Dr. med. Wolfgang Gaebel is Professor of Psychiatry, former Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf (Germany), and Head of the LVR-Klinikum Düsseldorf. He is Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Quality Management and Empowerment in Mental Health. From 2014 to 2016 he was also Founding Director of the LVR-Institute for Mental Healthcare Research in Düsseldorf. Prof. Gaebel was President of the DGPPN (1995/6 and 2007/8) and of the EPA (2015/6). He is chairing the WPA Sections on Schizophrenia and on Quality Assurance. His research focus is on schizophrenia, including psychopathological and pharmacological aspects, treatment guidelines, destigmatisation, quality management, and the development of DSM-5 and ICD-11. He was a member of the WHO International Advisory Group for the Revision of ICD-10 Mental and Behavioural Disorders, chaired the ICD-11 working group on Psychotic Disorders, and is a member of the WHO FIC Medical Scientific Advisory Committee for ICD-11. Prof. Gaebel is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. In 2020 he received as lifetime award the Wilhelm-Griesinger Medal of the DGPPN.

Silvana Galderisi is Professor of Psychiatry, Director of the Emergency Unit, Coordinator of the Outpatient Unit for Anxiety and Psychotic Disorders and the rehabilitation programme for severe mental disorders at the Department of Mental Health, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli. She is President Elect of the Italian Society for Psychopathology, Past President of the European Psychiatric Association, Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Ethics of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), and Co-chair of the WPA working group ‘Implementing Alternatives to Coercion in Mental Health Care’. She is a founding member of the board of directors of the European Group for Research in Schizophrenia, board member of the European Scientific Association on Schizophrenia and other Psychoses and of the Italian Society of Biological Psychiatry. She is an International Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and International Advisor of the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology. Her research focusses on schizophrenia pathophysiology, treatment and outcomes, with particular reference to the domains of negative symptoms and cognition and their impact on psychosocial outcomes. She is an author and co-author of more than 250 publications, and a member of the editorial boards of several international psychiatric journals and Editor-in-Chief of Schizophrenia Bulletin Open. She is President Elect of the Italian Society for Psychopathology (SOPSI), Past President of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA), Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Ethics of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), and Co-chair of the WPA Working Group “Implementing alternatives to coercion in Mental Health Care”. She is founding member and member of the Board of Directors of the European Group for Research in Schizophrenia (EGRIS), board member of the European Scientific Association on Schizophrenia and other Psychoses (ESAS), member of the Strategic Plan Task Force of the Schizophrenia International Society (SIRS), board member of the Italian Society of Biological Psychiatry. She is Honorary Fellow of the World Psychiatric Association-WPA, Honorary Member of the Polish Psychiatric Association and of the Hungarian Psychiatric Association (HPA), International Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association-APA, International Advisor of the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology (JSPN), and Honorary Fellow of the European Society of Social Psychiatry (ESSP). Her research activity focuses on Schizophrenia pathophysiology, treatment and outcome, with particular reference to the domains of negative symptoms and cognition and their impact on psychosocial outcome. She is author/coauthor of more than 250 publications, in national and international journals and books, member of the Editorial Boards of several international psychiatric journals, Editor in Chief of Schizophrenia Bulletin Open.