Team

Dominik Straumann is a physician and researcher at the Department of Neurology of the University Hospital Zürich. His research focuses on the pathophysiology of eye movements and the balance system. He became an associated professor (Habilitation/venia legendi) at the University of Zürich in 2003 and was appointed Extraordinary Professor of Neurology there in 2013. Since 2004, he has been the Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Vertigo and Neurological Visual Disorders at the University Hospital Zürich, which he co-founded. He is a member of various national and international societies and journal editorial boards in the fields of neurology and neurosciences. He is currently the co-chair of the Scientific Panel for Neuro-Ophthalmology and Neuro-Otology of the European Academy of Neurology.

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Jiří Dvořák, a Professor at the University of Zurich, Senior Consultant in Neurology at the Schulthess Clinic in Zurich. He is a Senior Editor of the British Journal of Sports Medicine and Deputy Editor of SPINE, is widely published with 425 original articles and 48 books in different languages. His current research activities are focused on the prevention of injuries and their consequences as well as on head and neck injuries. From 1994 to 2016 he was the Chief Medical Officer of FIFA and Chairman of the FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC). He currently sits on the IOC Medical and Science Committee and is a member of the WADA Health, Medicine and Science Committee. Prof Dvořák was also appointed as Senior Advisor to co-chair the NCYSS (National Council of Youth Sports Safety).

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Konrad P. Weber studied medicine in Zürich from 1992 to 1998, and completed his MD in 2003, working with Prof. D. Straumann at the Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zürich. From 2006 to 2008, he worked as a Research Fellow with Prof. M. Halmagyi and Prof. I. Curthoys in Sydney, where he substantially contributed to development of the video head impulse test. He completed his training as a neurologist in 2009 at the Department of Neurology in Zürich and was awarded Certificates of Qualification in EMG, EEG, and sleep medicine. Since then, he has been spending 50% of his time working as a consultant at the Department of Neurology and 50% at the Eye Clinic, USZ, in the Interdisciplinary Centre for Vertigo and Neurological Visual Disorders. In 2014, he was awarded the venia legendi (similar to associated professorship) by the University of Zürich for his work in the specialist fields of neuro-ophthalmology and neuro-otology.

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Mario Bizzini is sport physiotherapist and works since more than 25 years in the Schulthess Clinic. Since 2002 he is a research associate for the Human Performance Laboratory and since 08/2015 at the Swiss Concussion Center. Mario Bizzini was involved with the FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC) between 2002 and 2016. He was responsible for the medical care of the football referees at three FIFA World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014), two FIFA Women’s World Cups (2007, 2015) and three Olympic Games (2008, 2012, 2016). His research interests focus on rehabilitation and prevention of sports injuries. He has published more than 60 papers, and since 08/2016 he is Deputy Editor of the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Mario Bizzini is also a committee member of the Swiss and of the International Federation of Sports Physiotherapy, and a rehabilitation consultant for professional ice hockey and football teams.

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Astrid Junge has a PhD in psychology, is a licenced psychotherapist and has received the Venia Legendi in social and preventative medicine. She was appointed Professor for Prevention and Sport at the Medical School Hamburg in December 2013, where she leads the Research Area “Prevention, Health Promotion und Sport”. For 20 years, she was the Scientific Director of the FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC) and was instrumental in developing F-MARC into an internationally recognised research organization. Prior to this, she worked in the Departments of Psychosomatics and Medical Psychology/Sociology at the Universities of Hamburg and Marburg and conducted studies on quality management in two clinics. Astrid Junge has led numerous interdisciplinary studies in the field of sports medicine and has published over 120 scientific papers.

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Adrian Häne studied human medicine at the University of Zurich with an internship in South Africa, and he did his doctorate at the Neurological Clinic of the University Hospital Zurich in the field of epileptology. After continuing his education in internal medicine, he specialised in neurology at the cantonal hospital of Aarau and at the Inselspital in Bern (specialist medical title of FMH in 2012), where he worked on clinical scientific projects and obtained certificates of competence in electroneuromyography (ENMG), electroencephalography (EEG), cerebrovascular diseases as well as pain therapy from SGSS / SSED. He worked as a senior physician in neurology at the Inselspital in Bern with an emphasis on neuro-ophthalmology, and continued his education at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Since autumn 2014, he has been a neurologist at the Centre for Neurology in Oberaargau. He is a member of several national and international specialist associations for neurology. His special interest is in neuro-ophthalmology. Since November 2016, he has been collaborating with the Swiss Concussion Center.

Alexander A. Tarnutzer received his medical degree 2003 from the University of Basel and his doctoral degree in 2004. He then started working as a research fellow and resident at the interdisciplinary center for vertigo and balance disorders, University Hospital Zurich. From 2009 to 2010 he was research fellow at the vestibular/eye movement testing laboratory (Prof. D. Zee) in Baltimore. In 2012 became a specialist in neurology, was awarded Certificates of Qualification in EMG, and started to work as a senior physician at the Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich. His major research interests are peripheral and central vestibular disorders and cerebellar diseases as well as the effects of head trauma on function and structure of the brain. For his work on perception of gravity he received 2014 the Venia Legendi from the University of Zurich.

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Christopher J. Bockisch was awarded his PhD in psychology by the University of Pennsylvania in 1996. His research focused on the field of visual perception in humans. Christopher Bockisch then received funding for postdoctoral research at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco where he focused his research on the oculomotor system. He then moved to Zürich to the Department of Neurology and dedicated himself to questions relating to the pathophysiology of the balance system. In 2004, Christopher Bockisch was appointed as a Senior lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Vertigo and Neurological Visual Disorders. He was awarded the Venia Legendi for the topic oculomotor neural integrator.

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Giovanni Bertolini is neuroscientist with over 10 years of research experience studying oculomotor and visuo-vestibular responses. He obtained his PhD in biomedical engineering at the University of Pavia, Italy. He moved to the University Hospital of Zurich to perform research on self-motion perception, vestibulo-oculomotor physiology and motion sickness. There he founded the Swiss Space Travel and AiR Sickness (SSTARS) research group, a research effort to study adaptation of human self-motion perception and navigation. He is consultant for vestibular research of the centrifuge team of the Institute of Aerospace Medicine at the German Aerospace Center (Cologne) and of the Swiss Aeromedical Center (Dübendorf) and collaborates with different European research centers in Belgium, the Netherlands and United Kingdom to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to evaluate and target inadequate responses to self- and visual motion.

Elena Buffone is a qualified biologist and has been working as a medical technical assistant for vestibular oculo-motoric in the Interdisciplinary Centre for Vertigo and Neurological Visual Disorders of the University Hospital Zürich since 2000, where she carries out diagnostics, as well as rotating chair positioning.

Fausto Romano received his Bachelor in Biomedical Engineering in 2013 and Master degrees with Honours in Bioengineering applied in Tissue and Cell modeling in 2015, respectively, from University of Pavia (Italy). In 2016, he obtained his Ph.D. in bioengineering and bioinformatics, for studying gaze holding mechanism in humans and zebrafish. Since January, he is employed as a Postdoc researcher at University Hospital of Zurich, where he has joined the Swiss Space Travel and AiR Sickness (SSTARS) research group. He has experience in neuroscience, studying on self-motion perception, vestibulo-oculomotor physiology, and postural control. His current research activity is focused on studying postural control in athletes before after a concussion. His other research topics include the impact of alcohol on self-motion perception and reflexive eye movements for investigating the role of cerebellar impairment in visuo-vestibular integration, and biomedical image processing for monitoring human movements.