Please see Professor Sahap Atik’s CV here

Scott Haldeman DC, MD, PhD, FRCP(C), FCCS(C), FAAN holds faculty positions in the Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles and the Southern California University of Health Sciences. He is Past President of the North American Spine Society, the American Back Society, the North American Academy of Manipulative Therapy, and the Orange County Neurological Society. He served on the Executive Council of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine. He is the founder and currently serves as President of World Spine Care, a non-profit organization endorsed by the Decade of the Bone and Joint. He currently chairs the Global Spine Care Initiative to develop evidence-informed, practical, and sustainable, spine health care models for communities around the world. He has been on the editorial boards of eight professional and scientific journals. He has published over 200 articles or book chapters and over 70 scientific abstracts, and has authored or edited 8 text books. He presided over The Bone and Joint Decade 2000 to 2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders. He served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the United States National Center for Complimentary and Integrative Health. In 2016 he received the Bone and Joint Decade Global Alliance Distinguished Service Award.

Ghazala Hameed has served in the field of musculoskeletal health and rehabilitation for over two decades. A major focus of her efforts has been towards promoting access to affordable healthcare for people with musculoskeletal health conditions coming from the low income sector and prevention of disabilities by raising awareness of osteoporosis, arthritis, rickets and other debilitating musculoskeletal health conditions. She has served as the National Action Network Coordinator for the Global Alliance for Musculoskeletal Health of the Bone & Joint Decade since 2010 and was appointed Ambassador in 2014.

She represents Rehabilitation International in Pakistan and is the National Secretary. She is also Senior Vice President of the Pakistan Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled.

Toby King, Executive Director of the U.S. Bone and Joint Initiative (USBJI), has worked for trade and professional associations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom. As Executive Director of the USBJI, which is the U.S. arm of the Global Alliance for Musculoskeletal Health of the Bone and Joint Decade, he has overseen the development of programs designed to lower the burden of musculoskeletal disease and to foster collaboration among the broad spectrum of healthcare professionals concerned with these diseases, as well as researchers, patient advocates, and industry.

A certified association executive, King is a graduate of the IPADE business school. He began his career working in the field of foreign trade and investment, first as a trainee at the British Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, affiliated with the Confederation of British Industry, becoming its General Manager. He went on to become the first General Manager of the British-Florida Chamber of Commerce. He then joined the Montreal Board of Trade, which was followed by many years with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, before joining the USBJI.

Professsor Girish M Mody is a graduate of the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine of the University of Kwa Zulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. He is also a Fellow of the College of Physicians of South Africa since 1980 and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Cape Town in 1987. In 1991 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Royal College of Physicians of London and as an International Fellow of the American College of Rheumatology in 1994. He is the Aaron Beare Family Professor of Rheumatology at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine since 1992. He was elected as a Fellow of the University of Kwa Zulu-Natal in 2002 and is a Senior Professor at the University of Kwa Zulu-Natal since 2006.

He served as President of the South Africa Rheumatism and Arthritis Association from 1990-1992, President of the African League Against Rheumatism from 1999 to 2003 and as a member of the Executive committee of the International League of Associations for Rheumatology from 1995 to 2003. He has been extensively involved in promoting rheumatology education in Africa and has participated in all of the African League of Associations for Rheumatology congresses over the past 20 years.

He currently serves as Associate Editor of Clinical Rheumatology and is a member of the Editorial Board of Best Practice and Research in Clinical Rheumatology. He served on the Editorial Board of Rheumatology from 1990 to 2008. His research interests have included rheumatoid arthritis, sysytemic lupus erythematosus, gout and arthritis associated with infections. His publications have appeared in many of the leading international rheumatology journals, and he has been invited to present at National and International Congresses.

Professor Mody serves as Chairman of the National Action Network of South Africa for the United Nations endorsed Bone and Joint Decade 2000 – 2010 since 2002 and was elected as an Ambassador by the International Steering Committee in 2001. He is also involved in out reach programs for health professionals and the community in Kwa Zulu-Natal, South Africa and Africa.

Mrs. Lillian Mwaniki is the current Executive Secretary for the Association for Arthritis and Rheumatic Diseases of Kenya [AARD]. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) degree from the University of Nairobi and a diploma from the Kenya School of Law. She is also an advocate of the High Court of Kenya with over 30 years of experience in the legal profession. She also holds a diploma in Theology and is the current Secretary for her local church.

She has worked with the Government of Kenya in an advisory capacity in the Ministry of Co-operative Development. She has also worked as a legal adviser and in managerial capacity with Kenyan financial institutions and International banks like Citibank Na. prior to establishment of her private practice where she specializes in conveyancing. As a member of the Kenya Law Society she has served on the Conveyancing committee which links up the legal fraternity with the government on issues relating to land law.

She is one of the founder members of the Kenya Arthritis Organization [AARD] an Association she has served in for eight years and was the draftsman for the Constitution of the Association. She has continued to passionately champion awareness of musculoskeletal diseases campaign in Kenya and was actively involved in obtaining the government of Kenya’s endorsement to the Bone and Joint initiative.

Equipped through the BJD patient advocacy, Lillian has taken the advocacy portfolio in the arthritis organization. She has successfully been part of the process in persuasion of the government to implement the BJD initiative towards the initial commencement of data collection to support research on arthritis in Kenya and establishment of arthritis clinics. One of her aspirations is to see the national health policy of her Country move a higher notch providing the very best particularly in arthritis and all musculoskeletal diseases.

Prof. Omondi Oyoo FACR; FRCP(Edin); FIPH; MMed ;MB Ch B; Cert Trop Med; Clin Rheum; Cert Clin Epid.

Prof. Omondi Oyoo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Medicine and Therapeutics , School of Medicine , University of Nairobi, Head of rheumatology unit at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya and a Honorary Research Fellow in the department of musculoskeletal Biology, University of Liverpool.

Presently pursuing a PhD at Kenyatta University, Prof.Oyoo received his medical degree from the University of Nairobi and completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Nairobi.

He obtained his fellowships and gained experience in rheumatology variously from Tel Aviv University in Israel, University of Cape town in the Republic of south Africa, Tulane University in USA and Louisiana state university in USA . He is particularly proud of having attended The Alliance High School in Kenya that instilled in him the value of serving others and the confidence to know that he could attain a professional career.

Prof. Oyoo has studied international health as a Humphrey fellowship scholar at Tulane University in New Orleans and epidemiology at Aberdeen University in United Kingdom.

Prof.Oyoo is a practicing Rheumatologist in Nairobi and has over 100 publications in peer reviewed journals and is the author of the well regarded book, understanding arthritis. An avid lecturer, his CV lists over 100 presentations to audiences of all types on a wide variety of topics. He has served as the secretary and later President of Kenya Association of Physicians .He is a Past President of African League of associations for rheumatology (AFLAR) , Past chairman and member of the Executive committee of the International League of Associations for Rheumatology(ILAR), Chairman, Kenya society for rheumatology, chairman, association for arthritis and rheumatic diseases of Kenya, Founder and Chairman of Uwezo rheumatology foundation and the WHO bone and joint decade National action network coordinator for Kenya.

In the year 2010, Prof. Oyoo was appointed the bone and joint decade ambassador by the international steering committee , The bone and joint Decade in appreciation of his role in promoting the goals of the bone and joint decade and in recognition of distinguished professional excellence and service to colleagues and people affected by musculoskeletal disorders; and in the same year he was also proclaimed as a great mind of the 21st century by the governing board of the American Biographical institute due to significant accomplishment within , and mastery of Rheumatology.

Jack Skrolsvik has worked both as Chairman and as NAN Coordinator for BJD in Norway. He has participated in the international BJD congresses in Ottawa, Durban, Gold Coast and Washington. He has a genuine will to contribute for the BJD Worldwide in the years to come.

Starting in 2000 Jack Skrolsvik was appointed General Secretary in the Norwegian Rheumatism Association in 2004. His main concern is the patient. Over time Jack Skrolsvik established close relations with the political arena in Norway. In addition he has been involved in the Nordic Rheuma Council and met with many Nordic politicians in this respect – both The Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers. He also has established close relations with the medical society, the Norwegian Medicines Agency, and relevant units such as the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the Directorate for Health Affairs.

His background is as indicated information and communications. He therefore will, in the coordinating committee initiate two main aspects.

1 -Advocate for the users/user perspective.

2 -Streamline and differentiate the BJD message/idea according to different target audiences.

Jack Skrolsvik started his professional career as an assistant Account Manager in the advertising business. He worked in Philips Electronics for more than 14 years as Marketing Manager. He coordinated Nordic activities from Eindhoven in the Netherlands. He involved himself in activities for the Institute of International Research, the Norwegian Marketing Congress and also Norwegian Advertisers Association. This both as speaker and as Organizing Manager. He went back to the advertising side and acted as Senior Account Manager for big Norwegian and international companies such as Orkla (Norwegian), SAS (Scandinavian), Novartis, Mets Tissue (Finnish), Jernia, Norwegian banks, Norsk Hydro/Yara, Procter & Gamble, Bang & Olufsen (Danish) and Mental Health Norway.

Jack Skrolsvik graduated with a Diploma in Information and Marketing from the Norwegian Institute of Marketing and Information – later part of the Business Institute of Norway. He studied International Marketing in The Netherlands run the University of Brussels and studied Action Marketing in Rambouillet and Paris in France.

Josef S. Smolen received his degree from the University of Vienna, Austria, and trained at the Institute of Immunology, University of Vienna, under Carl Steffen, and at the 2nd Department of Medicine under Georg Geyer. He held a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, with Alfred Steinberg and John Decker.

Since 1989 Dr. Smolen serves as Chairman of the 2nd Department of Medicine – Center of Rheumatic Diseases, Hietzing Hospital, Vienna. In 1995, he became Chairman of the Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine III, Medical University of Vienna, where he also chairs the Department of Medicine III since 2007.

Josef Smolen is a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the German Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina) and has served in various positions in national and international societies, such as President of the European League against Rheumatism. He is also a co-editor of rheumatology textbooks and editorial board member of several journals. He is an honorary member of several national rheumatological societies, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and received an honorary doctorate from Lund University.

Josef Smolen’s major research interests concern the pathogenesis as well as outcomes and translational research and novel therapeutic approaches in rheumatic diseases.

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Kimberly Templeton, MD is a professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, USA. She is a past president of the US Bone and Joint Initiative and represents the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons on the USBJI Board. Dr. Templeton has been involved with the development of the various public education projects and Chronic Osteoarthritis Management Initiative of the USBJI. She also sits on the steering committee for the Burden of Musculoskeletal Conditions in the US, a USBJI publication, and authored the recent chapter on sex and gender differences in musculoskeletal conditions. Dr. Templeton is the current president of the American Medical Women’s Association.

Dr Vo Van Thanh was born in Can Tho, South of Viet Nam on 8 June 1949; finished his M.D. degree at Sai Gon Medical School in Sai Gon, South Viet Nam (1974) and Ph.D. degree on at HCMC University of Pharmacy and Medicine, in Sai Gon- HCMC, Viet Nam (1995). He got married with Le Kim Lien- Pharmacist (1973) and have four children. His orthopedic training was supervised by Professor Hoang Tien Bao at Binh Dan and Cho Ray hospitals in Sai Gon- HCMC, Viet Nam (1975- 1980). His spine post- graduate study in France was guided by Professor Claude Argenson at Nice Acropolis Medical Faculty, Nice, France as Resident (1988-1989) and and was nominated as Associate Chief de Clinique in Orthhopedics by Minister of Training and Education of France (1992-1993). He also studied in General Orthopedics with Professor Dominique Poitout in Marseille, France (1989). He was Scoliosis Fellow supported by Dr Yves Cotrel of different Hospitals of Paris, Nice and Arras (1996). He dedicated his whole life for the development of the spinal surgery in Viet Nam since 1981: one of six foundation Surgeons Members of Hopital for Trauma-Othopedics

in HCMC, VN; Head of Spinal Surgery Department A, Hospital for Trauma-Orthopedics, HCMC, Viet Nam (1994- 2009); as Chairman- has organized 22 International Spine Meetings in HCMC, VN (1996- 2009) including 7 Spine Symposiums and 15 Annual Spine Meetings of the Spine Society of HCMC, VN (SSHV) combined with Live Surgeries since 2006; contributed 43 local publications and 42 National papers and lectures; presented 32 International Papers Presentation. He is current President- Vietnam Orthopedic Association;

President- Spine Society of HCMC, VN and Fomer President- ASEAN Orthopedic Association 2007-2008 and Members of different International Academic Associations and Societies.