Jordi Blanch, MD PhD, is Consultant in Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry of the Clinical Institute of Neurosciences in Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, Associate Professor of Psychiatry of the University of Barcelona, and Chief Operating Officer of the Program for Mental Health and Addictions of Catalonia.

He has been Chief of the Inpatient Psychiatry Clinic in Hospital Clínic of Barcelona; Medical Coordinator in Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu; Chair for Educational Affairs of the Clinical Institute of Neurosciences in Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and president of the Catalan Society of Psychiatry

For more than twenty years he has conducted clinical, research and educational work in HIV Psychiatry. His areas of expertise in HIV Mental Health include depression, psychopharmacology, drug interactions, and psychotherapy in HIV.

He has also been done clinical work in psychiatric and psychological disorders in severely ill medical patients (oncology, bone marrow transplantation, solid organ transplantation, and others), as well as in personality disorders and anxiety disorders.

Michael Sharpe is Professor of Psychological Medicine at the University of Oxford and a consultant psychiatrist to Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. His research and clinical work focusses on how best to integrate psychiatric and medical care, especially in cancer services.
Professor Sharpe was the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists “Psychiatric Academic of the Year” in 2009 and the ‘Psychiatrist of the year’ in 2014. He was given the Don R Lipsett award for achievement in integrated care by the American Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine (APM) in 2015 and the Alison Creed award by the European Association of Psychosomatic Medicine (EAPM) in 2016.

Please find here Prof. Bernd Löwe’s CV

Angelika Weigel, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany, where she obtained her PhD in Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy. Angelika’s research focusses on improving early treatment for eating disorders, and on approaches to improve the understanding, early treatment and management of persistent somatic symptoms, somatic symptom and related disorders.

Meike Shedden Mora is Professor for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Medical School Hamburg and senior researcher at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. Her research focusses on the management of persistent somatic symptoms and somatic symptom disorders, as well as on interventions employing placebo mechanisms to improve medical treatments.

Judith Rosmalen is Professor of Psychosomatic Medicine at the University of Groningen. She studied medical biology (University of Utrecht 1995) and psychology (University of Leiden 1998, cum laude), and obtained her PhD on interactions between immune and endocrine system (Erasmus University Rotterdam 2000). Her multidisciplinary research focusses on the etiology and treatment of persistent physical symptoms. She is the chair of the Dutch national network on medically unexplained symptoms. Details on her publications and activities can be found at www.rug.nl/staff/j.g.m.rosmalen

Brief biography, Professor Per Fink, MD, PhD, DMSc – Per Fink graduated in medicine from Aarhus University of Aarhus, Denmark, in 1983. After his basic clinical education in surgery, internal medicine and neurology, he trained in psychiatry and became a specialist in psychiatry, and has worked in different branches of psychiatry. He has an authorization in dynamic psychotherapy and cognitive psychotherapy and basic training in group therapy and ACT therapy.  In 1993, he became a PhD based on the dissertation ‘Psychiatric and somatic comorbidity’. In 1996, he became an authorized psychiatrist and in 1997 a Doctor of Medical Science based on a doctoral dissertation entitled ‘Persistent Somatization’. In 2000, he became an Associate Professor and in 2010 an ordinary Professor of Functional disorders. He is an associated editor of the Psychosomatic Medicine and Journal of Psychosomatic Research. In 1999, Per Fink started The Research Clinic for Functional Disorders at Aarhus University Hospital; a clinic with an interdisciplinary approach to functional disorders. The department is first and foremost a research clinic focusing on research in functional disorders as well as on developing new treatment programmes for patients with functional disorders. A primary focus during the years has been primary care. In close cooperation with the Research Unit for General Practice at the Aarhus University, a treatment programme for GPs has been developed. The purpose of the programme is to teach GPs how to handle patients with functional disorders in general practice. This programme is now also a compulsory part of the specialist training for GPs in the Western part of Denmark.
Another area of special focus is classification, and he has developed research criteria for both Bodily Distress Syndrome and Health Anxiety. The Research Clinic for Functional Disorders and Psychosomatics currently has 40 employees of which about half are working clinically, the other half with research. The clinic treats patients with functional disorders, including functional somatic syndromes and health anxiety and receives patients from all over Denmark. Per Fink has vast experience with teaching at all levels as well as an extensive publication list primarily with focus on somatisation or functional disorders.

Adriana Baban is Professor of Health Psychology and Behavioural Medicine at Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She has extensive experience in applied research in the field of social and behavioural dimensions of health in Central and Eastern Europe. A consistent focus of her work is addressing women’s reproductive health, vaccine hesitancy, adverse childhood experiences and how abuse is related to risk factors for health. Prof. Baban has been an International Consultant for UNICEF, Doctor of the World, WHO, European Centre for Disease Control, and visiting professor at department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA. She has published more than 100 papers, books and chapters. She was awarded with the title of Fellow of European Society of Health Psychology for outstadning contributions to the development of Health Psychology in Europe.

Prof. Wolfgang Söllner

Born Mai 25, 1952 in Graz, Austria

1973 – 1980 Medical education at Innsbruck University, Austria;

1980 – 1983 Training in Family Medicine at the University Hospital Innsbruck, Austria

1983 – 1984 Post-doc at the Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatic Medicine at the University of Heidelberg, Germany

1984 – 1992 Residency in Psychiatry and Neurology at the University Hospital Innsbruck, Austria

1984 – 1999 Training in Psychoanalysis, client-centred psychotherapy, and psychodynamic marital and family therapy; 1995 European Certificate of Psychotherapy

1992–2002 Head of the psychosomatic consultation-liaison service at the University Hospital Innsbruck

1994-1995 Temporary head of the Dept. of Medical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Innsbruck

1998 Postdoctoral thesis in Psychosomatic Medicine, Psychotherapy and Medical Psychology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Innsbruck: „Psychosocial distress, coping with illness, and psychotherapeutic support in melanoma patients“

• Associate Professor at the University of Innsbruck, Austria

2002 Head of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the General Hospital Nuremberg

2006 Professor at the University of Innsbruck, Austria

2010 President of the European Association of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatics (EACLPP)

2011 Fellow of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine (APM)

2012 President of the European Association of Psychosomatic Medicine (EAPM)

2014 Full Professor of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at Paracelsus Medical University Nuremberg, Germany

2015 Vice-Chancellor of the Paracelsus Medical University Nuremberg, Germany

2016 Oken Fellow of the American Psychosomatic Society (APS)

Dr. Cosci got her medical degree at the University of Florence in Italy and her PhD at the University of Maastricht, The Netherlands. She is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Florence. Her main research interests are in mood and anxiety disorders, tobacco dependence, assessment, and novel psychotherapeutic approaches such as well-being therapy.

Prof. Christoph Pieh
Medical training
Graduation in medicine at the University Vienna, Austria
Specialist in Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy
Specialist in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
Research Fellowship
3-year fellowship in Psychosomatic Medicine (Carus Stiftung)
2-year fellowship of the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS)
Habilitation
Habilitation in Psychosomatic Medicine at the University Hospital Regensburg, Germany
Current Position
Professor in Psychosomatic Medicine and Head of the Department of Psychotherapy and Biopsychosocial Health at the Danube-University Krems, Austria
Curriculum Vitae
Christoph Pieh, MD graduated in medicine at the University of Vienna in Austria. He completed his residency in Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy (Head: Prof. Dr. Loew) as well as in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (Head: Prof. Dr. Rupprecht) at the University Hospital Regensburg in Germany. After two research fellowships in psychosomatic medicine as well as in sleep medicine he finished his habilitation in psychosomatic medicine at the University Regensburg. In 2016 he accepted the chair in psychosomatic medicine and became head of the Department of Psychotherapy and Biopsychosocial Health at the Danube-University Krems in Austria. He is vice president of the Austrian Society of Psychosomatics and psychotherapeutic Medicine and president-elect of the EAPM conference 2020 in Vienna.