EAN: Neurology for undergraduate medical students - Speakers

Francesco Di Lorenzo  is responsible for the Memory Clinic at the Santa Lucia Foundation where they combine multimodal investigations for timely diagnosis and intervention of cognitive symptoms. 

He has acquired expertise in the field of non-invasive brain stimulation, dedicating himself above all to the study of cortical plasticity in patients with Alzheimer's disease and in particular to the identification of neurophysiological markers that can allow, with the help of neuropsychological testing, the analysis of CSF biomarkers and integration with modern Magnetic Resonance techniques, to delineate groups of patients with distinct clinical and electrophysiological characteristics. 

At the same time, part of his interests is aimed at understanding the mechanisms of neurotransmitter dysfunction in the course of Alzheimer's disease, with particular regard to the clinical-pharmacological aspect and its impact on the daily life of patients. 

 Furthermore, he actively collaborates in the research fields of the laboratory, both from a neuromodulation point of view (stroke patients) and from the study of cortical plasticity mechanisms in the course of other neurodegenerative diseases (dystonia, progressive supranuclear palsy, Parkinson's disease). 

Research activities comprise epilepsy, sleep disorders, and neuroimaging. Stefano’s academic career has been developed at Bologna University, Italy, from 1995 to 2004 where he got Neurology specialization and a PhD in Neurophysiology. Then he moved to Modena, Italy, to set up a comprehensive epilepsy centre at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences. 

Prof. Meletti clinical activities comprise both out-patients visits, as well as inpatients hospitalization for epilepsy, status epilepticus, and presurgical epilepsy evaluation. He developed a neuroimaging centre for advanced neuroimaging studies in epilepsy patients.  

Stefano has obtained number grants from national and international institutions for research in epilepsy, and he is responsible for several pharmacological and nonpharmacological clinical trials. 

At present he has published more than 280 manuscripts indexed in PubMed. 

Benedetta Storti has developed her expertise mainly in the field of cerebrovascular pathology (ischaemic and haemorrhagic) and in the treatment of patients with juvenile and senile cognitive impairment with vascular genesis. Her main research interests include cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), cerebral small vessel disease (SVC), rare stroke causes (e.g. CADASIL, Moyamoya, etc.) and juvenile stroke causes. She is author of several publications in international journals. She is a member of Italian Society of Neurology (SIN), Italian Stroke Association (ISA), European Academy of Neurology (EAN) and ESO (European Stroke Organisation). Dr Storti is one of the founding members of the ISA youth section. She is very interested in science dissemination and actively participates in the EAN and ESO education committees. She is the representative of RRFS in the Teaching Courses subcommittee of EAN. Furthermore, she is one of the creators of the Italian neuroscience podcast "Neuropod". 

Svetlana Tomic was born in Osijek on April 17, 1974, Croatia. Medical faculty at the University of Zagreb attended and finished in period between 1992-1998. After faculty she started to work at the University Hospital Centre Osijek in 2002, first as a resident of neurology, and from 2006 as a specialist of neurology. She finished my Ph.D. thesis in 2012 in the field of neurodegenerative disease on the topic “Correlation between cognitive impairment and severity of motor symptoms in Parkinson`s disease patients”. In 2013, Svetlana became Assistant Professor at the Faculty of medicine of the University of Osijek and in 2025 Associate Professor on the same Faculty.  

In 2016, Svetlana became head of the Department for neurodegenerative and neuromuscular disease at the University Hospital Centre Osijek and still holds that position. In 2019 she became subspecialist of neurodegenerative diseases. From 2021 onwards, Svetlana is a member of the management group in the scientific panel for dementia and cognitive disorders of the EAN, and in 2022 she became co-chair in the same panel. Prof Tomic is a founder and president of the patient association for Parkinson’s disease called “Awakening” in Osijek since 2013.  

Svetlana has a great experience as principal investigator and sub-investigator in many clinical trials in the field of the neurology. She is an author of 41 publications, 2 manuals for Parkinson’s disease and 3 book chapters, have been mentor of 36 student’s graduation theses and 4 Ph.D. theses.