Gondola appoints its scientific advisory board

We are thrilled to announce the appointment of our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), whose mission is to provide guidance and scientific input on multiple aspects of our clinical activities as well as technology development of Gondola^® Automated Mechanical Peripheral Stimulation (AMPS).

The SAB is composed of internationally recognized experts specializing in treating movement disorders, Parkinson’s disease (PD) and neurorehabilitation.

• Prof. Bettina Debu: Professor of Neuroscience at the Grenoble University Hospital [1]. She is an expert in postural control, gait and motor function that characterize the normal as well as the pathological human development. In the past 20 years, her research activities have been focused on the study of the axial motor symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease, in particular gait impairments, freezing, and balance difficulties, on surgical therapeutic strategies (for example, DBS) and the role of exercise to ameliorate the quality of life of the patients. During her career she joined high-level international working environments, such as the Institute of Neuroscience of University of Oregon, where she obtained a 5-years fellowship, and the University of Grenoble where she was appointed Assistant Professor in 1993 and then full Professor in 1999.
• Prof. Günther Deuschl: Senior Professor of Neurology [2] and past President of the German Society of Neurology (2006-2008) the Movement Disorder Society (2011-2013) and of the European Academy of Neurology (2014-2018). With over 700 Pubmed-listed peer-reviewed publications and a H-index >120, Prof. Deuschl is an international renowned expert in neurological movement disorders and particularly tremor. In 1998 and 2018 he authored the Consensus Statements of the Movement Disorder Society on Tremor, the first coordinated document aiming to provide a common clinical terminology of tremors and facilitate communication among clinicians. Prof. Deuschl ‘s scientific work significantly contributed to the establishment of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) as a standard treatment for PD supported by class one evidence.
• Prof. Alfonso Fasano: Chair in Neuromodulation at the University of Toronto and University Health Network [3]. He is Professor in the Department of Medicine (Division of Neurology) at the University of Toronto [4], staff neurologist and co-director of the Surgical Program for Movement Disorders at Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network [5] and a Clinician Investigator at the Krembil Research Institute of Toronto [6]. Author of >300 peer-reviewed scientific publications, Prof. Fasano leads the CORE E of the Center for Advancing Neurotechnological Innovation to Application (CRANIA), where he coordinates clinical research activities focused on the development and testing of closed-loop neuromodulation strategies aiming to treat movement disorders related to neurological conditions. His areas of interest include technological innovation applied to the treatment of movement disorders, Parkinson’s Disease, tremor and neurological gait disorders.
• Dr. Mónica Kurtis: Director of the Movement Disorders Unit (Department of Neurology) at the Ruber International Hospital of Madrid [7]. She pursued her training in movement disorders at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, completing a clinical and neurophysiology fellowship. Besides working as a consulting neurologist, Dr. Kurtis is responsible for the coordination of multiple clinical trials for patients with movement disorders. Her fields of expertise, supported by over 60 peer-reviewed scientific publications and book chapters, include dystonia, Parkinson’s disease and functional movement disorders. She is is an active member of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society and is part of the Education Committee and the MDS Rating Scale Program. She has a keen interest in educating the broad public about movement disorders and thus collaborates with patient associations regularly, blogs actively in her educational blog called NEUROfriendly and has recently published a book about creativity and neuroscience.
• Prof. Fabrizio Stocchi: Professor of Neurology and Director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Research Centre [8] at the Institute for Research and Medical Care IRCCS San Raffaele of Rome. Author of over 250 peer-reviewed scientific publications and several books, his domain of expertise focus on neurodegenerative diseases, movement disorders and PD. Prof. Stocchi is a member of several international scientific committees and societies, e.g. the Movement Disorders Society (in which he is Co-Chair of the Educational Committee), the European Federation of Neurological Society and of the Committee (International Faculty) of AD/PD. He’s part of several editorial boards of medical journals specialized in motor disorders and since 2014 collaborates with the European Parkinson’s disease Association with the role of Multidisciplinary Expert Reviewer.
• Dr. Ali Sarem-Aslani: Since 2018 Independent Consultant in Brain modulation Affairs, held several senior positions within Medtronic Inc. as Business Unit Manager in Germany and Director of Clinical Research in Europe for Neuromodulation Therapies. Ali Sarem-Aslani is coordinating the SAB for Gondola Medical Technologies.

We are remarkably grateful to this impressive panel of scientists, whose critical contribution will help us build up robust scientific evidence on the clinical outcomes of AMPS.

REFERENCE

1. Grenoble University Hospital, France
2. Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, Germany
3. University of Toronto and University Health Network, Canada
4. Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada
5. Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Canada
6. Krembil Research Institute, Toronto, Canada
7. Neurology Department, Ruber International Hospital, Madrid, Spain
8. Institute for Research and Medical Care IRCCS San Raffaele, Rome, Italy