Trade Symposia

INDUSTRY SESSION 1 – Sponsored by Abbvie (Botox)

Prof Andre Mochan

Prof Andre Hans Dieter Mochan is a senior neurologist and academic leader who qualified in medicine in 1993 and obtained his specialist neurology fellowship in 1998. With close to three decades of clinical experience in neurology, he serves as Head of Clinical Unit, Neurology at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital and Academic Head of Neurology at the University of the Witwatersrand. His areas of expertise include HIV neurology, stroke, motor neuron disease, neurophysiology, neuro-immunology, movement disorders and spasticity management. Over the years, he has made a substantial contribution to specialist patient care, service development, teaching and research, including establishing the multidisciplinary motor neuron disease clinic, leading botulinum toxin services for dystonia and spasticity, supervising postgraduate trainees, and helping shape national specialist training and assessment in neurology. His work in patient care was recognized with a 2018 Centre for Public Service Innovation Award, and he currently serves as President of the College of Neurologists of South Africa.

INDUSTRY SESSION 2 – Sponsored by Novartis

A/Prof Anneke van der Walt (Aus)

A/Prof van der Walt completed her undergraduate training in South Africa before relocating to Australia. She completed specialist training in neurology in Melbourne. She completed a PhD in Neuroscience in 2013 under the supervision of Professors Trevor Kilpatrick and Helmut Butzkueven at the University of Melbourne. She currently serves as the Director of the Multiple Sclerosis, Neuroimmunology Unit and Neuro-ophthalmology Service, Alfred Health, Melbourne. She leads the MS and Neuro-ophthalmology Research group in the Department of Neuroscience, School for Translational Medicine, Monash University. She is the Chief Operating Officer of the MSBase Foundation, which oversees the research and operational programs of the MSBase Registry. The MSBase registry is an international multiple sclerosis outcomes registry in more than 40 countries and contains more than 150,000 patient records. Prof Van der Walt has published over 220 papers since completing her PhD. Her main research focuses on implementing better monitoring of cognitive and cerebellar function in the MS clinic, using digital biomarkers and neuroimaging. In addition, she is passionate about advancing understanding of the long-term safety of MS treatments, especially for women. Her work is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and MS Australia. Her detailed profile can be accessed here: https://www.monash.edu/medicine/ccs/neuroscience/research/van-der-walt-group

INDUSTRY SESSION (EVENING SYMPOSIUM) – Sponsored by Merck

INDUSTRY SESSION 3 – Sponsored by Roche

Prof Riley Bove

Dr. Bove is a national and international leader in sex and gender aspects of Neurology, publishing, collaborating and lecturing widely on this topic. She is PI of the first industry-sponsored Phase IV trial of a medication for use in pregnant and lactating people with MS and led the first RCT in menopausal women with MS. She is founding Director of the SAGE (Sex and Gender Enriched) Neurology Program at UCSF, which provides specialized clinical care, education, and research focused on sex- and gender-informed neurology In the technology space, Dr. Bove has conducted innovative work designing, validating and implementing digital tools to improve care access, holistic measures of patient function, and as digital therapeutics. She is co-PI of the BRIDGE precision medicine dashboards that support delivery of point-of-care personalized medicine. Dr. Bove graduated Phi Beta Kappa in anthropology from Harvard College. She received her MD and MMSc from Harvard Medical School. She completed a neurology residency in the Massachusetts General/Brigham Hospitals program, followed by a clinical research fellowship at the Partners MS Center. Dr. Bove serves on the Science Committee of the American Academy of Neurology and is on the Editorial Board of Annals of Neurology and Neurology N2. She is committed to training the next generation of clinicians and scientists, and mentors students, doctoral and postdoctoral trainees in a variety of individualized clinical and training plans. Dr. Bove contributes to global neurology and equity initiatives through the Global Teleneurology Service and the BALANCE program.

INDUSTRY SESSION 4 – Sponsored by Astra Zeneca

Prof Jin Nakahara

Jin Nakahara is based in Tokyo, Japan as a Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology at Keio University School of Medicine. He is also a Director of iPS Cell Research Center for Intractable Neurological Disorders at Keio University (KiND). He is appointed as Visiting Professor at Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Sciences and The Jikei University School of Medicine. Professor Nakahara received his M.D. from Keio University School of Medicine in 2003 and his Ph.D. from Keio University Graduate School of Medicine in 2007. More than 160 articles in the field of neurology, neuroscience, and neuroimmunology have been published in leading international journals, such as Journal of Neuroscience, Neurology, Brain, Annals of Neurology, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Cell Stem Cell, JAMA Neurology, Science Immunology, and Nature Neuroscience. He holds active memberships with many professional societies in Japan and abroad, and he is currently a Director of the Japanese Society of Neuroimmunology and the Japanese Society for Microcirculation. He also serves as an Executive Committee Member of Pan-Asian Congress for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (PACTRIMS).

INDUSTRY SESSION 5 – Sponsored by Pfizer

Dr Shaheed Gora

Dr. Shaheed Gora is a specialist neurologist with extensive clinical experience. He earned his MBBCh from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2005. He completed his Neurology Fellowship in 2012. Dr. Gora has been serving as a Neurology Consultant at Netcare Milpark Hospital since 2015, providing expert care in inpatient, outpatient, and neurocritical settings. As part of his intention to stay abreast of industry advancements, Dr Gora completed his Ai certification from Stanford.

INDUSTRY SESSION 6 – Sponsored by Eisai

Dr Raksha Sitharam

Dr Raksha Sitharam qualified at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine in 2000 and completed her internship and community service at RK Khan Hospital. She subsequently held a Senior House Officer post in Internal Medicine at Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport, UK. She completed her specialist training as a Neurology Registrar on the Wits circuit from 2006 to 2010 and is currently a neurologist based in Johannesburg, South Africa, with 15 years of consultant-level experience. She is a Certified Somnologist through the European Sleep Research Society. Dr Sitharam practices at Netcare Waterfall City Hospital, where she manages a wide range of neurological conditions and runs a dedicated sleep service, with a focus on insomnia, sleep-disordered breathing, and hypersomnolence disorders. She is actively involved in clinician education and serves as Co-Editor of Neuron SA. She regularly contributes articles on sleep medicine and remains engaged with international developments in the field, including attendance at the recent AASM Sleep Medicine Trends meeting in Atlanta. She is a member of the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS) and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).