the treatment of medically uncontrolled epilepsy. She has been actively involved in investigational trials of new epilepsy therapies as an academic investigator, and has authored or coauthored more than 150 publications.

Service to professional societies includes member of the Board of Directors of the American Epilepsy Society, member and Chair of the Board of the Epilepsy Foundation, member of the Council of the American Neurological Association and Chair of the Epilepsy Section of the American Academy of Neurology. She is an elected Ambassador for Epilepsy of the International League Against Epilepsy and received the American Epilepsy Society’s 2007 Service Award for outstanding leadership and service. She is immediate past Chair of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics.

Valentin A. Pavlov, PhD is professor at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Northwell Health and professor at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. A main focus of Dr Pavlov’s research for the last 15 years has been the neuro-immune dialogue and the role of brain and peripheral cholinergic signaling in controlling inflammation and metabolism. This research has highlighted new possibilities to use cholinergic modalities for therapeutic benefit and recently demonstrated that galantamine, a clinically-approved (for Alzheimer's disease) cholinergic drug alleviates inflammation and metabolic derangements in people with the metabolic syndrome. Dr Pavlov’s current NIH funded research examines brain mechanisms regulating immune and metabolic functions in preclinical sepsis with a specific emphasis on neural cholinergic signaling. This research utilizes advanced pharmacological, optogenetic, and bioelectronic approaches. Dr Pavlov has been an invited speaker at major scientific forums in the US, Europe, South America and Japan. Dr Pavlov is a member of American Shock Society, Society for Neuroscience, and American Association of Immunologists, and serves on the Executive Committee of International Society for Autonomic Neuroscience. He is on the editorial board of Frontiers in Immunology and Journal of Neuroinflammation, and is an executive editor of the journals Bioelectronic Medicine and Molecular Medicine.

Professor Terry L. Powley is the Ben J. Winer Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience at Purdue University in Indiana, USA. He completed his first degree at DePauw University, before going on to complete a MS and PhD at the University of Wisconsin in 1970. He previously held the posts of Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor at Yale University, USA, before returning to Indiana to become Professor of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University in 1980. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Purdue Neurosciences Committee, has served as the Convener of that committee, has been Chairman of the Program Committee of the Midwestern Psychological Association, has served as President of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, and has been a member of multiple NIH study sections. Professor Powley has also been the recipient of numerous awards including, the NIH Research Career Development Award, the NIH MERIT Award, and the Master of Gastroenterology Award (life-time achievement award) from the American Gastroenterological Association. Currently his research focuses on identifying and mapping the autonomic pathways involved in the control of gastrointestinal tract, metabolism and feeding.

John Rothwell is currently Professor of Human Neurophysiology at UCL Institute of Neurology and an Honorary Professor at the University of Adelaide. His main interests are in the pathophysiology of human Movement Disorders and in basic mechanisms of restoration of function after brain injury, particularly stroke. Current research projects include using neurophysiological techniques to study the mechanisms of neural plasticity that underpin motor learning, and using this knowledge to devise new therapeutic interventions for rehabilitation after stroke.

He is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Experimental Brain Research. He has received the Adrian Award of the International Clinical Neurophysiology Society, the Sherrington Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the Gloor Award from the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society and the Caruso Award of the Italian Society for Clinical Neurophysiology.

Ivan Soltesz Ph.D. is the James R. Doty Professor of Neurosurgery and Neurosciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. He received his doctorate from Eotvos University in Budapest, and conducted postdoctoral research at Oxford, London, Stanford and Dallas. He established his laboratory at UC Irvine in 1995, where he served as department Chair from 2006 to July 2015. He is interested in inhibition in the CNS, focusing on the synaptic and cellular organization of interneuronal microcircuits in the hippocampus under normal conditions and in temporal lobe epilepsy. Dr. Soltesz’ laboratory employs a combination of closely integrated experimental and theoretical techniques, including closed-loop optogenetics, electrophysiological recordings from identified cells and large-scale calcium imaging at single cell resolution in vivo, AI-aided segmentation of behavior, and large-scale computational modeling methods using supercomputers. He received the Javits Neuroscience award from NINDS, the Michael Prize for basic epilepsy research, and the Research Recognition Award from the American Epilepsy Society.

Tom Tcheng, PhD serves as Sr. Director of Preclinical Research and Development for NeuroPace, Inc. At the University of Illinois, he studied the electrophysiology of the suprachiasmatic circadian pacemaker for his Neuroscience doctorate. He has been involved with implantable medical device development and clinical studies since 1997. In his early work with movement disorders, he developed an intraoperative functional brain mapping system for DBS implant surgeries and programmed neurostimulators for patients with Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, spasticity, and multiple sclerosis. At NeuroPace, Dr. Tcheng's work focuses on optimizing closed-loop responsive neurostimulation therapy for epilepsy using data mining, data visualization, and machine learning. He works closely with Electrical, Mechanical and Software Engineers on neurostimulator design and development. Dr. Tcheng has served as PI on a series of large grant projects for developing new neurostimulator technologies.

Alik Widge, MD, PhD is a brain stimulation psychiatrist and biomedical engineer. He is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, where he directs the Translational NeuroEngineering Lab. His research focuses on brain stimulation for severe and treatment-resistant mental illness, with particular emphasis on deep brain stimulation and related implantable technologies. Dr. Widge's recent work has demonstrated new algorithms for closed-loop brain stimulation and stimulation methods for modifying connectivity in the distributed circuits of mental illness. His laboratory studies rodent models for prototyping these new technologies and human patients to identify biomarkers and targets for future intervention. He also co-leads programs to design new neurostimulation technologies in the central and peripheral nervous systems, to evaluate technologies for safety and efficacy in humans, and to improve the quality of clinical biomarker research nationwide.