David is currently an Assistant Professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He obtained his medical degree from The University of Hong Kong in 2010 after completing his overseas elective training at the University of Cambridge Addenbrooke’s Hospital, and St Thomas’ Hospital, King’s College London.

During his Neurosurgery Fellowship training, David was awarded the Best Research Award for two consecutive years from the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong (CSHK) in 2016 and 2017. He completed the training in 2018 with a Distinction in his Higher Surgical Training Research Project and was awarded the Best Original Paper Award in 2019 from CSHK.

David is a Council member of the Hong Kong Neurosurgical Society. He is active in both research and teaching. His research interests are endoscopic surgery and minimally invasive surgical techniques in Neurosurgery, head and spine injury.

Francesco is Director of the Department of Neurosurgery at Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Carol Besta and Full Professor of Neurosurgery at University of Milan. Focusing on neurosurgical oncology, he has published more than 190 peer-reviewed papers and several book chapters (h-index: 52, Scopus). He has gained considerable experience in the loco-regional treatment of brain tumours and distinguished himself as a co-author of the first worldwide research that lead to the identification of tumour stem cells in glioblastomas and alternative treatment strategies by inducing tumour cells differentiation, publishing a pioneering article in Nature. Recently, his research has broaden to embrace the field of intraoperative imaging, becoming one of the world’s leaders on intraoperative ultrasound in neurosurgery. Finally, he has founded the first neurosurgical simulation centre in Europe (Besta Neurosurgical Simulation Center) which is also one of the best equipped simulation centers in the world.

Llewellyn is currently Full Clinical Professor and Head of Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is also the Chief Specialist and Pediatric Neurosurgeon at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital, Pretoria. Llewellyn received the Rowland Krynauw award for distinction in his fellowship examination (2008) and subsequently obtained his Master degree in Medicine and Ph.D in 2010 and 2015 from the University of Cape Town. He furthered his training in Paediatric Neurosurgery at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard University (2014) and Functional MRI at Brain Unit of Oxford University (2016).

Llewellyn is widely recognized for his expertise in Paediatric Neurosurgery, minimally invasive surgical techniques and the use of intra-operative ultrasound in brain tumor surgery. He is an Executive Board member of the International Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery (ISPN) and Neuroendoscopy Committee Member of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS).

Alessandro is a medical graduate of the University of Padua, Italy (2003) where he finished his neurosurgical training (2009). He received his training in Neurosurgical Oncology at the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University (2010-2011) and earnt his PhD degree in Neuroscience/ Neurobiology (Neuro-Oncology) from the University of Trieste in 2012.

Alessandro has joined Carol Besta Neurological Institute (Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta) as a Neurosurgical Specialist. He also serves as the Scientific Director of the Besta Neurosurgical Simulation Center and Adjunct Professor of Molecular Neuro-Oncology at the University of Trieste. His clinical interests are Neurobiology and Neuro-Oncology and advanced 3D reality applied to Neurosurgery.

Professor UNSGÅRD has been a Professor at NTNU for 30 years, where he also was Dean of the Medical Faculty for 6 years. He was Chief of Neurosurgical Dept and Head of Neuro-division, St Olav University Hospital for 22 years. He has been using navigated 3D Ultrasound in neurosurgical operations for 23 years. He has published 195 scientific articles in peer reviewed journals and 8 book chapters. The research encompasses cell biology, MR technology and in the last 20 years mostly the use of ultrasound technology to guide and improve neurosurgical operations. He has been entrusted different national and international professional positions. As a politician he was a member of the City Council of Trondheim for 7 years. He left politics about two decades ago when he moved out of the city to a farm nearby with his wife and five children. Here they have a lot of space for their two horses and for receiving visits from family including their 6 grandchildren. In 2009 Professor UNSGÅRD was knighted by the King of Norway (“Knight of St Olavs Order”) for his scientific and professional achievements.