Speakers

Antti Koivusalo

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Antti Koivusalo is a distinguished pediatric surgeon and specialist in gastrointestinal surgery with an illustrious career in clinical practice, research, and academic leadership. He earned his MD in 1983, qualified as a surgeon in 1992, and specialized in pediatric surgery in 1995, further advancing his expertise to become a specialist in gastrointestinal surgery in 2001.

He has held senior positions at the Children’s Hospital/New Children’s Hospital, University of Helsinki, where he has been a key member of the pediatric surgery department from 1995 to 1998 and from 2002 to the present. He completed his PhD in 1997 and was appointed as a docent in pediatric surgery in 2007, reflecting his commitment to advancing medical education and research. His international experience includes enriching educational and professional engagements at renowned institutions such as Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen (1997), Wilhelmina Kinder Ziekenhuis in Utrecht (2001–2002), and Sloan-Kettering in New York (2018).

His scientific work spans a wide range of topics including esophageal atresia, pediatric oncologic surgery, pediatric hepatobiliary surgery, chest deformities, gastroesophageal reflux, necrotizing enterocolitis, minimally invasive surgery, and long-term outcomes. He has published 132 peer-reviewed articles, contributed 11 textbook chapters, and presented at major congresses such as EUPSA, BAPS, and the Colorectal Club between 2001 and 2024. Beyond his clinical and research endeavors, Dr. Koivusalo has actively contributed to professional societies. He served on the board of the Finnish Association of Pediatric Surgeons from 2015 to 2021, including a term as Chair from 2019 to 2021, and was a board member of the Finnish Association of Surgeons from 2017 to 2022.


Faruk Hadziselimovic

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Hadziselimovic Faruk (born Kovin, Yugoslavia) studied Medicine at the University of Basel and obtained his MD of the University Basel on the Caryotype and Sex-chromatin from Indian Dwarf zebu (Bos indicus Nannus) in 1970. In 1971 he joined the University Paediatric Clinic Basel Switzerland where he began to study the development of prepubertal testis and cryptorchidism. In 1980, he became Venia legendi et docendi at University of Basle, Switzerland. Since 1988 he is Professor of Paediatrics at University of Basel, Switzerland.

Hadziselimovic Faruk has chaired or is a member of several academic committees and is a member of the Editorial Boards of the scientific journals and organized several European, international and national symposia on paediatric Andrology, paediatric Gastroenterology and paediatric ambulatory medicine. He has published 190 Original Publications, 210 Abstracts and Letters, 42 book contributions and 11 Books and Monographs. Main research interest of the group is aimed at combating infertility development in cryptorchidism.

Mikko Pakarinen

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Mikko Pakarinen MD, PhD is Professor of Pediatric Surgery and Head of the Department at the New Children's Hospital, University of Helsinki, Finland. He is the Principal Investigator of the Pediatric Liver and Gut Research Group, University of Helsinki, with the main clinical and research interest in pediatric hepatobiliary disorders including biliary atresia, intestinal failure and associated liver disease, neonatal and colorectal surgery including esophageal atresia, Hirschsprung’s disease and anorectal malformations. He led national centralization of biliary atresia care in 2005 and started national intestinal transplant program in Finland in 2009. He has supervised 17 doctoral (PhD) dissertations and published over 260 peer-reviewed original scientific articles and 100 review articles.

He is the Chairman of the Workstream for Intestinal Diseases of the European Reference Network for rare Inherited Congenital Anomalies (ERNICA) and executive board member of the International Society for Pediatric Surgical Research. He has served full terms as the Editor for Europe of the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, Chairman of the Scientific Office of the European Surgeon’s Association and as member of executive board of Pediatric Surgery Section of European Union of Medical Specialists.

Paolo De Coppi

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Paolo De Coppi is the Nuffield Chair of Pediatric Surgery, the NIHR Professor of Pediatric Surgery and Consultant Pediatric Surgeon at the Great Ormond Street Hospital. He is the President of the European Pediatric Surgical Association (EUPSA) and the Head of the Surgery Unit, Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine Section, Developmental Biology& Cancer Programme at the UCL Great Ormond Institute of Child Health.

In 2020, he has become the first Pediatric Surgeon to be elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2024, Professor Paolo De Coppi has been added to TIME's inaugural TIME100 Health List of the 100 most influential people in global health.

Professor De Coppi trained at Boston Children's Hospital, the Academic Medical Center (Amsterdam, NL) and Padua University (Italy), and has a special interest in congenital malformations and their treatment using minimally invasive techniques. He is a patron for TOFS and CDHUK and has focused his research interests on stem cells and tissue engineering by trying to find new modalities for the treatment of complex congenital anomalies.

He identified stem cells from amniotic fluid, and he has described methods to decellularized several organs and tissue such as the kidney, intestine, liver, pancreas, and lung. In 2010 he was part of the team that performed the first successful transplantation of a tissue-engineered trachea on a child at the Great Ormond Street Hospital. He has published more than 437 peer-reviewed articles with 25,318 citations and 81 h-index in journals such as Nature, Nature Biotechnology, The Lancet, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Communications, and Cells Stem Cells. Professor De Coppi has been invited to deliver more than 20 major Lectures at International Conferences and being invited as visiting Professor to major National and International Academic centers. He supervised more than 35 research fellow and Ph.D. students; and has been awarded various national and international grants in excess of £30 million. He is supervising 14 PhD students, 5 as primary supervisor, all of whom are on track to submit within 3-4 years of registration. He has been a VIVA examiner for 11 PhD in UK (Imperial College, UCL, York University, University of Oxford) and Europe. Many of his students, research fellows and postdocs are in leadership positions in UK, US and internationally.

Clinical Responsibility: Head of Esophageal and Pancreatic services at Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust. Experience on rare congenital malformations such as conjoined twins separation. Pioneer on the use of minimally invasive surgery for the treatment of congenital diaphragmatic hernia, esophageal atresia. extensive experience (>1000 patients) on minor surgery such as inguinal hernia repair (both open and minimally invasive), orchidopexy, central line insertion and appendicectomies.


Paul D. Losty

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Paul Losty has served as Professor of Paediatric Surgery at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Liverpool one of the largest Children’s Hospitals in the UK and Europe. Professor Losty trained in General Surgery and Paediatric Surgery in the major university teaching hospitals affiliated with the Royal College Of Surgeons (RCSI) in Ireland, Massachusetts General Hospital , Harvard Medical School Boston, USA and Alder Hey Children's Hospital Liverpool. Working as a university academic surgeon at the University of Liverpool for almost 30 years Professor Losty delivered clinical and faculty leadership in academic paediatric surgery. He has major interests in surgical oncology , clinical / basic science research , education & teaching, mentorship & leadership and has helped train generations of young paediatric surgeons in the clinic, operating room and science laboratory.

Professor Losty is Past President of the International Society of Paediatric Surgical Oncology ( IPSO ). A Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng) he serves as a Distinguished & Visiting Professor of Surgery at Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok Thailand and is a volunteer surgeon with Operation Child Life – an Irish global charitable organisation - providing surgical health care to low and middle income world countries. Professor Losty has authored well over 200 full manuscript publications and is Editor-in-Chief of 3 major textbooks – Pediatric Surgical Oncology 2022 CRC Press; Rickham’s Neonatal Surgery Springer 2018 and Essential Paediatric Surgery – A Practical Guide 2024 CRC Press.


Seppo Taskinen

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Seppo Taskinen is Professor hc and the head of pediatric urology at the New Children’s Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital, Finland. He has acted as a pediatric urologist in same hospital since 1995 after finalizing his specialization in general surgery, urology and pediatric surgery.

He is a fellow of the European Academy of Pediatric Urology (FEAPU) and he has visited as a consultant in various hospitals, and has authored about 100 scientific articles. He is a representative in European Reference Network (ERN) for rare urogenital diseases (eUROGEN) and program director of UEAMS certified pediatric urology training program in Helsinki University Hospital.

Tarmo Areda

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Dr Tarmo Areda is a neurosurgeon at Tallinn Childrens Hospital and Head of the department of Neurosurgery at North Estonian Medical Centre, Tallinn. He has graduated from the University of Tartu. After making his PhD degree in basic neurosciences (“Behavioural and neurogenetic study of mechanisms related to cat odour induced anxiety in rodents”) he has specialized on neurosurgery at several hospitals in Estonia and Finland, focusing also to the pediatric neurosurgery from the very beginning. Dr Areda is a board member of Estonian Society of Neurologists and Neurosurgeons. He has imported and implemented several new treatment modalities in Tallinn Children's Hospital for helping Estonian patients. Tarmo Areda is Estonian general supervisor of postgraduate training in neurosurgery.

Besides general neurosurgery dr Areda is focused in depth into functional neurosurgery, pediatric neurosurgery, peripheral nerve surgery and surgery of congenital skull malformations.