Speakers: Drs. Shelley Forrest, Ivan Martinez-Valbuena, Satoshi Tanikawa, & Gabor Kovacs
Moderator: Dr. Gabor Kovacs
Dr. Shelley Forrest (top-left) is a Senior Scientific Associate at the Krembil Brain Institute (KBI) and the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CNRD), University of Toronto. She holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Sydney and received postdoctoral training in the Discipline of Pathology at the University of Sydney. Dr. Forrest was then recruited to the Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie University, as the Neuropathology group leader before moving to Toronto. Her research focuses on the neuropathology and disease mechanisms underlying progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), frontotemporal dementia, aging, and a range of neurodegenerative disorders. In particular, her work involves the investigation of protein abnormalities and cell types affected to determine the selective regional and cellular vulnerability in these disorders, and associated clinicopathological correlations.
Dr. Ivan Martinez-Valbuena (top-right) is a Scientific Associate at the KBI and the Tanz CNRD, University of Toronto. He earned his Ph.D. in neurology from the University of Navarra (Spain). In 2020, he joined Dr. Gabor Kovacs team in Toronto as a postdoctoral fellow. Currently, his research focuses on the use of seeding amplification assays and other molecular techniques to develop novel biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr. Satoshi Tanikawa (bottom-left) is a general Pathologist from Japan. He obtained an M.D. at Hirosaki University in 2013, and earned a Doctorate in Medicine at Hokkaido University in 2018. He specializes in molecular biology and tissue engineering.
Dr. Gabor G. Kovacs (bottom-right), M.D. Ph.D., is Professor of Neuropathology and Neurology at the University of Toronto. He is Consultant Neuropathologist and Neurologist at the University Health Network (UHN), Rossy Chair for PSP Research, and a Principal Investigator at the Tanz CNRD and KBI. Dr. Kovacs is the Co-Director of the Rossy Program for PSP Research. Dr. Kovacs completed his medical training at the Semmelweis University (Budapest, Hungary) where he specialized in Neurology and Neuropathology and obtained a Ph.D. in Neuroscience. From 2004 to 2007, he was the Head of the Department of Neuropathology at the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Budapest, Hungary. From 2007 to 2019, he was an Associate Professor at the Institute of Neurology at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. He was the leader of the Hungarian (2004-2019) and Austrian (2011-2019) Reference Center for Human Prion Diseases. Dr. Kovacs has also trained at Indiana University (2007) and University of Pennsylvania (2016 and 2017) as a visiting professor/scholar. His major research interest is the neuropathology of neurodegenerative diseases to identify early biomarkers and therapy targets. He has published more than 350 peer-reviewed papers and edited three books on Neuropathology. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3841-5511