Aimee graduated in 2000 with a first class degree in psychology before completing a MSc in Health Psychology and her PhD in 2005. She became a Chartered Health Psychologist in 2006 and a Registered Practitioner Psychologist in 2010. She is currently an Associate Professor of Health Psychology in the School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham. She is a Registration Assessor for the Health Professionals Council, an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Mental Health. Aimee's research interests predominantly focus on the impact of chronic conditions on the quality of life (QoL) of individual’s and their families living with disease and disorder.

Title: A mixed methods study to explore the perceptions of self-management in children and adolescents and professionals: an ILF research initiative  

Dr Tobias Bertsch, MD, PhD has been a senior consultant at the Foeldi Clinic in Hinterzarten, Germany since 2005, specializing in lymphology and bariatric medicine. He also serves as Secretary General of the German Society of Lymphology.
Dr. Bertsch is one of only two physicians in Germany who consults in an outpatient setting approved by the health insurance commission with patients who have lymphedema and lipedema. Dr. Bertsch and his team consult with approximately 4000 patients per year.
In 2012, Dr. Bertsch earned Specialist Certification of Obesity Professional Education (SCOPE), the only internationally-recognized certification in obesity management for health care professionals.
He lectures extensively throughout Germany but also in other European countries, Canada and the United States.

Title: Lipedema – facts and fiction

Title: Obesity related lymphedema – underestimated and unpopular 

Associate Professor Håkan Brorson, MD, PhD is Senior Consultant plastic surgeon at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden. He received his Medical Degree and PhD at Lund University. Specialist in orthopaedic and plastic surgery. American National Board Exam.

His research is focused on the formation and distribution of adipose tissue in lymphedema using CT, MR Imaging/Spectroscopy and Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry for gross anatomy; microarray and RT-PCR for genetic studies, as well as metabolomics and lipidomics as well as incidence of erysipelas after liposuction, He has trained several teams around the world to treat lymphedema with liposuction, a treatment that he developed over 25 years ago and presented in his thesis in 1998: Liposuction and Controlled Compression Therapy in the Treatment of Arm Lymphedema following Breast Cancer.

Scientific secretary 1998-2005, and President of the Swedish Association of Plastic Surgeons 2008-2010. Executive Committee member of the International Society of Lymphology, the European Society of Lymphology, and the Swedish Lymphology Society. Editor, co-editor, and editorial board member of 10 journals/books and referee to 41 journals.
He was President of the European Society of Lymphology’s Congress 2003 and the 23rd World Congress of the International Society of Lymphology in 2011, both in Malmö, Sweden. President of the International Society of Lymphology 2013-2015.
Member of 12 International Advisory Boards. Special adviser to the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, the Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care, the Danish Cancer Society, and the Swedish Cancer Society.
He has given more than 250 invited keynote lectures, master classes and invited lectures. He has received 21 national and international awards and is author and co-author of over 190 original papers, reviews and proceedings, editor of 2 books, and author of 53 book chapters.

Title: Liposuction in lymphedema patients – a 25 years’ prospective study without recurrence

Dr. Misako Dai, PhD, RN, PHN has been specialized lymphoedema and assistant professor in Kanazawa University, Japan. She has developed vibration care and new assessment methodology by ultrasonography to improve lymphoedema management. Her studies awarded three times from ILF and have been published. She served as a chief of secretariat both 4th and 7th conference of ILF Japan. Then she performed LIMPINT study in Japan with Prof. Junko Sugama.  

Title: Ultrasonography and thermography as new assessment method for
cellulitis with lymphoedema patients

Professor Nele Devoogdt is physical therapist and coordinator of the lymphoedema center of the University Hospitals of Leuven. Besides coordinative tasks and clinical evaluations and treatments of patients with lymphoedema and lipoedema, she is doing scientific research in the domain of lymphology. She is also professor at the department of Rehabilitation Sciences of KU Leuven. She is doing research about clinical evaluation, prevention and treatment of lymphoedema and other cancer-related morbidities. She is co-founder of the Belgian Lymphoedema Framework, which is an organization for patient with lymphoedema (under the International Lymphoedema Framework).

Title: Clinical diagnosis of lymphoedema (lymphofluoroscopy)

Title:The role of manual lymph drainage (MLD) in the prevention and treatment of lymphoedema: the research evidence

Dr Kristiana Gordon is a Consultant in Dermatology & Lymphovascular Medicine. She is Clinical Lead of the Lymphoedema Service at St George’s Hospital, London where her team cares for thousands of patients with lymphoedema and lipoedema from across the UK. She has completed specialist dermatology training and a doctorate in primary lymphoedema, and continues to pursue her research interests within the rapidly developing field of lymphovascular medicine and lipoedema. 

Title: Primary Lymphoedema

Prof Sue Gordon

Qualifications: PhD, BaAppSc(Physio), GDMgt, GCEd,

Current Role: Strategic Professor, Chair of Restorative Care in Ageing, Flinders University, South Australia

Sue brings clinical physiotherapy and academic experience to her research in primary, cancer and lymphatic filariasis related lymphoedema. As a member of the World Health Organisation Collaborative Centre for Lymphatic Filariasis she has led and supervised multi-disciplinary, field research in Myanmar, Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea. She has investigated innovative use of technology for early identification of lymphatic dysfunction, disability prevention and morbidity management. As well she has conducted research regarding the effect of climate on lymphoedema and compression garment use, telehealth coaching to increase access to compression garments in rural and remote Australia and contributed to the Limprints project.

Babak J. Mehrara, MD, is the Chief of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Service and the William G. Cahon Endowed Chair in the Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), with a joint appointment as Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Mehrara is an oncologic reconstructive surgeon with a broad background in both the clinical management and the biology of cancer. He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and serves as the Director of the National Institutes of Health-funded Lymphatic Biology Laboratory at MSK. 

Title: Obesity, inflammation and lymphatic dysfunction

Alex Munnoch has been a consultant plastic surgeon at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, Scotland for the past 14 years. A graduate of Dundee University, he is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He has been providing a surgicl treatment option for lymphoedema patients for 12 years, and has presented his results at numerous national & international conferences. He helped develop the surgical lymphoedema service at Macquarrie University Hospital in Sydney, where he holds the position of honorary professor. He is a former chair of the British Lymphology Society and is currently a member of the executive committee of the International Society of Lymphology. He is a medical adviser to the LSN & Lipoedema UK and is currently Patron of TalkLipoedema.  His areas of interest are breast reconstruction, microsurgery, vascular malformations, lymphoedema and lipoedema.

Title:Quality of life for lymphoedema patients undergoing surgical treatment

Professor Hiromi Sanada received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from St. Luke’s College of Nursing in 1979. In 1987, she completed enterostomal therapist program at Cleveland Clinic St. Luke’s Branch. From 1989 to 1990, she received a training program at University of
Illinoi at Chicago. She received her PhD in medicine from Kanazawa University in 1997. She became a professor of nursing at Kanazawa University in 1998 and moved to the University of Tokyo as a professor in 2003. From 2017, she has been the director of Global Nursing Research Center, The University of Tokyo. She serves as the president of ILF Japan branch.

Title: Oedema as a predictor of pressure ulcer development among inpatients: an analysis using medical big data in a university hospital in Japan

Prof. Dr. Wilfried Schmeller, MD, Hanse-Klinik, D-23564 Luebeck, Germany.
Board certified dermatologist with specialization in phlebology and lymphology.
After 2 years in surgery he worked as a dermatologist in the Department of Dermatology, University of Luebeck from 1980-1998. In 2002 he founded the Hanse-Klinik in Luebeck, a specialized clinic for liposuction in lipoedema. In the last years he published a lot of studies on this topic.

Title: Liposuction in the management of lipoedema

Nicole L. Stout DPT, CLT-LANA, FAPTA

Dr. Nicole L. Stout is a renowned health care researcher, consultant, educator, and advocate.  She is the chief executive officer of 3e Services, an information technology consulting firm where she serves as a medical affairs consultant for biotech and health care wearable firms.  Additionally, she supports the Office of Strategic Research at the National Institutes of Health, Rehabilitation Medicine Department leading the Cancer Rehabilitation Initiative.

Dr. Stout is an internationally recognized expert and leader in cancer rehabilitation and lymphedema. She has given over 200 lectures nationally and internationally, authored and co-authored over 50 peer-review and invited publications, several book chapters, and is the co-author of the book 100 Questions and Answers about Lymphedema. Her research publications have been foundational in developing the Prospective Surveillance Model for breast cancer rehabilitation and supporting national initiatives in cancer rehabilitation.

Dr. Stout is the recipient of numerous research and publication awards. She has received service awards from the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, the Navy Surgeon General, and the Oncology Section of the American Physical Therapy Association and was recently selected as a Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association.

Title: Oncology Rehabilitation and secondary lymphoedema: the prospective surveillance model

Professor Junko Sugama PhD, RN

Professor Sugama is a Professor of Health Science at the University of Kanazawa and the Professor of the Wellness Promotion Science Centre.   Professor Sugama is also the Unit Leader of Advanced Health Care Science Research Unit; the Innovative Integrated Bio-Research Core; and the Institute for Frontier Science Initiative, Kanazawa University.  She is a member of board of directors of the Japanese Society of Pressure Ulcers; Japanese Society for Wound Healing; the Society for Nursing Science and Engineering; International Lymphoedema Framework Japan and the Society of Nursing Practice

Title: Chronic oedema: Prevalence and status in long-term care facilities in Japan

Dorit Tidhar is a physiotherapist who was trained in lymphedema management by Prof. Judith Casley-Smith in 1999 and was certified by her as a teacher in Self Management and Exercise for Lymphedema in 2003. Dorit designed a program of Aqua Lymphatic Therapy to help people who suffer from lymphedema maintain and improve the results of conventional treatment. She is working in Maccabi healthcare services as the national director of lymphatic therapy services and currently a PhD candidate in the school of nursing of Missouri University with Prof Jane Armer as her adviser. 

Titles:
Aqua Lymphatic Therapy in the management of Lymphedema and lipedema
The meaning of success in lymphedema management: a qualitative and a quantitative perspective
Lymphedema in heart failure patients
Lymphedema, a Significant Health Problem in Israel - a community-based study

Harry ( H.G.J.M.)   Voesten MD

Graduation 1976 and vascular staff surgeon at Groningen University Hospital until entering practice 1987 in Nij Smellinghe Hospital Drachten and honorary research position at Dept. of Rehabilitation, Groningen University.
Chairman for 30 years of the Foundation on Collaborative Vascular Surgery Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe.
Pioneered in diabetic foot clinic and first EVAR in Friesland and has carried out over 650 surgical procedures in advanced lymphedema and lipedema. (co)-Authoring over 30 papers on surgery in lymphedema, lipedema and knee disarticulation he was invited speaker in over 80 surgical congresses in and outside Europe.
He is a committee member on Dutch Guidelines for Lymphedema, Guidelines for lipedema and Guidelines for amputation of the lower extremity.

Title: Surgery of advanced lymphoedema