Professor Werner Hacke was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurology in Heidelberg from 1987 until 2014 and is nowthe first Senior Professor in Medicine at the Ruprecht Karl´s University Heidelberg, Germany. He graduated in Medicine at the medical school oft he Aachen Technical University (RWTH) and also holds a Masters degree in Psychology. Prof Hacke had a leading role in the development of Neurological Critical Care, acute stroke management and Stroke Unit care, intra-arterial and intravenous thrombolytic therapy and has pioneered hypothermia and decompressive surgery for malignant MCA-infarction. Prof Hacke was the recipient of the Yamanouchi Europe research Award, the first non-US recipient of the „Feinberg Award for excellence in stroke research“, given by the American Stroke Association (1998), and the first recipient of the Karolinska Stroke Award, Stockholm, Sweden in 2004, the WSO Presidents Award in 2008, the Mihara Award (Japan) and the Jarecki Award (USA) both in 2009. In 2013 he was awarded the Wepfer Award by the European stroke conference. In 2018 he received the ESO science award and in 2020 the WSO Leadership in Stroke Award. He was President of the German Neurological Society 2000-2002 and the President of the German Intensive Care Society 2002-2004. He was the founding President of the European Stroke Organization (ESO) and is now its Honorary President. He is Honorary Member of the German Neurological Society, the German Stroke Society, both the German Society of Neurosurgery and the German Society of Neuroradiology, a Honorary Fellow of American Neurological Association (ANA), and a Honorary President of Neurocritical Care Society (NCS). Dr. Hacke is a Member of the Heidelberg Academy of SciencesHe holds honorary doctor degrees given by the State University of Georgia (Tblisi, Georgia) and the University of Debrecen, Hungary. Dr. Hacke was and is involved with many clinical studies, both industry-supported and investigator driven. Recently he lead studies such as ECASS I-IV, AbESTT I and II, DIAS I and II, CHARISMA, DESTINY and DESTINY II, SPACE I and II, ROCKET AF, and others as chair or co-chair of the steering committees. Werner Hacke has published more than 500 articles listed in pubmed. His h-index is 1343 (google-scholar citations). With almost 120,000 citations (July 2029) he is one of the most frequently cited Clinical Neurologist worldwide. He was a "highly cited researcher" by Thomson Reuter for several years) including 2018-2020.

Alison is Professor of Vascular Surgery at Oxford University, Past President of the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS) and Chair-Elect of the ESC Stroke Council She is Principal Investigator of the world’s largest International Randomised Trials in Carotid Surgery, influencing National and International Stroke Guidelines and contributing to stroke prevention worldwide. Over 6000 patients have been randomised in ACST-1 (comparing endarterectomy with medical treatment alone) and ACST-2 (comparing surgery and stenting) and the results of ACST-2 will be published in the Lancet in August 2021 • Author of over 150 peer-reviewed publications in journals including the Lancet, Lancet Neurology, British Medical Journal, Circulation • Author contributing to 2021 ESO Carotid Guidelines, the 2019 European Society for Cardiology Guidelines on Dyslipidaemia, and the 2017 ESVS Guidelines for Extracranial Vascular Disease Alison is a strong advocate for European multidisciplinary Collaboration and for Equality and Diversity in Vascular Surgery and Stroke

A leading expert on brain injury, Daniel F. Hanley has been a professor of neurology, neurosurgery, and anesthesiology/critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine since 1996. In 1999, he founded the Division of Brain Injury Outcomes and became the Jeffrey and Harriet Legum Chair of Acute Care Neurology. Dr. Hanley is a graduate of Williams College and Cornell University Medical College and has board certification in internal medicine, neurology, and psychiatry. His 35 years in medicine have centered on the areas of clinical trial design, organization, and interpretation of drug and device trials, development of strategic research plans, and FDA regulatory compliance. He was the principal investigator for the NIH-sponsored MISTIE III and CLEAR III trials investigating minimally invasive neurosurgical techniques to treat hemorrhagic stroke. As the principal investigator for the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Johns Hopkins-Tufts Trial Innovation Center, Dr. Hanley leads collaborative efforts to advance education and therapeutics via well-designed and innovative CTSA clinical trials.

Dr. Hannawi is the medical director of the neurosciences critical care unit and the interim director of the division of cerebrovascular diseases and Neurocritical care at The Ohio State University. Dr. Hannawi research involves understanding the mechanisms and radiographic phenotypes of cerebral small vessel disease.

Kate Hayward is a Senior Research Fellow in Stroke Recovery and leads the REPAIR research group. Her research seeks to understand the brain-behaviour nexus during rehabilitation after stroke using early phase clinical trial designs.

Dr. Hill is professor of neurology at the University of Calgary and a clinician-scientist working on improving stroke care for patients everywhere. His main focus is on acute ischemic stroke randomized clinical trials.