Igor J. Koralnik
Igor Koralnik, MD is an American physician, neurologist and scientist. He is on the Board of Directors for the International Society for NeuroVirology and is one of the first to study and is an internationally recognized expert for the management of neurological complications caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. He is also a leading researcher in the investigation of the JC virus, which causes progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). Recently he has distinguished himself in becoming a leading researcher in NeuroCOVID, also appearing as a fill-in anchor for WGN-TV in Chicago offering insight on COVID-19, leveraging his expertise from the AIDS epidemic.
Koralnik was born in Geneva, Switzerland and received his medical degree at the University of Geneva Medical School, Switzerland, in 1987. He moved to the United States in 1990 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. In July 2016, he moved to Chicago to become chairperson of the Department of Neurological Sciences and the Jean Schweppe Armour professor of Neurology and Medicine at Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) where he created and heads the Section of Neuro-infectious Diseases.
Koralnik serves as the Chief of the Division of Neuroinfectious Diseases and Global Neurology at Northwestern University and the Neuroinfectious Diseases Program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
In addition, Dr. Koralnik developed and directs the Neuroimmunology Fellowship Program at Rush University, in which fellows rotate in both the multiple sclerosis and neuro-HIV clinics and learn to care for patients over the entire immunologic spectrum.
Dr. Koralnik has been active in expanding global health, which involves striving to achieve equity in the health of all people in the world. He created a global neurology research program in Lusaka, Zambia, where he and his colleagues and fellows have studied central nervous system opportunistic infections and new onset seizures in HIV-infected patients.
Lucette Cysique
Dr. Lucette Cysique is a neuropsychologist, who has led a research program in NeuroHIV, neuropsychology and neuroimaging at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia since 2009. She conducts cross-disciplinary research into the neurocognitive and brain changes associated with HIV and aging, HIV and cardiovascular diseases, and HIV and mental health. She has extensive experience in cross-cultural neuropsychology as applied to HIV infection and contributes to the development of normative neuropsychological data for cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Dr. Cysique is currently employed as a Senior Lecturer at UNSW Psychology via a visiting scholar support from Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital (University of Toronto affiliated Institute, Ontario, Canada) and support from the Sydney St. Vincent’s Hospital Applied Medical Research Centre in the Applied Neuroscience Unit, as well as support from the Melbourne Alfred Hospital Burnett Institute. She is also an Academic Consultant at the Missouri Institute of Mental Health (University of Missouri Saint Louis, MO, USA). She is co-chair of the NeuroCOVIS-19 INS SIG, and she is currently involved in several studies in Sydney Australia, which aims are to assess the potential neurocognitive, perceptual (smell and tates) and mental health complications of COVID-19.
Emilia Łojek
Emilia Łojek, Ph.D., a Full Professor at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw (UW), Poland. She completed M.A., Ph.D. and further scientific degrees in psychology and neuropsychology at the UW. As a Fellow of the British Council, the Ginsberg’s, the EU TEMPUS and the Kosciuszko Foundations she also extended her studies in neuropsychology at University of Cambridge, UK, National Hospital’s College of Speech Sciences London, UK and Ohio State University, USA. She has served as Director of Warsaw International Studies in Psychology at UW and has a record of leadership in the Commissions of the Polish Neuropsychological Society and the Polish Academy of Sciences. She was honoured to be the INS Board of Governors Member (2014-2017), Chair of INS Social Media Committee (currently) and co-chair of the INS NeuroCovid SIG.
She has published 12 books, over 100 research articles and chapters on a wild range of topics ranging from communication disorders in brain damaged patients, neuropsychological changes in neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases to the stability of neurocognitive patterns in HIV infection. She has been involved in the Neuropsychology Research Program: HIV Drug and Alcohol Studies at the OSU. Recently she conducted the international research program on the effect of aging on cognitive and chemosensory functions in HIV infected individuals. As an author or co-author she has adapted and standardized in Polish Neuropsychological tests (H-RNTB, RHLB, RFFT, CVLT, CTT, CTT-C, BDI-II_PL) and was the main author of the Depression Questionnaire (KPD) and the RHLB-PL for Children. She was a guest co-editor of the Clinical Neuropsychologist Special Issue (2019): Are modern neuropsychological assessment methods really “modern? She is currently co-charing the INS NeuroCovid-19 SIG. She has received national awards for her scientific achievements (Copernicus Price 2011, 2017) and the INS Paul Satz Mentoring Award (2018).