Ilona Rubi-Fessen, PhD, is a speech and language pathologist (SLP) and has been working as an SLP and chief supervisor at the Neurological Rehabilitation Clinic RehaNova Köln gGmbH, Cologne since 1999. Since 2017, she has also been a lecturer at the Chair of Speech-Language Pathology and Rehabilitation at the University of Cologne. After her certification as an SLP in 1995, Ilona Rubi-Fessen studied Teaching and Research Logopedics at the RWTH Aachen University, where she also completed her doctorate in 2016 on "repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in acute aphasia". In the same year, she was elected to the Executive Board of the German Association of Aphasia Research and Treatment (GAB). Her research and publications focus on non-invasive brain stimulation in aphasia, cognitive communication disorders (CCDs), and the diagnosis and treatment of (acute) aphasia. In 2015 Ilona Rubi-Fessen was awarded the Elisabeth and Sydney Licht Award by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) for excellent scientific writing and in 2016 the Luise-Springer Scientific Award of the German Federal Association for Speech Therapy (dbl) for her doctoral thesis.

Kathrin Gerbershagen MD, PhD has been Clinical Director and Chief Physician in the Neurological Rehabilitation Clinic RehaNova gGmbH, Cologne, Germany since 2017 after having been a senior physician at a large neurological clinic for several years. The year of her graduation from medical school in Hamburg was 1999, her degree as a neurologist was obtained in 2005. Within the current position in the Neurological Rehabilitation Clinic up to 110 patients are treated at a very early stadium of their acute neurological illness, some of which are still ventilated. Work experience extends over 24 years and includes a broad expertise in the treatment of a great variety of neurological diseases. Research interests include chronic pain prevalence in neurology and rehabilitation and rehabilitation outcomes concerning different therapy methods including transcranial direct current stimulation (tCDS). Membership is upheld in the German Neurological and Palliative Society, the Headache and Pain Society, and the German Society for Neurorehabilitation and Dysphagia.

Prisca Stenneken is a professor (Chair of Speech-Language Pathology and Rehabilitation) at the University of Cologne, where she is head of the study program "Speech-Language-Therapy" and the Research Institute and Counseling Center for Language Rehabilitation. With an academic education in neurolinguistics (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, the Netherlands) and psychology (Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research, Munich, Germany; European Diploma in Cognitive and Brain Sciences, EDCBS) she worked in the field of language, communication, and interaction. After clinical (Speech-Language Pathology /Department of Neuropsychology) and research positions in neuropsychology (Interim Professorship, Chair of Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology), Prisca Stenneken worked as a professor for Clinical Linguistics/ Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Bielefeld and (since 2013) the University of Cologne. Her research interests are the empirical investigation of language/written language and communication disorders as well as their underlying neurocognitive processes.

Klaus Willmes (born 1950) is a retired full professor of neurosychology at the Medical Faculty of RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He studied mathematics and psychology in Aachen (1969–1979), obtaining master degrees in both fields, completed his PhD in Psychology in 1987 at the University of Trier, and completed his habilitation from the University of Bielefeld in 1994. From 1983–1996 he was a member of the interdisciplinary neurolinguistic and neuropsychological working group (headed by the neurologist Klaus Poeck) until nomination as full professor of neuropsychology in 1997. His research centers on topics in neuropsychology and cognitive psychology, including numerical cognition and its disorders and assessment and treatment of aphasic language disorders including memory and attention. He also has a strong interest in applying modern statistical and psychometric methods in neuropsychology. Willmes has published over 300 research papers, over 50 book chapters,11 test procedures, and 1 book on single-case statistical procedures (with Bruno Fimm). Willmes is a member of the International Neuropsychological Society, the Biometric Society, the German Psychological Association, elected member of the International Neuropsychological Symposium, and honorary member of the (German) Society for Neuropsychology and the (German) Society for Aphasia Research and Treatment (GAB). He served on the editorial board of several neuropsychological journals.