Event Slides

Annika Linder graduated as a physiotherapist in 1991. After her master’s degree she became a specialist in neurology in 2005.

Annika has worked in the same hospital region (NU-sjukvården) on the Swedish West Coast) for 32 years, divided between three clinical posts alongside with administrative work as deputy chief for the physiotherapy department. In that time, she spent seven years in a Neurology department, the following 22 at a stroke unit and her recent position is at a Neurorehabilitation unit with younger stroke patients, TBI and Spinal cord injuries.

Since 2007, she has been at teacher at Gothenburg University for physiotherapy students when learning about stroke.

Helena Selander is an Associate Professor in Rehabilitation Medicine at Gothenburg University, Sweden. She works as a Senior researcher at The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) with focus on fitness to drive, mobility and driver education. She has worked with driving assessments for several years and trained many occupational therapists in the field.

Ingrid Bolin has been working as manager and occupational therapist at Mobilitetscenter in Gothenburg since 2004. Mobilitetscenter is a practice of assessment of medical fitness to drive and/or need for adaptations in vehicles for peopele with physical disabilities.

Ingrids earlier experience as an OT has mainly been in the clinical fields of spinal cord injury rehabilitation and habilitation of children with disabilities.

Jim Currie had his first stroke in August 2006, aged 52. He set up the London South-East group of the charity Different Strokes and a new group in Whitstable, Kent (in 2008 and 2022, respectively) that support young stroke survivors to rebuild their lives.

Following his stroke, Jim returned to university and gained a Masters in Therapeutic Counselling, which he uses to support those who have experienced life-changing and challenging situations.

Jim had a relatively good recovery post stroke and promotes and campaigns for high-quality care for stroke survivors, giving presentations, working with clinicians, healthcare workers, survivors and carers. He has been on a number of committees relating to stroke, including the UK Stroke Forum.

Dr Nicola Hancock is a Lecturer/Researcher in Neurorehabilitation and Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation at the University of East Anglia (UEA), UK. She has experience of leadership, research and innovation across the stroke pathway, both as a past team leader in stroke in the UK NHS and as an academic physiotherapist.

Nicola’s research interests include investigating interventions to enhance movement recovery after stroke; quality improvement via person-centred approaches to neurological rehabilitation; and user-centred design and evaluation for technology-enhanced rehabilitation. Nicola is lead for the AbiliTec research group at UEA, a collaboration seeking to support co-design and evaluation of innovative technologies for rehabilitation.

Marie Elf is a professor of nursing at Dalarna University, Sweden. She trained as a nurse and has a PhD in Architecture. Marie has worked in several interdisciplinary academic settings, such as nursing, architecture and health service research, focusing on architecture and its impact on patient health and wellbeing.

Marie is leading several projects focusing on care and rehabilitation at home for people with long-term conditions and frail health. The research includes person-centered care, participation and support for self-management – always with questions about how the environment looks and is experienced. Does it promote or hinder?

Marina Charalambous qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist from the City University of London. In 2009, she established the Cyprus Stroke Association, a Stroke Support Organisation. She is the Secretary of the Stroke Alliance for Europe and a Future Stroke Leader of the World Stroke Organization.

Marina works as a clinical lecturer at the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology. She is a PhD researcher at the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology at the University of Fribourg, under the supervision of Professor Jean-Marie Annoni MD, investigating Patient and Public Involvement in Stroke and Aphasia Research.

Dr Markus Wagner is the group leader, healthcare research for the German Stroke Foundation, where he has worked since 1999. As biologist, he has a doctorate in human physiology and a master’s degree in public health.

He is responsible for the cooperation with scientific stakeholders with the focus on patient-related healthcare research. He is member of national stroke guideline com-mittees and participated in scientific stroke projects funded by the EU-Commission. From 2008 to 2013, he was President of the Stroke Alliance for Europe and SAFE´s Vice President from 2016 to 2019.

Dr Diane Trusson is a Research Fellow on the RETurn to work After stroKE (RETAKE) trial (from October 2021 to present day), contributing to the process evaluation. Diane is a medical sociologist, experienced in conducting qualitative research. Her PhD explored women’s experiences during and after early breast cancer treatment, including returning to work.

Diane is keen to enable marginalised voices to be heard. She is currently seeking funding to explore experiences focussing on the (vocational) rehabilitation needs of female stroke survivors and people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds who are currently underrepresented in stroke and vocational research.

Rubina Ahmed is Associate Director for Systems Engagement at the Stroke Association, a stroke support organisation, where she is responsible for research funding, policy, public affairs and campaigns, as well as work on health inequalities, prevention and international. She is currently Interim Executive Director for Locality Impact where she oversees its work in service delivery for stroke survivors and community-based volunteering and engagement. Rubina is also a member of the SAFE Board.

Rubina holds a PhD in Immunology and an MSc in Management. She has worked in both public and not for profit sectors, working across a number of areas from fundamental and translational research through to clinical trials regulation and delivery.

Diana Wong Ramos was 34 years old and working as a journalist-editor for a magazine when she had a Cerebral Venous Thrombosis stroke. Her life changed and she had to adapt to her new circumstances. Thanks to exhaustive work with a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team Diana began to regain some mobility and independence.

She has a special interest in patient advocacy and patient engagement and was involved in the creation of the first Portuguese association of stroke survivors www.portugalavc.pt and participated in the redesign of the Stroke Action Plan for Europe 2018-2030.

Dr Hayley Wright is Assistant Professor in the Centre for Intelligent Healthcare at Coventry University, UK.

Hayley is leading a two-year project called HOPE4ABI, funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). HOPE4ABI is a co-designed digital self-management programme to support mental and sexual wellbeing after any type of brain injury. The HOPE4ABI programme will be tested in a feasibility randomised controlled trial (RCT) later this year.

Aimee Walker-Clarke is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Intelligent Healthcare at Coventry University, UK. She is in the final stages of completing her PhD at the University of Warwick, UK.

Aimee has led the HOPE4ABI (digital peer-supported and peer-led self-management of mental and sexual wellbeing for people with acquired brain injury) co-designed workshops, supporting the patient and public involvement group to develop a bespoke, accessible, appropriate programme. Aimee will present findings from the co-design and intervention development aspects of the HOPE4ABI project.

Birgitte Hysse Forchhammer has worked in clinical neuropsychology and brain research for over 30 years. From 2019 she has been the CEO of the Danish Stroke Association.

Her main topics of interest are the treatment and rehabilitation of people with neurological disorders including: epilepsy, dementia, brain tumours, brain trauma, stroke and patient’s participation in research.

In 2010 she was head of the Danish MTV (Medical Technology Assessment) on neuro-rehabilitation and she participated in the preparation of national guidelines for stroke care and rehabilitation.

She has published a number of academic articles and stroke and rehabilitation articles for the wider public.

Yago Bundgaard has a master’s degree in philosophy and social studies, and a master’s degree in public management.

Yago is married to Marianne, who is a midwife, and they have three children. He worked as a principal at a high school when, in 2019, he had a stroke and became aphasic.

Today, Yago works voluntarily in the Danish Aphasia Group to create national awareness of aphasia and to support better conditions for people affected by aphasia. The Danish Aphasia Group works closely with the Danish Stroke Association.

Dr Sarah Moore is a physiotherapist with a specialist research interest in physical activity. For her PhD she studied the impact of exercise on metabolism, activity and quality of life after stroke. Following this work, she set up exercise classes for stroke survivors in the North East of England with the Newcastle Community Stroke team and Newcastle City Council. She then went on to design and test an intervention targeting daily physical activity routines after stroke (PARAS).

In Sarah’s current role as Assistant Professor at Northumbria University, she teaches undergraduate and masters physiotherapy students alongside continuing her research in physical activity and rehabilitation after stroke.

Mari Gunnes is a physiotherapist and research scientist at the Department of Health Research at SINTEF in Norway.

She gained clinical experience in primary and secondary healthcare services and a PhD in Clinical Medicine from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

Mari has been involved in several clinical trials with her research mainly focusing on rehabilitation after stroke, focussing on secondary prevention in terms of adherence to physical activity and exercise following stroke in preventing functional decline. Her research and educational interests include healthcare systems and technologies to improve health and quality of life in the population.