Prof. Paolo Martelletti is Prof. of Internal Medicine at the School of Health, Unitelma Sapienza University of Rome, Director of International Training Course on Headache for Low-Medium Income Countries. He was Director of the Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine Clinical Area and of Residency School of Internal Medicine at the University Hospital Sant'Andrea in Rome, and Director of the Sant'Andrea Hospital Regional Referral Headache Centre. His research activities are focused on headaches, pain and clinical medicine, neuro-immunology of head pain, chronicization factors of headache, rehabilitation protocols, guidelines for clinical and therapeutical aspects of primary headache, COVID and vaccines issues and public health issues in clinical medicine. Past President of the European Headache Federation, Founding Director of School of Advanced Studies of European Headache Federation (15 Editions), he is Editor of the Springer Headache Book Series (18 volumes published so far), Editor of Handbook of Headache, Editor of Migraine in Medicine and Non-migraine Primary Headaches, the first machine-generated books in the Springer Clinical Medicine program, Editor-in-Chief (Founding) of The Journal of Headache and Pain and Editor-in-Chief (Founding) of Springer Nature Comprehensive Clinical Medicine. He founded and directed since 2003 for 19 Academic Years the first global Master in Headache Medicine at Sapienza University of Rome. He serves also as EU Expert of European Medicine Agency.
Dr. Matilde Leonardi, Director of Neurology, Public Health, Disability Unit and of Coma Research Centre of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta in Milan. Since 1991 she has worked at the World Health Organisation, WHO, in Geneva and is now WHO expert on neurology, disability, brain health and director of the WHO-Research Branch Besta Italian Collaborating Centre. She works as researcher and as clinician on neurology (in particular headaches and disorders of consciousness), brain health, disability, public health, ageing, chronic diseases and work, WHO's ICF Classification (International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health), neurorehabilitation and the impact of brain diseases on social and health policies in Italy and abroad. Board member and Chair of the Communication Committee of the European Academy of Neurology. Co-chair of the Global Burden of Disease of neurology for Italy and coordinator of several national and European projects, author of more than 350 publications.
Prof. Tissa Wijeratne, OAM MD PhD FRACP, is a distinguished neurologist, academic and global-health leader. He co-founded the World Brain Day campaign in 2014 and currently serves as its Co-Chair, helping drive measurable progress toward United Nations SDG-3 by reaching more than a billion people worldwide. With over 350 peer-reviewed publications, Prof. Wijeratne has amassed a citation index exceeding 150,000 and an h-index of 88. He co-led the Global Burden of Disease 2021 Headache Study on migraine and headache disorders, published in Cell Reports Medicine (2025).In addition to his clinical and research leadership, Prof. Wijeratne holds senior governance roles in major neurological organisations: he serves as an Elected Trustee of the World Federation of Neurology (WFN), and as Global Chair of the Special Interest Group for Migraine and Headache Disorders of the World Federation of Neurorehabilitation (WFNR). He leads a team that spans more than 450 physicians and 50 neurologists including 10 completed PhDs and has directed the advancement of headache and migraine care across five billion people in 54 countries as President of the Asian Regional Consortium of Headaches. Prof. Wijeratne is committed to bridging the gap between scientific discovery and public understanding of brain health. His work emphasises migraine and headache disorders, while his advocacy advances global neurological care and fosters international collaboration solidifying his position as a respected leader in shaping the future of brain health for generations to come.
