Maria Tektonidou is Professor of Rheumatology, Head of Rheumatology Unit, and Head of the National Center of Expertise for Rare and Complex Connective Tissue and Musculoskeletal Diseases at the First Department of Propaedeutic Internal Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She is a member of the Executive board of the Joint Academic Rheumatology program, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, EULAR Centre of Excellence (2021-2026). She completed her residency in Rheumatology in 2000 and her PhD in 2001 (University of Athens). Between 2009 and 2019, she worked as a Guest Researcher (1-2 monthly visits/year) at the NIAMS/NIH. Dr. Tektonidou is a member of the Executive Committee of the “European Lupus Society-SLEuro” (2018-present) and a member of the steering committee - she was Executive Committee member between 2014 and 2021- of the ‘AntiPhospholipid Syndrome Alliance for Clinical Trials and InternatiOnal Networking (APS ACTION). Since 2019, she is leading the EULAR Antiphospholipid syndrome study group. She has participated as an expert in the ‘EULAR recommendations for the management of SLE with neuropsychiatric manifestations’, the ‘Joint EULAR/ERA-EDTA recommendations for the management of adult and paediatric lupus nephritis’, the ‘EULAR recommendations for women's health and the management of family planning, assisted reproduction, pregnancy and menopause in patients with SLE and/or APS’ and the “2019 EULAR/ACR Classification Criteria for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus”. She is a member of the steering committee of the “ACR/EULAR Classification Criteria for Antiphospholipid Syndrome” project. She has recently convened the “EULAR Recommendations for the management of APS in adults” (2019), and the “EULAR recommendations for the cardiovascular management of RMDs including SLE and APS” (2022). She is currently convening the "Development and Validation of a EULAR disease activity score in Antiphospholipid syndrome" project. She is leading the “SUrvey of cardiovascular Risk Factors (SURF) in SLE and APS” project including 29 participating centres from four continents. Dr. Tektonidou’s major research interests include the epidemiology, outcomes research, comorbidities, health-related quality of life, and management of patients with systemic autoimmune diseases, especially APS and SLE. She was invited speaker in several national and international meetings. She has over 200 peer-reviewed publications in international journals and book chapters. She is on the editorial board of four international journals (including one Associate Editor position), and served as a reviewer for 60 international journals.

Angela Tincani is now a senior consultant at the Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology Unit in the “ASST-Spedali Civili di Brescia”, Italy, and professor at Rheumatology Specialization, University of Brescia. She is also visiting professor at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Previously Head of the Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology Unit at the “ASST-Spedali Civili di Brescia”, Italy. Professor Tincani has been a committee member or chair of many international conferences on SLE, Antiphospholipid Antibodies, Autoimmunity, Pregnancy in Rheumatic Diseases. She was involved in the EULAR task forces as an “expert” for the development of recommendations. She has authored more than 300 publications on the management of patients with systemic autoimmune diseases. Several articles focus on reproductive-related issues such as 1) management of patients with rheumatic diseases during pregnancy; 2) use of anti-rheumatic drugs during pregnancy and lactation; 3) evaluation of different autoimmune diseases and autoantibodies as risk factors for poor gestational outcomes. Prof. Tincani has recognized experience in the clinical management of patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases. In addition, since 1990 is responsible for the multidisciplinary Pregnancy Clinic in Rheumatic Diseases.