Solange Kapetanovic-Garcia is a neurologist with special interest in ALS and neuromuscular Disorders and leads the Neuromuscular disorders Unit at the Hospital Universitario Basurto in Bilbao.
Trained in medicine (2003, University of the Basque Country, Spain), she completed her education with a speciality of Neurology by the Spanish Public Health System (2005-2009) and a special degree in infantile neuromuscular disorders by the Hospital San Joan de Deu (Barcelona) and in neuropathology in muscle and CNS diseases at the Muscle and Brain Bank of Navarra. Since 2009, she works at the ALS and Neuromuscular disorders Unit of the Basurto University Hospital, Bilbao, Spain, which is the regional reference unit for ALS disorders. She is also an active member of the Nucleid Acid Therapy in Rare Diseases (NAT-RD) research group, which develops better methods to evaluate advanced therapies for neuromuscular disorders, at BioBizkaia Health Research Institute, a recently created institution that consolidates theresearch produced in the Basque health system.
Ms Kapetanovic-Garcia has co-authored more than 40 scientific publications which include invited contributions, clinical reviews, case-report notes, research clinical trials and severalbook chapters. She serves in several Spanish and international neuromuscular groups of workand has collaborated as an expert with the Spanish Amyloid Committee, Spanish Pompe Study Group, Spanish SMA group, AMES Scientific Committee and Spanish ALS group.She has received funding from Spanish and Basque institutional grants, as well as patient’s associations and has shared research collaborations with Spanish, European and Australian groups. She also has led as Principal investigator or Subinvestigator in several clinical trials in ATTR disease, Myasthenia Gravis, ALS disease and inflammatory neuropathies such as CIDP and MMN.
As well as presenting in multiple international research meetings, she actively participates in science communication activities in English and Spanish, many of which are easily accessible online. She is particularly interested in genetic neuromuscular disorders, outcome measures and biomarkers of progression and response of treatments. Finally, she is dramatically implicated in science education, working as a mentor of young neurologist during their residence program. She has also supervised many degree projects for medicine students and collaborates with the medicine department of University of the Basque Country.