President, World Stroke Organization
USA
Chief Clinical Science Officer, American Heart Association
USA
President, Asia Pacific Stroke Organization
Korea
Professor of Neurology, Stanford University
USA
Director-General, Department of Medical Affairs, Ministry of Health and Welfare
Taiwan
Dr. Fisher has had a long career as a translational and clinical researcher in the stroke field. He was at the University of Massachusetts Medical School for 36 years, retiring in 2014. While there, he led a stroke modeling lab for 25 years that focused on using MRI technology to evaluate the ischemic penumbra and the effects of many types of therapies on the evolution of ischemic injury. He trained more than 25 research fellows from around the world, many of whom currently hold prestigious positions. He participated in many clinical trials as a principal investigator or steering committee member. Dr. Fisher was also an active clinician and teacher. He has published more than 330 peer reviewed papers with an h-index of 80. Currently, Dr. Fisher is a part time member of the neurology faculty at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and is a Professor of Neurology (part time) at Harvard Medical School. He continues to see patients and teach residents and stroke fellows. He was the Editor will -in-Chief of Stroke from 2010-2020 and continues to serve Stroke as a senior consulting editor. He assumed the presidency of the WSO in November 2020.
Mitchell Elkind, MD, MS is a tenured Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology at Columbia University and, since September 1, 2022, Chief Clinical Science Officer of the American Heart Association. He was previously Chief of the Division of Neurology Clinical Outcomes Research and Population Sciences (NeuroCORPS) in the Columbia Neurology Department.
Dr. Elkind received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, and he trained in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and in Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, both in Boston, MA. He completed a fellowship in Vascular Neurology and Neuroepidemiology at Columbia University, and he holds a Master’s degree in Epidemiology from Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health.
Dr. Elkind’s research focuses on stroke prevention, inflammatory and infectious biomarkers in stroke risk prediction, atrial cardiopathy, immune therapy for acute stroke, and vascular causes of cognitive aging. Dr. Elkind is the Principal Investigator of several independent investigator awards from NIH/NINDS, including the ARCADIA trial of apixaban vs aspirin for atrial cardiopathy in cryptogenic stroke and the Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS), an epidemiological study of stroke risk factors.
Dr. Elkind also has a longstanding commitment to medical education and research training. In addition to leading the Columbia Neurology residency and fellowship programs, he served as founding editor of the AHA/ASA journal Stroke’sInternational Stroke Early Career and Training Section (InterSECT). He runs NIH-funded research training programs for residents and fellows. At AHA, he co-chaired the writing committee for the 2012 scientific statement on the inclusion of stroke as an outcome and risk equivalent in vascular disease risk scores, and he led the effort to include a chapter on brain health in the AHA’s annual statistical update. Dr. Elkind was President of the American Heart Association 2020-2021.
Byung-Woo Yoon, MD, PhD, FAHA
Dr. Byung-Woo Yoon is a Professor Emeritus retired from Seoul National University and is currently a Neurology Professor at Uijeongbu Eulji Medical Center, Eulji University, Korea.
His main research interest has been the improvement of stroke therapy during his career as a translational and clinical researcher. He has published more than 260 papers in peer-reviewed international journals.
He led Clinical Research Center for Stroke (CRCS) Korea from 2006 to 2015, which developed Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) for Stroke in Korea and established Korean Stroke Registry (KSR). As the national PI, he has participated in multinational clinical studies, including PROFESS, PERFORM, MAGELLAN, ARUBA, ATACH-II, NAVIGATE-ESUS, and AXIOMATIC-SSP. He served as an editorial board member of journals, including Stroke, Journal of Stroke, and Journal of Clinical Neurosciences.
He is the current President of the Asia-Pacific Stroke Organization and the past presidents of the Korean Neurological Association, the Korean Stroke Society, and the Asian Stroke Advisory Panel.
Dr. Gregory W. Albers is the director of the Stanford Stroke Center, a position he has held since co-founding the center in 1992. A world leader in stroke research and treatment, the Stanford Stroke Center has pioneered major advances in medical therapies and consistently ranks among the most prolific research groups in the United States.
Dr. Albers’ primary research focus is the diagnosis, management, and prevention of ischemic stroke. Dr. Albers and his team use advanced imaging technology to expand the treatment window for ischemic stroke, thereby improving patient health and quality of life outcomes.
Dr. Albers conducts clinical studies of treatments for acute stroke, including both thrombolytic strategies and neuroprotective strategies. He also investigates new antithrombotic strategies for stroke prevention.
Dr. Albers was instrumental in the development of medical software, RAPID, that interprets patient brain scans and helps clinicians decide on appropriate treatments for ischemic stroke.
A prolific and distinguished researcher, Dr. Albers has authored more than 500 articles on topics related to cerebrovascular disease in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Albers joined the Stanford faculty in 1989, and the following year won the Lysia Forno Award for Teaching Excellence at Stanford University Medical Center. In 2011, Dr. Albers received the American Heart Association’s prestigious David G. Sherman Award for Outstanding Contributions to Stroke Research. He has been named among the “Best Medical Specialists in North America - Cerebrovascular Disease” and the “Country’s Best Heart and Stroke Doctors” in national surveys of physicians and department chairs. For more than 25 consecutive years, Dr. Albers has been named one of the “Best Doctors in America.”
From 2003 to 2008, Dr. Albers served as Chairman, Cerebrovascular Diseases for the American College of Chest Physicians Expert Panel on Antithrombotic Therapy.
I graduated from National Taiwan University with a bachelor degree in Medicine, and Ming Chuan University with a master degree in Law. I am one of the few physicians to have completed double specialty training in emergency and pediatric cardiology. Previously served as the attending physician at the emergency department of National Taiwan University Hospital, deputy executive officer of Taipei Emergency Operation Center, chairperson of the Children's Emergency Committee of the Taiwan Emergency Medicine Association, deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Medical Association, division chief of the Taipei City Government Health department, and senior specialist of the Department of Medical Affairs of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, etc. I'm known as the important bridge between medical industry and medical government affairs.