Keynote speakers

Prof. Simon Mitchell

What’s new in Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine?

Simon Mitchell works as an anaesthesiologist at Auckland City Hospital, a diving physician at North Shore Hospital (Auckland), and is Professor of Anaesthesiology at the University of Auckland. He is widely published with two books and over 170 scientific journal papers or book chapters. He co-authored the 5th edition of 'Diving and Subaquatic Medicine' and the Hyperbaric and Diving Medicine chapters in the last four editions of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. He has twice been Vice President of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society (USA) and in 2010 received the society’s Behnke Award for scientific contributions to diving medicine. He has been Editor-in-Chief of Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Journal since 2019. Simon Mitchell has a long career in sport, scientific, commercial, and military diving. He has participated in cutting edge wreck and cave diving expeditions spanning many years.

Prof. Neal Pollock

Cold Water Diving and Rebreathers

Neal Pollock holds a Research Chair in Hyperbaric and Diving Medicine and is an Associate Professor in Kinesiology at Université Laval in Québec, Canada. He conducts research at the Centre de médicine de plongée du Québec, Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis, QC. He was previously Research Director at Divers Alert Network (DAN) and conducted research at the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology, Duke University, both in Durham, North Carolina. His academic training is in zoology, exercise physiology and environmental physiology. His research interests focus on human health and safety in extreme environments, primarily related to diving. He is an Emeritus Editor-in-Chief of the journal Wilderness & Environmental Medicine and currently serves on the editorial boards of the journals Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental, Aviation and Space Physiology. He has held multiple board appointments, served as a reviewer for more than 30 journals and published numerous articles on diver safety and human physiology in extreme environments. He is strongly committed to education, lecturing widely in many venues.  

Prof. Peter Lindholm

Freediving Medicine

Peter Lindholm is working in hyperbaric and diving medicine research at University of California, San Diego, USA. He is also Associate Professor in physiology and radiology at Karolinska Insitute, Stockholm, Sweden. He has served in multiple leadership positions including chair of thoracic radiology at the Karolinska University Hospital. His research interest is in pulmonary medicine and applied respiratory physiology, studying the effects of hypoxia, hyperoxia and extreme environments on humans (ranging from the depth of the oceans to space). Current projects involve the study of in vivo nitrogen gas distribution (for decompression physiology), pulmonary edema in swimmers and edema/ barotrauma in freedivers. He is also building a repository for big data in diving medicine and is co-investigator and medical monitor for an NIH sponsored multi-center clinical trial on hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Freediving physiology & medicine has always been a primary focus where he has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles.

Dr. Anders Kjellberg MD, PhD

Hyperbaric oxygen treatment in acute COVID- and ARDS- patients

Anders Kjellberg is a senior consultant in anaesthesiology and intensive care medicine, head of the hyperbaric unit at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. He has a background as a submarine officer and is a keen recreational diver. He is interested in training and have always been fascinated by how human beings can adapt to changes in the environment, how our bodies adapt to different challenges and how we can transform our bodies by exercise. In his current position at Karolinska University Hospital and affiliated to research at Karolinska Institutet his special interest are different types of inflammatory conditions that can be treated with hyperbaric oxygen. His overall aim is to is to explore biomarkers for dose/effect of hyperbaric oxygen so that treatments can individually tailored with regards to dose and timing. 

Edward Stockdale, B.Sc.

Training of Scientific Divers for Polar Expeditions

Edd Stockdale is a marine biologist, and a coordinator newly founded The Finnish Scientific Diving Academy, at the University of Helsinki. He is running training programs for marine scientists in all areas of diving and developing methodologies integrating new technologies and advanced diving to improve data gathering capabilities as well as working in marine research with various institutions. In addition, he teaches technical programs in mine and rebreather programs both for enjoyment and exploration, in the Nordic regions. Expertise is in diving operation management, safety and logistics for remote research expeditions and projects especially in deeper explorations along with development and integration with upon diving based underwater technologies used in data gathering. Skills also include an in-depth understanding of occupational diving standards in many regions and the development of protocols to facilitate diving operations also in the extreme cold environments. 

Underwater World in Finland

The keynote lecture is given by three Finnish renowned, underwater photographers and explorers who will represent some unique aspects of Finnish underwater world.