Introducing the seven recently elected IBE Vice Presidents, who will represent their regions on the International Executive Committee for the term 2017-2019.
Their terms of office will begin at the time of the IBE General Assembly, which takes place at the 32nd International Epilepsy Congress in Barcelona in September.
VICE PRESIDENT EUROPE
Caroline Morton, Netherlands
Mrs Morton has been working in the epilepsy field for more than 25 years. She was first employed as IBE Administrative Assistant when the IBE office was based in Heemstede and worked closely with the late Hanneke de Boer on the ILAE/IBE/WHO Global Campaign Against Epilepsy. Currently she is International Relations Officer at SEIN Epilepsy Centre. She holds a voluntary position as a representative to the UN for the World Federation of Mental Health (WFMH). She is also a member of the IBE Legislation Task Force.
VICE PRESIDENT AFRICA
Jacob Mugumbate, Zimbabwe
Mr Mugumbate is a former Executive Director of the Epilepsy Support Foundation of Zimbabwe. He has also served on the IBE African Regional Committee as a co-opted member. He holds a Bachelor of Social Work and a Masters of Social Work from the University of Zimbabwe. Since 2011, he has been a lecturer and researcher at Bindura University in Zimbabwe.
His current research is on epilepsy, disability, employment and social justice which is part of a PhD he is completing at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He has also published and presented on epilepsy stigma and management.
VICE PRESIDENT EAST MEDITERRANEAN
Hassan Hosny, Egypt
Prof Hosny is Professor of Neurology at Cairo University. Trained at Cairo University Hospitals, he completed fellowships in Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy at the University of Chicago and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in the US. He is President of the Egyptian Epilepsy Association (IBE chapter), which he founded; he was elected twice as Chair of the ILAE Commission on East Mediterranean Affairs; sits on the board of the ILAE Educational and Epilepsy Care Commissions and is a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Epilepsy Research.
VICE PRESIDENT NORTH AMERICA
Phil Gattone, USA
Mr Gattone worked as Director of Education at Rush University Epilepsy Center and led the Epilepsy Foundation in Chicago for several years before joining the Epilepsy Foundation of America where he has served as President and CEO for the past five years, successfully increasing revenue and building relationships. He is currently IBE Vice President for North America and will serve for a second term. Personal experience as a father of a son who has endured thousands of seizures, multiple medications and two brain surgeries to control his seizures, which has driven him to become passionate about creating a movement for change.
VICE PRESIDENT LATIN AMERICA
Tomás Mesa, Chile
Prof Mesa is Associate Professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC); Director of the Children’s Section in a post-graduate training program for epilepsy; Director of Pediatric Sleep Training at the Sleep Medical Center and former Head of the Pediatric Neurology, Genetics and Metabolic Diseases Section. He is Past President of the Chilean League Against Epilepsy and the Association of Chilean Leagues Against Epilepsy (ANLICHE) – the Chilean chapter of IBE. He has served on the IBE Regional Committee for Latin America as Secretary (two terms) and Chair and was a member of the IBE Research Commission.
VICE PRESIDENT WESTERN PACIFIC
Ding Ding, China
Dr Ding’s career of epilepsy care started in 2002, as a co-investigator of a demon- stration project in China: ‘Epilepsy man- agement at primary health level’, carried out within the framework of the ILAE/ IBE/WHO Global Campaign Against Epilepsy. She has been involved with the IBE chapter in China since 2005 and set up the Sea Horse art club for people with epilepsy. She has served on a number of task forces, including the ILAE/IBE Global Campaign Task Force and the ILAE Research Advocacy Task Force. She is currently serving a first term as IBE Vice President Western Pacific.
VICE PRESIDENT SOUTH EAST ASIA
Satish Jain, India
Prof Satish Jain studied at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi; was awarded the WG Lennox International Clinical Research Fellowship of the Epilepsy Foundation of America and received advanced training in Epilepsy Research at Duke University Medical Centre, USA as a “Fulbright Scholar”. He started the Comprehensive Epilepsy Care Facility at the AIIMS, New Delhi which today provides state of the art epilepsy care in our country. He is founder member and former President of the Indian Epilepsy Society (ILAE chapter) and is currently President of the Indian Epilepsy Association (IBE chapter).
