Dr. Refika Ersu is a pediatric respirologist and director of sleep laboratory and home ventilation program at Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. She is also an investigator in CHEO Research Institute and Professor at University of Ottawa. She is the previous chair of European Respiratory Society Pediatric Sleep Group and current chair of European Respiratory Society Pediatric Assembly. Dr. Ersu completed her medical school and pediatric residency training in Istanbul, Turkey. After completing one year of research fellowship in Royal Brompton Hospital in London, UK, she did pediatric respirology fellowship in Children's Hospital Los Angeles, USA. Her main research interests are obstructive sleep apnea in children, specifically diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea in children in resource limited settings and management of children with chronic respiratory failure.

Dr. Mary Therese M. Leopando, M.D., FPPS, FPAPP, LFPSSM is a distinguished Pediatric Pulmonologist and Pediatric Sleep Specialist with extensive training and experience both in the Philippines and internationally. She earned her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center and completed her Pediatric Residency at The Medical City. She pursued further specialization through a Pediatric Pulmonology Fellowship at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, followed by a Pediatric Research Fellowship at the Children’s Hospital in Manitoba, Canada. She also completed a Pediatric Observership in Sleep Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Dr. Leopando currently serves as Head of the Pediatric Sleep Unit within the Section of Pulmonology at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, where she is also an active consultant. She holds additional consultancy roles at the Institute of Pediatrics, The Medical City, and is part of the clinical faculty at the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health. She is a Fellow of the Philippine Pediatric Society, a Life Fellow of the Philippine Society of Sleep Medicine, and a Fellow and Past President of the Philippine Academy of Pediatric Pulmonologists, Inc. Dr. Leopando also contributes regionally as a member of the Asian Pediatric Pulmonology Society and serves as an adviser to the OSA Task Force of the Philippine Academy of Pediatric Pulmonologists. Dr. Leopando is known for her leadership in pediatric respiratory and sleep medicine, and her commitment to advancing child health through clinical care, research, and education.

Professor Gustavo Nino, M.D., M.S., MBA serves as the Associate Chief for Academic Affairs and Director of Sleep Medicine and Airway Biology Research at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. He is also a Tenured Faculty member in Pediatrics and a Principal Investigator at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dr. Nino has received research funding from multiple institutes within the United States National Institutes of Health, including the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. His research program focuses on airway epithelial responses to viral infections in newborns and infants, which are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in this vulnerable population. Dr. Nino’s work specifically targets pediatric groups at high risk for severe viral respiratory infections, such as infants born prematurely or with trisomy 21, also known as Down syndrome. His laboratory also investigates how viral respiratory illnesses contribute to the development of obstructive sleep apnea in children. In addition, Dr. Nino has pioneered the application of pediatric-focused artificial intelligence to the analysis of neonatal respiratory data. His team has developed artificial intelligence tools for predicting severe viral infections and improving the clinical assessment of sleep breathing disorders in children. Dr. Nino has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed publications, which have received over 3,200 citations. His academic contributions have been recognized at both the national and international levels. In 2019, he received the Robert Mellins Outstanding Achievement Award, the highest mid-career distinction presented by the American Thoracic Society Pediatric Assembly. He has served as an invited speaker and session chair at major scientific meetings, including those of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, CHEST, Pediatric Academic Societies, European Respiratory Society (ERS), the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and The International Society of Pediatric Respiratory Diseases (INSPIRED).