Prof. Roman H. Khonsari is a consultant craniofacial surgeon at Necker-Enfants malades Hospital (AP-HP) and professor at Université Paris Cité, specialising in the clinical management of syndromic craniosynostoses. He heads the Craniofacial Growth and Form laboratory at the Imagine Institute in Paris and is medical director of PRIM3D, the central 3D design and printing platform for the Paris university hospitals. He chairs the Scientific Committee of ERN CRANIO and previously served as Chief Medical Officer of the Health Data Hub, France's national health data platform.

He trained in general surgery and maxillofacial surgery in Paris and Nantes, completed a craniofacial surgery fellowship at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, and earned a PhD in craniofacial development from King's College London. He is an alumnus of the École normale supérieure. He was visiting professor in biomechanical engineering at University College London from 2021 to 2024 and has been visiting professor in craniofacial surgery at Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, since 2026. His recent work includes the development of AIDY, a diagnostic application trained on more than one million clinical facial photographs. In 2024, he received the Ig Nobel Prize in Anatomy for research on geographic morphogenesis.

Gianpiero Tamburrini is  Professor of  Neurosurgery, Institute of Neurosurgery at the Catholic University Medical School in Rome, Italy and Chair of the Pediatric Neurosurgery Unit at the Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli IRCCS in Rome, Italy. He has been President of the European Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery (ESPN President 2021-2023) and President of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery (ISPN President  2024-2025; he is member of the EANS Section of Pediatric Neurosurgery ,  Section Editor for the journal   Child’s Nervous System  ,  Associate Editor of the Journal Pediatric Neurosurgery and Pediatric Neurosurgery Section Editor for the Journal Turkish Neurosurgery , beyond being peer reviewer of Journal of Neurosurgery Pediatrics, World Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery. His main fields of  expertise are cranial and spinal malformative pathologies, brain tumors, ventricular endoscopy for the management of hydrocephalus and CSF disorders, surgical treatment of pharmacoresistant epilepsy. He has been Author/coauthor of 275 peer reviewed impacted international papers and of 40  chapters of scientific books and  has participated as Faculty to 85 International Pediatric Neurosurgery Courses (ESPN, ISPN, WFNS, IFNE, EANS) giving 190 invited lectures.

Kristin Billaud Feragen, clinical psychologist and researcher, established psychological follow-up within Oslo cleft lip and palate team (Norway) in 2002 and was part of the team until 2015. Her main research interest is children, adolescents and adults’ psychological adjustment and the challenges associated with having a visible difference such as CLP or other rare craniofacial conditions. She is an author/co-author on more than 80 scientific publications. After ten years as the Research Coordinator at the Norwegian Centre for Rare Diseases, she is back as a clinical psychologist and researcher within Oslo CLP team, and a part time position in the National Unit for Craniofacial Surgery, both positions at Oslo University Hospital (Division of Surgery and Specialised Medicine, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery).

Wanda Lattanzi, MD, PhD is Associate Professor of Experimental Biology at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome and Medical Geneticist at Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS. Her research focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying craniosynostosis and bone regeneration, integrating genetics, stem-cell biology, and nanotechnology for innovative therapeutic strategies. Author of over 90 scientific publications (ORCID 0000-0003-3092-4936), she leads research projects funded by European and national agencies and coordinates multidisciplinary collaborations within ERN CRANIO, where she also chairs the Genetics Working Group.​​

Shirley is a registered children’s nurse with almost 20 years’ experience in paediatric healthcare, firstly in Paediatric ICU and since 2011 with the craniofacial team as a Nurse Specialist for 7 years. Since 2018, she facilitates and coordinates research and clinical audit projects while supporting the clinical team with quality improvement initiatives, standards and ERN CRANIO related work.

She has a keen interest in encouraging nurses and health and social care professionals to become research-active. Shirley is a member of the steering committee for the National YPAG, which invites children and young people to share their voice and help shape child health research in Ireland. Shirley is also a member of her institutions’ Research Ethics Committee.

Mariët Faasse, MSc, is patient representative (ePAG) within ERN CRANIO and member of its Scientific Committee, advocating for people with craniosynostosis and other rare craniofacial conditions. She combines her role as healthcare professional and clinical health scientist with board membership of the Dutch patient association. Alongside her work as Nurse Anaesthetist, Mariët is pursuing a PhD on the perspectives, questions, and needs of patients and families living with these conditions. Her research, conducted in close collaboration with fellow ERN CRANIO ePAGs and a multidisciplinary team inside and outside ERN CRANIO, aims to shape a more patient- and person-centered care.

Hopitaux universitaires de Strasbourg  

University Medical Center Utrecht

Prof. Poets graduated from Hannover Medical School in June 1986. He received his medical training at the Dept. of Paediatric Pulmonology & Neonatology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, and at the Dept. of Paediatric Respiratory Physiology, Brompton Hospital&National Heart & Lung Institute, London, UK. In 1994, he became director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the Paediatric Sleep Lab at Hannover Medical School. From 2002-2026, he was Chair and Medical Director, Department of Neonatology, Univer­sity Hospital, Tübingen, Germany, where he continues to be active, but now as Senior Professor. In 2008, he also became chairman of the newly established Interdisciplinary Centre for Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Malformations at Tübingen University Hospital. Prof. Poets has also inaugurated the Center for Pediatric Clinical Studies, the only such center dedicated to clinical studies in children. Both, in 2019/2020 and in early 2024, he was visiting professor at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Hobart, Australia. He has a strong research interest in the treatment of (Pierre-)Robin sequence, more specific in investigating the effectiveness of the so-called Tübingen Palatal Plate, a functional treatment concept leading to mandibular catch-up growth, thereby addressing the underlying anatomical problem in which symptoms of these infants are rooted.

He has (co-)authored >480 articles cited in PubMed and has contributed to over 120 book chapters and review articles. He also has examined 4 PhD and more than 40 MD students. His main research interests include the control of breathing, sleep apnea/ intermittent hypoxia, treatment of craniofacial malformations, e.g. Robin sequence, SIDS, perinatal outcome research, innate immunity, ethical aspects, and the conduct of multicentre clinical trials. With regard to the latter, he was coordinator and Co-PI of NEuroSIS, a large EU-funded multicentre study on inhaled steroids for BPD prevention, and steering committee member of various multicentre trials (e.g., COT, ETTNO, FiO2-C). In addi­tion, he serves on the DSMB of 2 large multicentre international trials (DOXA and HiLo).

AOP Padua

Hôpital Universitaire Necker Enfants-Malades 

Regional specialised children's hospital, Olsztyn. Poland