Speakers

Prof. Dr. med. Joachim Gerber, 

Chief of Neurology for the Specialized Hospital for Early Neurological Rehabilitation and Subsequent Phases of Neurological Rehabilitation, Medical Director

Which concepts and mechanisms are found in neurorehabilitation? How can evidence-based medicine help to improve the therapeutic approach? And does this work in practice?

Joachim Gerber presents a short overview of the history of neurorehabilitation, therapeutic concepts, and how to include them in clinical work. Born in Hannover 56 years ago, Joachim Gerber studied medicine at the University of Göttingen. There, he earned his doctorate, completed his specialist medical training, and was appointed professor following his successful habilitation.In scientific research, he focused on infectious diseases of the brain and regenerative mechanisms, including neurogenesis.From 2009 to 2011, he served as a senior physician at Aachen University, where his responsibilities included the stroke unit and the intensive care unit.Thereafter, he became chief physician and medical director of the Diana Klinik Bad Bevensen -a facility focused on neurorehabilitation- where he remained for a total of 10 years. Following a move back to acute medicine as chief physician of the Neurology Department at Klinikum Agnes Karll Laatzen (Klinikum Region Hannover), he joined the Waldklinik Jesteburg in 2024 as senior consultant and medical director.

Cathy Stinear

is a Professor at Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland. Her research specialisation is in stroke recovery and rehabilitation. Her current work is using neurophysiology and neuroimaging biomarkers to accurately predict motor outcomes after stroke for individual patients. She has led the development and validation of the PREP2 toolfor predicting upper limb outcomes after stroke. PREP2 is now routine clinical care at several hospitals. She is a co-PI on the VERIFY study, a 30-site NIH-funded project that will validate the PREP2 tool with 600+ patients in the US setting. She is also developing and validating the TWIST tool for predicting walking recovery after stroke.  Professor Stinear co-authored the European Stroke Organisation guideline on motor rehabilitation. In this presentation, she will discuss the development, strengths and limitations of clinical guidelines. Considering guidelines from the perspectives of researchers, policy makers, clinicians and patients helps to contextualise their application in our clinical practices.

Gabriele Eckhardt

is a physiotherapist (PT) holding an MSc in Neurorehabilitation, an MSc in Neuroscience, and a Dr. in Public Health. She serves as Chair of the Research Committee at VeBID and is the Clinical Director of Rehabilitation Centers in Haan, Solingen, and Wuppertal. She is an Advanced Course Instructor and member of IBITA since 2000.