Keynote Speakers

	Professor Bastiaan Bloem, MD Opening lecture: “The interplay between posture, gait and mental function” Prof Bloem is a professor of neurology at the University Medical Centre St Radboud, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and the founder and Medical Director of the Parkinson Centre Nijmegen. He is also the current president of ISPGR and a former organizer of a Gait & Mental Function conference. In his opening address of the 2012 congress, he will bridge the main topics of the two founding societies of the congress, ISPGR and Gait & Mental Function. Prof Bloem serves on the editorial board of several journals, including the Movement Disorders journal. He has published extensively on the topic of neurological movement disorders in general and Parkinson’s Disease in particular.
	Professor Mark Hallett, MD "How does the brain create movement, and how can this be influenced with brain stimulation?" Prof Hallett is a professor of neurology and chief of the Medical Neurology Branch and chief of the Human Motor Control Section at the NIH, USA. He has been president of the Movement Disorder Society, president of the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine, and vice-president of the American Academy of Neurology. He is past editor-in-chief of Clinical Neurophysiology and on the editorial boards of many journals, including Annals of Neurology, Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology, and Neurotherapeutics. Prof Hallett has published extensively on the physiology of normal human voluntary movement and the pathophysiology of different movement disorders, particularly dystonia and Parkinson's disease, and of involuntary movement such as essential tremor.
	Professor Stephanie Studenski “What is it with gait speed?” Prof Stephanie Studenski is professor of medicine and the director of Research, Division of Geriatric Medicine, at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. She has served as chair of three NIH study sections and as chair of the research committee of the American Geriatrics Society. She is currently a member of the Council of the National Institute on Aging. She is associate editor for the Journal of Gerontology Medical Sciences and the Hazzard Textbook of Geriatrics and Gerontology. Her research focuses on mobility, balance, rehabilitation, frailty and disability. Lately, she has conducted a series of studies on the role of gait speed in clinical practice.
	Professor Jaap van Dieën “Gait stability: to fall or not to fall, that is the question” Prof Jaap van Dieën is a professor of biomechanics at the VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He is the section editor of Human Movement Sciences, and serves on the editorial board of several additional journals. He is treasurer of the International Society for Electromyography and Kinesiology, and leads a EU-funded joint doctorate program on mobility in ageing (www.move-age.eu). He has published extensively on mechanical aspects of musculoskeletal injuries and disorders, covering topics such as effects of task demands, fatigue, ageing, and musculoskeletal disorders on joint load and stability, as well as biomechanical aspects of gait stability in older persons.
	Professor Joe Verghese, MD “Cognition: motoric perspectives” Prof Joe Verghese is a professor of neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, USA. He is a recipient of the Beeson award from the National Institute on Aging and the Outstanding Scientific Achievement for Clinical Investigation Award from the American Geriatrics Society. His research interests are effects of disease and aging on mobility and cognition in older adults, and he has published extensively on the influence of cognitively stimulating activities on reducing risk of dementia and the role of divided attention tasks such as walking while talking in predicting outcomes such as disability and cognitive decline.