Invited Speakers

Prof. Jennifer LynPn Barkin

College of Health and Human Performance, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, United States

Prof. Anne Koy

University Hospital Cologne, Germany

Prof. Francesco Muntoni

UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health & Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, United Kingdom

Prof. George Papanastasiou

Mathematics Research Centre, Academy of Athens & Archimedes Unit, Athena Research Centre, Greece

Prof. Katharina A. Quinlan

University of California San George and Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, United States of America

Prof. Alicia Spittle

University of Melbourne and the Royal Women’s Hospital Melbourne, Australia

Lecture title: The Impact of Climate Change on Perinatal and Child Mental Health

Brief Biography:
Dr. Jennifer Barkin is a professor, academic administrator, inventor, researcher, and mother of two children. At East Carolina University, she serves as the Associate Dean for Research for the College of Health and Human Sciences where she has the opportunity to work with talented faculty across various disciplines. She is a Research 1-trained psychiatric epidemiologist and completed her post-doctoral studies at the prestigious Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC) of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Anchored by a strong methodological background in biostatistics, epidemiology, survey design/psychometrics, and clinical trials, Dr. Barkin has produced a robust body of published work in reproductive health. She has notable expertise in maternal mental health and postpartum functioning has made critical advances in our understanding of the connections between climate change and (perinatal and child) mental health. Her intellectual property, the Barkin Index of Maternal Functioning, has been implemented all over the world and across sectors including in industry-sponsored clinical trials. Dr. Barkin also developed the Climate Distress Index (CDI), a comprehensive self-report tool designed to measure various forms of human distress caused by exposure to extreme weather; the measure is available in a 16 and 17 item format.

Lecture title: TBA

Brief Biography:
2026 Head of Department of Child Neurology, University Hospital of Cologne, Germany
Since 2019 Speaker of the Center for Dystonia in Children (CDBK), University Hospital of Cologne, Germany
Since 2017 Leader of the research group Movement Disorders and Deep Brain Stimulation in Children, University Hospital of Cologne, Germany

Lecture title: Brain involvement in SMA: Current and future research directions

Brief Biography:
Francesco Muntoni is a Professor of Paediatric Neurology and the Director of the Dubowitz Neuromuscular Centre, at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, and Director of the Genetic Therapy Accelerator at the UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK. He has an interest in pathogenesis, deep phenotyping, gene identification for rare neuromuscular conditions and translational research in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy and congenital dystrophies and myopathies. He is leading natural history studies, preclinical translational research and clinical trials in Duchenne muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy using RNA and AAV gene therapies. In the last 5 years he obtained the 2022 Ottorino Rossi Award, the World Duchenne Organisation 2022 Leadership Awards, the 2023 European Paediatric Neurology Society Jean Aicardi Award, the 2024 Muscular Dystrophy UK President Award, and the 2025 Novo Nordisk International Award.

Lecture title: TBA

Brief Biography:
Giorgos Papanastasiou is Associate Research Professor at the Academy of Athens (AA), Lead PI at the Archimedes Unit (Athena RC), and affiliated faculty at Biomedical Research Foundation of AA. He works on machine learning for healthcare and science and, recently, causal AI – models that ask “why?” rather than “what correlates?” – to turn data into actionable evidence. Previously an AI scientist at Pfizer and faculty at Edinburgh and Essex Universities, he has attracted over €3M in funding and published 120+ papers in venues such as Nature Communications, npj Digital Medicine, many high impact IEEE and Elsevier journals, MICCAI and NeurIPS. At EACD 2027 he presents causal AI on the Greek Cerebral Palsy Registry, scaling towards European and worldwide cohorts.

Lecture title: What we can learn from animal models of cerebral palsy?

Brief Biography:
Katharina Quinlan is an Associate Professor at the University of Rhode Island. She has studied spinal circuits involved in motor and sensory function in animal models throughout the course of her career. Her current focus is utilizing a rabbit model to study motor and sensory changes in cerebral palsy. Her work incorporates behavior, imaging, electrophysiology, pharmacology, and histology. Her goal is to develop a better understanding of developmental changes that leads to new ways to treat and prevent pain and motor dysfunction after developmental injuries.

Lecture title: Digital solutions to scale early intervention

Brief Biography:
Alicia Spittle is a Professor of Physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne Australia. In addition, she works clinically at The Royal Women’s Hospital. Her research focuses on early detection and intervention for infants at risk of neurodevelopmental impairment, especially preterm infants. She leads and collaborates on several national and international trials to support infants and their parents in early childhood. She has authored over 250 peer-reviewed papers and supervises PhD candidates from a range of disciplines across the globe. She was previously the co‑President of the Oceania Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine and is passionate about translating research into clinical impact and policy change..