FUTURE LEADERS SESSION

Dr Maria Bageta is a Paediatrician and Paediatric Dermatologist who completed her training at Hospital Nacional de Pediatria “Prof. Dr J P Garrahan” in Buenos Aires, Argentina. During her training she developed a special interest in rare diseases and conducted a retrospective study about the epidemiology of the patients with epidermolysis bullosa confirmed by mutation analysis that were seen at a National paediatric reference centre in Argentina. She was awarded a National prize “Aaron Kaminsky” in 2019 for this presentation and the work was published in Dermatologia Argentina Journal.    

She currently works at Great Ormond Street Hospital as the lead research fellow in Mission EB, a double-blinded, randomised (1:1), placebo-controlled crossover trial with an internal dose de-escalation trial for safety and a further 12-month open label study following review of the data. This is the largest cell therapy study which assesses if repeated infusions of allogeneic umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells are safe and can benefit children with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. She is highly involved in research for children with rare skin conditions.  

She has presented at many international meetings in Dermatology and has recently been awarded a prize for best oral presentation at the British Medical Laser Association meeting in Cardiff, 2023. Dr Bageta has published several articles in peer reviewed journals and has been a peer reviewer in Acta Dermato-Venereologica journal and Clinical and Experimental Dermatology journal. 

Dr Pablo Lopez Balboa completed his specialty training in Paediatrics at Valladolid Clinic University Hospital, Spain. He trained in paediatric dermatology at Niño Jesus University Hospital for Children, Madrid, Spain in 2020. In 2021, he joined the paediatric dermatology team at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children as a clinical research fellow with special interest in genodermatosis, particularly epidermolysis bullosa and ichthyosis. Currently, his work is focused in stem-cell therapy and drug repurposing therapy in rare skin diseases. He has been awarded 2023/24 Future Leader for the European Society of Pediatric Dermatology (ESPD)