AxDSRER

General Surgery 

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, 3rd university surgical department

AHEPA General University Hospital

Konstantinos Sapalidis is a Greek surgeon and Associate Professor of Surgery at AHEPA University Hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece, affiliated with Aristotle University. He is a 1990 graduate of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Craiova, Romania, where he later contributed to the founding of the Hellenic Romanian Society of Surgery to foster collaboration and cultural exchange between the two countries.  

Career & Education

• Education: Graduated from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Craiova, Romania, in 1990. 

• Current Position: Associate Professor of General Surgery at the AHEPA University Hospital. 
• University Affiliation: Holds an academic position at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. 

Professional Activities 

• Hellenic Romanian Society of Surgery:

Was instrumental in establishing this professional association, which aims to promote cooperation between Greek and Romanian surgeons by sharing knowledge, techniques, and culture.

• Cultural Exchange:

The association he helped found serves as a “spiritual bridge” between Greece and Romania.

Recognition 

• He is an active member of the medical and academic community in Greece and is recognized for his contributions to surgery and international collaboration.

Înapoi / Back

Department of Oral Biochemistry, ACTA, Amsterdam

Dr Zainab Assy is a dentist and assistant professor at the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), where she works in the Department of Oral Biochemistry. Her research focuses on dry mouth diagnostics,  and interventions to relief dry mouth complaints. She has developed the Regional Oral Dryness Inventory (RODI), a tool that helps clinicians to diagnose the cause of oral dryness and helps in providing in patient-tailored recommendations on dry mouth interventions. Her research has resulted in more than 20 articles in PubMed-indexed scientific journals. In October 2022, she won 2nd Prize for the Sjögren Award by the Dutch National Sjögren’s Patients Association. for her research about dry mouth interventions in Sjögren patients.

Înapoi / Back

DDS, PhD, MSc Public Health, MDPH

Visiting professor, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania

Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen, Norway

Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Finland

Dr. Jorma Virtanen is Visiting professor at the Faculty of Dentistry, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania. Professor Jorma Virtanen serves the Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen in Norway, and the Institute of Dentistry, University of Turku in Finland. In 2025, Dr Virtanen acted as a Visiting professor at the College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics, University of Iowa, USA.

His research interests are within several health research areas: health behavior, health promotion, health service research, epidemiology, prevention of diseases, oral health research, and public health. Dr Virtanen has around 250 scientific publications in these fields. He is actively engaged in professional and research education.

Dr Virtanen serves as Editorial board member of several international scientific journals e.g. Acta Odontologica Scandinavica, BMC Oral Health, Caspian Journal of Social Medicine, Frontiers Oral Health, and Journal of Education and Evaluation for Health Professions.

Înapoi / Back

Associate Professor, Division of Dysphagia Rehabilitation

Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan

Dr. Takanori Tsujimura is an Associate Professor at the Division of Dysphagia Rehabilitation, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigatat, Japan. He received his PhD from Nihon University in 2009. He was awarded with the IADR Neuroscience Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Young Investigator Research Award in 2010  and the 31st Dysphagia Research Society Annual Meeting Scientific Oral Presentation Award in 2023.

His clinical activities include dysphgia rehabilitation and dental practice. His educational activities include teaching the evaluation of stomatognathic function, involving mastication, swallowing, phonation and respiration, as well as the clinical knowledge and techniques for diagnosis and treatment of dysphagia. His research activities include clarifying the neural mechanism involving swallowing, coughing and mastication using behavioral, electrophysiological, pharmacological, and immunohistochemical approaches.

Înapoi / Back

Professor

Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences

Niigata University

Professor Miho Terunuma graduated from Kyushu University School of Dentistry in 2000 and completed her PhD in 2004. She then moved to the United States and continued her postdoctoral studies in Prof Stephen Moss Lab at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Department of Neuroscience from 2005- 2009, followed by Tufts University School of Medicine Department of Neuroscience from 2009 – 2013. In 2013, she moved to the United Kingdom and started her own lab at the University of Leicester College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology as a lecturer in Neuroscience. In August 2016, she returned to Japan to take a role as a Professor in the Division of Oral Biochemistry at Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences. She currently serves as a Vice Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry. She is currently a council member of Asian College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Japanese Biochemical Society and an Associate editor of International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology and Neuropsychopharmacology Report.

Her research focuses on the functional modulation of neurotransmitter receptors and how non-neuronal cell metabolism regulates neural function in the brain.

Înapoi / Back

Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Dental Public Health

Maha El Tantawi is Professor of Dental Public Health at the Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt. Maha’s research focuses on global oral health with focus on in Africa and the Middle East, oral health and sustainable development, dental education and use of technology to support oral health. She has published more than 270 papers in high-impact international journals.

She is the secretary of the e-Oral Health Network (e-OHN) and a member of the Behavioral, Epidemiologic & Health Services Research (BEHSR) Group and the Global Oral Health Inequalities Research Network (GOHIRN) of the International Association of Dental Research (IADR). Maha also serves as an expert for WHO in publications and workshops. She has won several national and international research grants and has received the 2025 IADR Women in Science Network award for Distinguished Female Mentor.

She is a co-founder of the Africa Oral Health Network, the AFRONE and a member of the Early Childhood Advocacy Group, the ECCAG and the European Association of Dental Public Health (EADPH). She is on the editorial board of several top journals in the field of Dentistry and Oral Health, including BMC Oral Health, Community Dentistry & Oral Epidemiology, JDR CTR and Community Dental Health.

Înapoi / Back

Associate Professor, Division of Oral Science for Health Promotion

Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan

Dr. Roxana Stegăroiu is an Associate Professor at the Department of Oral Health and Welfare, Division of Oral Science for Health Promotion, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan. She graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania in 1991. As a recipient of the Japanese Goverment (MEXT) Scholarship between 1992-1998, she pursuited her research studies at Niigata University from where she was awarded a PhD in Dentistry in 1998. Subsequently, she became full-time faculty staff at the Faculty of Dentistry, Niigata University. In 2007, she completed the short-term program Lerner Centered Education at USC School of Dentistry (University of Southern California, USA).

Her present educational activities include lectures and practicals in prosthodontics, coordination and facilitating of problem-based learning (PBL) for the dental hygienist students and effective communication with patients in English for the dentistry students. Her research activities include biomechanics applied to prosthodontics mainly focused on 3D finite element analysis of dental implants and bone, toothbrushing support for people with intellectual disability, and outcomes of the PBL curriculum.

She is an active member of several Japanese and international scientific societies for dentistry and acted as a member of the International Activities Advancement Committee of the Japanese Dental Science Federation between 2019-2021. In 1996 and 2022, she made important contributions to signing the bilateral agreements between  the Faculty of Dentistry, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest and Faculty of Dentistry, Niigata University.

Înapoi / Back

School of Dental Medicine at the University at Buffalo, New York, USA

Chair of Oral Biology

Stefan Ruhl is a professor and chair of Oral Biology in the School of Dental Medicine at the University at Buffalo, New York, USA. His research seeks to unravel the roles that saliva and microorganisms play in health, including in adhesion to teeth and surfaces of the mouth, defense against pathogens, and colonization of the oral cavity. Ruhl joined the UB faculty in 2007 from the University of Regensburg, Germany, where he was a Professor of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology and actively participated in clinical and academic student teaching and patient treatment. He obtained his D.D.S. in 1984 and his Ph.D. in Immunology in 1988 from the Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany. Following a residency in private dental practice, he pursued post-doctoral studies at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) in oral microbial ecology.

In 1995, he joined the faculty at the University of Regensburg, where he became a Professor of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology in 2004. In 2007, he joined the Department of Oral Biology at the University of Buffalo, where he now studies the molecular mechanisms of glycan-mediated bacterial adhesion to salivary glycoproteins from an evolutionary perspective. He has been the scientific mentor to more than a dozen D.D.S., Ph.D. students, and postdoctoral fellows. He is a past President of the Salivary Research Group within the International Association for Dental Research (IADR); in 2015 was named IADR Salivary Researcher of the Year, and in 2020 received the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award in Salivary Research, the University at Buffalo Exceptional Scholar Award for Sustained Achievement, and was elected as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

In 2023, he was elected as a Fellow of the International College of Dentists, and in 2024, a Fellow of the AADOCR. His scientific projects have been funded through the NIDCR since 2010. He is a member of several major professional and scientific societies, Editor in Chief of Clinical Oral Investigations, and Associate Editor of JADA Foundational Science. From January 2022 until May 2023, he served as Interim Dean of UB’s School of Dental Medicine.

Înapoi / Back

University of Rochester Medical Center, SUA

School of Medicine and Dentistry

Hans S. Malmström, DDS, is the Professor and Chair of the Department of General Dentistry, director, of the two year Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) Program, and director of Continuing Dental Education at the University of Rochester Eastman Institute for Oral Health.  He received his dental training at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1981 and completed a two-year General Practice Residency Program at the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine in 1984.  Dr. Malmström was appointed program director of the Eastman Institute for Oral Health’s one- and two-year AEGD Program in 1992. 

 Dr. Malmström is also the former Chair of the Department of General Dentistry at Emory University School of Dentistry in Atlanta, Georgia and director of the one and two year General Practice Program and the one and two year Advanced Education in General Dentistry Program.

He has published more than 115 articles in peer reviewed journals and has over 100 abstracts.  He is a member of the International Association of Dental Research, the Academy of Osseo-Integration (AO), the American Association of Dental Research, the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry(AACD), and the American Dental Association. He is the past president of the Academy of Osseo-Integration foundation Board and a member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry University Faculty Relation Committee. Dr. Malmström is the former president of the Postgraduate General Dentistry Section of the American Association for Dental Schools.  He was member of the Post-Doctoral General Dentistry review committee for Commission of Dental Accreditation (CODA) for 5 years and has been a consultant for CODA for the past 25 years. He has performed and are presently involved in clinical research in many areas including clinical trials and outcome research evaluating dental composite materials, dental adhesives, crown and bridge cements, dental implants, mouth rinses and bleaching materials and pain medications. He has been lecturing domestically (in the US) and internationally on many topics in regard to esthetic and implant dentistry. He also maintain a faculty practice within the University of Rochester.

Înapoi / Back

Director

Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics

University of Bern, Switzerland

Christos Katsaros is Professor and Chair at the Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, University of Bern, Switzerland since 2008.

He obtained his dental degree from the University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and received his 4-year orthodontic training under Professor Rolf Berg at the University of Saarland, Germany, where he also completed his doctoral thesis (“Dr. med. dent.”) and his “Habilitation”. Professor Katsaros worked also as a researcher at the Göteborg University, Sweden, where he completed a Ph.D. (“Odont. Dr. /Ph.D.”). From 2000 to 2002 he served as an Associate Professor and from 2002 to 2008 as a Professor of Orthodontics at the Department of Orthodontics and Oral Biology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. In 2023 he was awarded an honorary doctorate (“Dr. h.c.”) by the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” Bucharest.

Professor Katsaros is author or co-author of over 200 publications and has given many lectures internationally. His current research interests include the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms that control face development and wound healing in CLP, the prevention and therapy of gingival recession in orthodontic patients, and the clinical aspects of long-term orthodontic retention. In 2022 he was awarded the Sheldon Friel Memorial Lecture from the European Orthodontic Society (EOS). Professor Katsaros serves as Associate Editor for the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics since 2015 and he is editorial board member or reviewer for several international scientific journals. He is Past President of the EOS and an Active Member of the Angle Society of Europe.

Înapoi / Back