International Executive Committee 2021-2025

IBE is governed by the General Assembly of its voting chapters (members) and by its International Executive Committee.

The International Executive Committee consists of a President, Secretary General, Treasurer, seven regional Vice-Presidents, the Immediate Past President, and three members of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Executive Committee.

The President, Secretary General and Treasurer are elected by an international ballot of the voting chapters. A Vice-President is elected by the voting chapters within each IBE Regional Committee. The appointment of the Immediate Past President is ratified by a simple majority vote of voting chapters.

The term of office of the International Executive Committee is four years. No one may serve more than four full or partial consecutive elected terms on the International Executive Committee. The President and the Immediate Past President shall serve one full term. The Vice-Presidents, the Secretary General and the Treasurer may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms.

The IBE President chairs meetings of the International Executive Committee and the General Assembly and represents the IBE and International Executive Committee as required.

The Vice-Presidents assist the President and serve as members of the International Executive Committee and as Chairs of their respective Regional Executive Committee, providing a link between International and Regional levels.

The Secretary General coordinates the affairs of the IBE, under the direction of the International Executive Committee. He or she keeps a record of all modifications to the Constitution and Bylaws and is responsible for issues relating to membership.

The Treasurer is responsible for the sound financial management of the IBE including the keeping of books of account, the production of budgets and the production of other financial information as may be required from time to time.

The Immediate Past President undertakes those tasks and responsibilities delegated to them by the International Executive Committee and his or her presence helps to provide continuity between terms of office.

At least annually, the International Executive Committee of the IBE meets jointly with the Executive Committee of the ILAE, to consider matters of mutual interest or responsibility to both Executive Committees.

Committee Members

President

Francesca Sofia
Italy

Francesca Sofia is a molecular biologist with a career in research management. She holds a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology with a thesis on brain development. She specialized in international healthcare economics and policy at a major Italian business school (Bocconi University, Milan), and later in bioethics and science policy at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA.
In 2004, she was recruited by a major Italian research charity working in the field of rare genetic disease. There she held multiple responsibilities as research program manager, coordinator of the patient support office and head of one of the charity’s intramural research institutes.
Her second child was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2011. This life-changing event initiated her interest in collaborating with epilepsy associations nationally and internationally and led her to became an epilepsy advocate.
In 2014, Francesca left her job to join the Italian Epilepsy Federation (FIE) where she currently holds the position of CSO and board member.
She founded a consulting firm in 2016 that enables charities and research organizations to outsource scientific office tasks.
In 2018, she was elected member of the European Regional Executive Committee of IBE, currently serving as president for the term 2021-2025.
Francesca describes her daughter’s disease as a wake-up call that infused her professional life with a new meaning and sense of urgency: her work and personal life melted together gaining strength, drive and humanity.

Gus Baker

Secretary General

Gus Baker
UK

Professor Baker is Emeritus Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist and Emeritus Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology, at the University Department of Neurosciences at the Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Liverpool, UK.
Professor Baker has spent the last 30 years equally divided between clinical research and clinical practice. The focus of Professor Baker’s research has been to understand the impact of chronic neurological diseases, especially epilepsy. One outcome of this research, supported by Welcome, USNIH and Medical Research Council grants, has been the development of methodology to quantify the different effects of treatment. This methodology has been used to assess the efficacy of new drug and surgical treatments for epilepsy and generally understanding the impact of epilepsy as perceived by the individual and their family.
An author or co-author of more than 260 books, chapters, and articles—appearing in such peer-reviewed journals as Epilepsia, Neurology, New England Journal of Medicine, Brain, JAMA and JNNP—on the psychological and neuropsychological consequences of epilepsy and its treatment, his recent research has been focused on understanding the impact of exposure to anti-epileptic drug medication in utero of the developing brain and investigating the concept of accelerated forgetting in newly diagnosed epilepsy.
Professor Baker is the recipient of the British Psychological Society Life-time award, the Gowers prize, the ILAE /IBE Ambassador Award, the Barbara Wilson Award and recently the Lord Hastings Award.
In addition to his role as Secretary General of the IBE, he serves as the Vice President of Epilepsy Action and a member of the ILAE Neuropsychology Task force.

Treasurer

Graeme Shears
Australia

Graeme Shears is the Chief Executive Officer of the Epilepsy Foundation. He is passionate about improving the lives of people living with epilepsy. The Epilepsy Foundation vision is that no one with epilepsy should go it alone.
Graeme had a successful career in manufacturing and management consulting prior to joining the Epilepsy Foundation in 2008. Graeme has a brother living with epilepsy.
He holds a Batchelor of Business degree and has completed an executive leadership program, Strategic Perspectives in Non Profit Management, at Harvard.
He is a co-author of “The social context of anxiety and depression: Exploring the role of anxiety and depression in the lives of Australian adults with epilepsy”, “Management of Post-Traumatic Epilepsy (PTE): an evidence review over the last 5 years and future directions”, and “A Fair Go for People Living with Epilepsy in Australia”.

Past President

Martin Brodie
Scotland

Martin Brodie has directed the Epilepsy Unit in Glasgow, Scotland since 1981. He was Treasurer of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) from 2005 until 2009, and a Vice-president from 2001 to 2005. He set up and chairs the Board of Trustees of the charity, Scottish Epilepsy Initiative.
He has received the IBE/ILAE Ambassador for Epilepsy award, the European Epileptology Award from the ILAE Commission on European Affairs, the Epilepsy Lifetime Service Award from the ILAE UK chapter and the William G Lennox Award from the American Epilepsy Society.

VP Africa

Youssouf Noormamode
Mauritius

Founding President of EDYCS Epilepsy Group Mauritius, Youssouf Noormamode has served as Chair and Vice-Chair of the IBE African Regional Committee for over a decade. Notable accomplishments include championing the ratification of IGAP in Africa, engaging in impactful policy dialogues, and contributing to the recognition of epilepsy in the African Union African Disability Protocol. As Chairperson of the Africa Disability Alliance Youssouf advocates for the adoption and domestication of the Protocol on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities under the ARADI continental project, supported by EU/CBM.

VP Eastern Mediterranean

Chahnez Charfi Triki
Tunisia

Chahnez Charfi Triki is a professor of neurology and head of the child neurology department at the Faculty of Medicine of Sfax. Since 1995, when she was elected chair of the Tunisian Association for Epilepsy Research, she has been committed to promoting epileptology. She was elected the ILAE-IBE Ambassador for Epilepsy in 2023 after serving as President, Secretary General, and past President of ILAE-EMR. She is a founding Member and President of Honor of the Ahmed Association for the Care of Children Suffering from Epilepsy and founding president of the Tunisian Association for the Development of Epileptology.

VP Europe

Elvira Vacas Montero
Spain

Elvira Vacas Montero has a criminology degree and an inquiring mind. She is finishing a degree in International Political Science and is passionate about social phenomena and people. In 2018, her son was diagnosed with an epileptic encephalopathy after encephalitis. It was the diagnostic delay, loneliness, lack of information and the idea that she would never give in to conformism and resignation that led her to chair the Spanish Epilepsy Federation (FEDE) and the Spanish Epileptic Encephalopathy Association POCS. She leads projects such as Epiforward and EpiAlliance and advocates for a European integration project that can face greater global challenges.

VP Latin America

Alicia Bogacz
Uruguay

Alicia Bogacz has been an adult neurophysiologist, epileptologist, and a member of the Epilepsy Section at the Faculty of Medicine Hospital de Clinicas since 2000, as well as an honorary professor at the University of the Republic of Uruguay’s Institute of Neurology. She established the Uruguayan chapter of the IBE, “Asociación Uruguaya Contra la Epilepsia” (AUCLE), and was the president of AUCLE from 2005 to 2017. In 2021, Alicia began her tenure as the Vice President of the IBE Latin American Committee.

VP North America

Deirdre Floyd
Canada

Deirdre Floyd will serve her second term as Vice President of North America. Diagnosed with epilepsy at 14, has been an advocate both locally and nationally, serving as the local association’s Vice Chair and President, the Canadian Epilepsy Alliance’s President, and chairing the Purple Day for Epilepsy campaign. She has won many awards for her volunteer service over the years, including the Nova Scotia ‘Women of Excellence’ award, which recognizes women who have helped people within their community achieve successful outcomes for charity work.

VP Southeast Asia

Man Mohan Mehndiratta
India

Dr Mehndiratta is Director, Professor and Head of the Department of Neurology at Janakpuri Superspeciality Hospital in New Delhi. His professional experience goes back 37 years, which he has been teaching for 35 years. He has organised more than 10 conferences on epilepsy in India and run EEG workshops and epilepsy school. He is an Examiner for Post-Doctoral students in most major Universities in India.

* A new Vice-President for the South East Asian region will be co-opted in early 2024.

VP Western Pacific

Hung Tak Fung (Anchor)
Hong Kong SAR China

Dr. Anchor Tak Fung Hung, a registered social worker in Hong Kong SAR, China, holds Master’s degrees in Public Health and Disability Studies and a Doctorate in Business Administration with a focus on Hong Kong’s private elderly homes. Currently, she is the Assistant Project Director at The University of Hong Kong’s Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, leading an innovative community pharmacy project. With more than twenty years of experience, her contributions have been significant, serving as an honorary advisor for the Hong Kong Epilepsy Association and the Epilepsy Foundation of Hong Kong, and as a co-founder and director of Hong Kong’s Health and Social Exchange. She has contributed to many improvements for individuals with epilepsy. Her dedication also resulted in the successful redefinition of the term for epilepsy in Hong Kong’s Chinese language, fostering greater comprehension of the condition. In 2023, Anchor was honoured as an IBE/ILAE Epilepsy Ambassador.

ILAE President

Helen Cross
United Kingdom

ILAE Secretary General

Ed Bertram
USA

Alla Guekht

ILAE Treasurer

Alla Guekht
Russia

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