Dr. Bashar Kahaleh received his MD degree from Damascus Medical School in 1972; he did his internal medicine training at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo, and Rheumatology fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina. Following fellowship training he stayed at the Medical University of south Carolina as an assistant and later associate Professor of Medicine and served as an acting Director of the division of rheumatology. In 1991 he was appointed Professor of Medicine and Chief Division of Rheumatology and Immunology at the University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio. His research interests are focused on the pathogenesis of the vascular disease in scleroderma. Recently the focus of his research efforts shifted toward the understanding of the role of epigenetics regulation of gene expression in scleroderma pathogenesis. He list over 120 peer reviewed publications and numerous book chapters and abstracts.

Professor Marwan El Ghoch MD earned his doctorate in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Bologna, Italy, and postgraduate studies in Clinical Nutrition from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. He is considered an expert in obesity and eating disorders treatments. Moreover he developed an international leadership in the study of the two-component model of body composition in anorexia nervosa. Currently cover the role of head of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Beirut Arab University in Lebanon, and clinical investigator, at the Department of Eating and Weight Disorders at Villa Garda Hospital in Italy.

Dr. Sevdalina Lambova is a specialist in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology with PhD degree in Rheumatology. She is an Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology in Medical University – Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Department of Propaedeutics of Internal diseases. Her main scientific interests are in the field of nailfold capillaroscopy, Raynaud’s phenomenon, systemic sclerosis, connective tissue diseases, osteoarthritis.

Dr Seza Özen is currently a Professor inthe Department of Pediatric Rheumatology at Hacettepe University, in Ankara, Turkey. She has graduated from the Medical School of Hacettepe University and had her Pediatrics training in the Department of Pediatrics at the same university. She did her post-doctoral fellowship in Stanford University School of Medicine and returned to her present department in 1990.

Dr Özen has served as the Pediatric Chair in EULAR and as the president of the International Society for Autoinflammatory Diseases. She has published over 300 papers. Her main areas of intereset are autoinflamamtory diseases, vasculitis and lupus.

Ricard Cervera, MD, PhD, FRCP is Head of the Department of Autoimmune Diseases, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Director of the Research Team on Systemic Autoimmune Diseases at the Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS) of Barcelona, and Coordinator of the Masters’ on Autoimmune Diseases at the Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. He is also coordinator of the European Forum on Antiphospholipid Antibodies and of the European Working Party on Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (Euro-Lupus Group) and Chairman of the Lupus Academy. Dr. Cervera has presented over 400 invited lectures and has published more than 800 scientific papers (h index: 63), is co-editor of 30 books, and Associate Editor of the journals “Autoimmune Diseases” and “Lupus Science & Medicine”. His current major research interest includes clinical and epidemiological aspects of systemic autoimmune diseases, particularly systemic lupus erythematosus and the antiphospholipid syndrome, with special focus on its “catastrophic” variant.

Prof. Dr. med. Oliver Distler did his medical studies at the University of Erlangen, Germany and Duke University, USA and is currently Chairman of the Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Zürich, Switzerland. He is Adjunct Professor the University of Florence and has been Visiting Professor at the Universities of Stanford and Gothenburg. With over 165 original research publications, Prof. Distler is also Director of the Program for Connective Tissue Diseases and Vasculitides (University of Zürich) and is in the Editorial Board of several Rheumatology Journals as well as the Board of Directors of several scientific Organizations including EUSTAR and SCTC.

Dr. Gerard Espinosa (MD PhD) is Specialist Physician in the Department of Autoimmune Diseases (Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain). Dr. Gerard Espinosa qualified in Medicine in 1991 from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and he trained in Internal Medicine at the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona from 1993 to 1998. He obtained his PhD degree in 2003 from the Universitat de Barcelona for his thesis on thrombotic mechanisms in antiphospholipid syndrome and vasculitis. Over the last 5 years, Dr. Espinosa has investigated systemic autoimmune diseases, focusing on antiphospholipid syndrome and its variant catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, Behçet’s disease, and systemic sclerosis. He has participated in several workshops and meetings as invited speaker.

Prof Huizinga currently is chairman of Reumatology at Leiden University Medical Center, the oldest university of the Netherlands.

I received my MD from the University of Amsterdam at 1986. I received in 1999 his PhD cum laude on the biochemical and functional characterization of Fc-gamma Receptors. Since 2000 I was appointed as full professor. In 2006 I became chairman of rheumatology in Leiden. My main interest is pathogenesis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and neuro-psychiatric SLE. I have (co)authored over 650 peer-reviewed articles; his H-factor is 81 and have been cited > 28.000 times and have written over 10 book chapters.

Graduated at the University of Milan (1972), postgraduate training in clinical immunology in 1975, and haematology in 1979; visiting fellow at the Laboratory of Immunopathology (Prof. I. Roitt), Middlesex Hospital, London (1979); head of a Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology Unit, University Hospital in 1999. Since 2009 he has been appointed head of the Department of Rheumatology at the orthopaedic Istituto G. Pini affiliated to the University of Milan, one of the largest rheumatology departments for adult and paediatric rheumatic diseases in Italy.Dr. Meroni has been Chairman of the IUIS/WHO/AF/CDC Committee for the Standardization of Autoantibodies in Rheumatic and Related Diseases (2006-2012) and member of the ANA Task Force of the

Dr Metyas is board certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology and has a Master’s Degree in orthopedic surgery. He has a private Rheumatology practice in Covina, CA. He is a Clinical Associate Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Southern California (USC), Chairman of Advocacy Committee of California Rheumatology Alliance and past-president of Southern California Rheumatology Society.Dr. Metyas has multiple publications in renowned peer review journals. He had presented multiple abstracts in the American College of Rheumatology meetings as well as the European Congress of Rheumatology .Dr. Metyas is a member of The Editorial Board of Current Rheumatology Reviews Journal and The Journal of Clinical Anesthesia and Management.

Dr. Mok is the head of the Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Tuen Mun Hospital. He is the past president of the Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology. His research interest is systemic lupus erythematosus and glucocorticoid-related osteoporosis. He has written more than 200 articles as the first author in top rheumatology and medical journals. Dr. Mok is on the editorial board of more than 15 rheumatology journals, and is a reviewer of more than 50 medical and rheumatology journals.

Jacques-Olivier Pers is the director of the INSERM research team ERI29 “Immunotherapy and B cell pathologies". He is involved since 1997 in the field of B cells in autoimmune diseases and lymphoproliferations. His studies have yielded 150 original articles and reviews which have contributed to improve the understanding of the characterization of B cell functions in autoimmunity and most particularly in Sjögren's syndrome and the contribution of BAFF to autoimmunity.

His research group perpetuate the platform of immunopathology and immunotherapy dedicated to the study of normal and pathological B cells. Different models are studied: autoimmune diseases (Sjögren’s syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis), lymphoproliferative disorders (chronic lymphocytic leukemia), kidney graft rejection and periodontal diseases from upstream approaches (epigenetics and autoimmunity, the genetic control of BAFF, calcium signaling, regulatory B cells) to downstream approaches (multicenter clinical trials, IVIg, valorization).

Dr. Ken Pritzker is currently Chief Executive Officer, York Medtech Ventures Inc; CEO, Swan Cytologics Inc; Senior Advisor, Medical Director , Proteocyte Diagnostics Inc; Senior Advisor, Rna Diagnostics Inc. Dr. Pritzker is Vice chair, Board of Directors, Trillium Gift For Life Network. (Ontario’s organ donor organization) Dr. Pritzker is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Department of Surgery, and the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto and Honorary Staff, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto.Dr. Ken Pritzker served as Chief, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto from 1986 to 2008 and subsequently as founder of Mount Sinai Services.

Dr Renaudineau is a full professor, immunologist, and head of the laboratory of immunology and immunotherapy at the CHRU Morvan, Brest, France.Dr Renaudineau is member of the research team INSERM U1227 B lymphocytes and autoimmunity, of the European IMI project PRECISESADS (Molecular reclassification to find clinically useful biomarkers for systemic autoimmune diseases), of the labex IG0 (immunotherapy grand ouest), and of the epigenetic and ion channel networks from the canceropole grand ouest.Dr. Renaudineau's research interests include the role of B cells in the pathophysiology of autoimmune diseases including Sjögren's syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, with a special focus on autoantibodies, CD5 molecule, calcium flux and DNA methylation due to their interconnections.

He is a Professor of Medicine and Rheumatology, Emeritus, Medical School Hannover, Germany Since 2007 and Private rheumatological practice, Rheumatologikum Hannover.He has done Internal Medicine, Rheumatology, Physical Medicine.His research includes: Follow-up of spondylarthropathy and reactive arthritis, Etiopathogenesis, clinical picture, diagnosis and treatment of Chlamydia-induced Arthritis,Pharmaco-economics and health economics in rheumatoid arthritis and Great artists and rheumatic diseases.He is honoured with:Honory Member of the Austrian Society of Rheumatology in 2000 .Honory Member of the Ankylosing Spondylitis Assessement Working Group in 2010 and Honory Member of the German Society of Internal Medicine in 2013.