Orhan Aktas received his undergraduate training at the universities of Bochum and Strasbourg. After graduation as MD in 1999, he served a neuroimmunology fellowship at the Charité, Humboldt-University of Berlin, and at the Hadassah Medical School, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He started his career in Neurology at the Charité and was appointed Assistant Professor at the Department of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf in 2008. Since 2013, he is Associate Professor for Molecular Neurology and in charge of the Düsseldorf Multiple Sclerosis Center at the Department of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine University.

Professor Aktas’s clinical and research interests are in the field of basic and clinical neuroimmunology, in particular Multiple Sclerosis (MS) as well as Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum disorders (NMOSD) and further antibody-mediated variants, particularly MOG-IgGassociated disease (MOGAD).

He has authored or co-authored a large series of primary research articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Nature Medicine, Nature Cell Biology, Cell, Neuron, JAMA Neurology, Neurology, Annals of Neurology, Lancet, Lancet Neurology and contributed to review articles and editorials in Trends in Neurosciences, Lancet Neurology, Journal of Neurology, and Annals of Neurology.

He has been involved as a principal investigator in international multicentre therapeutic trials in Multiple Sclerosis as well as NMOSD and has designed investigator-initiated trials in translational neuroimmunology. He is also a member of the International MS Visual System Consortium (IMSVISUAL), member of the International Clinical Consortium of The Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation for NMOSD research, as well as co-founder and co-coordinator of the German Neuromyelitis optica Study Group (NEMOS, www.nemos-net.de).

Among his clinical and experimental research interests are autoimmune diseases of the central nervous system, which include multiple sclerosis and NMOSD.

Prof Nakahara is a fellow and delegate of the Japanese Society of Neurology, fellow and councillor of the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine and is a director of both the Japanese Society of Neuroimmunology and the Japan Multiple Sclerosis Network. Furthermore, he is a member of the central organizing committee of PACTRIMS.

Prof Nakahara is a councillor for the Japanese Society of Neurological Therapeutics, the Japanese Society for Neuroinfectious Diseases and the Japanese Society for Microcirculation and is a member of the Japanese Society of Neuropathology, the Japan Society for Dementia Research, the Japan Stroke Society, and the Japanese Headache Society. ProfNakahara serves on the editorial boards of the journals Neurology and Clinical Neuroscience and Neuroscience Research.

Prof Nakahara is a recognized expert in neuroimmunology, having published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles in the field.

Prof. Kulasekararaj has trained and worked at King's since 2004, undertaking research in molecular pathogenesis of MDS and aplastic anaemia. He specialises in bone marrow failures, myeloid malignancies and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

He also leads the King's PNH Centre, which is one of two NHS England-commissioned highly specialised services for PNH.