Prof. PhD Romain Meeusen

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

Prof. Dr. em. Romain Meeusen (PhD) is the former Vice-Rector of Internationalisation and former head of the Human Physiology Research Group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His research interest is focused on “Exercise and the Brain in Health & Disease” exploring the influence of neurotransmitters on human performance, training, and rehabilitation. Recent work is on Overtraining, Thermoregulation, Neurogenesis, Cognition, Nutrition and the brain in health & disease. He teaches exercise physiology. Romain published 550 articles, abstracts, and book chapters in peer-reviewed national and international journals, 21 books on sport physiotherapy, and gave lectures at more than 1000 national and international conferences (Web of Science (11-2024): 411 papers; H-index: 73; >20.000 citations).

Prof. PhD Romain Meeusen’s speech topic: “Is Exercise Good for the Brain ?”

“Exercise has a powerful influence on the brain. It is now well established that exercise will have a positive effect on brain health. Physical exercise can preserve cognitive function in elderly populations, promote functional recovery after central nervous system (CNS) traumatic injury, and induce neurogenesis in the adult CNS. Physical exercise can preserve cognitive function in elderly populations, and will induce neurogenesis in the Central Nervous System at all ages.”

MD, PhD Bertalan Meskó

Medical Futurist Institute, Hungary

Dr. Bertalan Meskó, PhD, known as The Medical Futurist, is the Director of The Medical Futurist Institute. He specializes in analyzing the impact of science fiction technologies on global medicine and healthcare. As a geek physician with a PhD in genomics, he is also an Amazon Top 100 author and serves as a Private Professor at Semmelweis Medical School in Budapest, Hungary. Dr. Meskó has delivered over 900 keynotes at prestigious institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, and Yale Universities, as well as organizations like the WHO and the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies. His insights on healthcare technology have made him a leading global voice in the field. Featured by major media outlets including CNN, National Geographic, Forbes, TIME magazine, BBC, and the New York Times, Dr. Meskó regularly shares his analyses on medicalfuturist.com. His research focuses on the role of artificial intelligence and digital health technologies in shaping the future of care. He is a member of the “Committee on Future Research” of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Dedicated to pioneering medical future studies as a scientific discipline, Dr. Meskó aims to make future methods widely accessible in healthcare.

Prof. Susan Michie

University College London, United Kingdom

Professor of Health Psychology, Director of the Centre for Behaviour Change at University College London, co-director of Behavioural Research-UK. Professor Michie’s research focuses on human behaviour change in relation to health and the environment: how to understand it theoretically and apply theory and evidence to intervention and policy development, evaluation and implementation. Her research, collaborating with disciplines such as information science, environmental science, computer science and medicine, covers population, organisational and individual-level interventions. Examples include the Human Behaviour-Change Project and APRICOT. She has published >600 journal articles and several books, including The Behaviour Change Wheel: A Guide to Designing Interventions. She is chair of WHO’s Behavioural Insights and Sciences Technical Advisory Group and is part of the Behavioural Science Policy Research Unit advising the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care.

Prof. Susan Michie’s speech topic: “Improving health by applying the science of behaviour to healthcare practices “

“Understanding and changing patterns of behaviour are key to promoting health and well-being, preventing illness and disability and efficient and equitable delivery of services. Delivering high-quality healthcare depends on clinicians behaving in ways that are consistent with evidence-based recommendations. This is not always achieved and interventions to improve clinical practice have generally had modest and variable effects. ”