Vilma Pinchi, President

Vilma Pinchi is an Associate Professor of Legal Medicine in the  Department of Anatomy , Histology and Legal Medicine, University of  Firenze. She completed her dental studies at University of Perugia cum  laude  in 1993, her  PhD in Medical Forensic Sciences cum laude  in  1999 at University of Brescia and Master in Bioethics in  Clinical  Daily Activity at University of Firenze in 2009.Since 1993 she  has  worked as private practitioner and is  regularly appointed  as expert  witness in criminal and civil  Courts both in cases involving body  identification, age ascertainment and dental professional liability. 
She is the Secretary of Pro.O.F. (Forensic Odontology Project) and the course organizer of the annual post-graduate Master in Forensic Odontology at University of Firenze . She is co-author of  forensic odontology  and legal medicine textbooks, has written several  scientific articles and lectures  nationally and internationally. 

Herman Bernitz,Vice president

Herman Bernitz is a private dental practitioner and part time senior Stomatologist in the Department of Oral Pathology and Oral Biology, University of Pretoria , South Africa. He completed his B.Ch.D in 1978, his M.Sc. (Odont) cum laude in Oral Pathology in 1996, and his Dip. Odont. cum laude in Forensic Odontology in 1998. His Ph.D in Forensic Dentistry (2004) was entitled "A Model to Determine the Individual Discrimination Potential of Numerically Analysed Dental Features in the Anterior Twelve Teeth". He lectures in Oral Pathology and Forensic Dentistry, and is manager of Forensic Dental Research. Since 1998 he has acted as forensic consultant during which time he has been involved in all aspects of Forensic Dentistry. He regularly acts as expert witness in Supreme Court cases involving tooth marks. He has attended courses/delivered papers related to forensic odontology, and has published internationally. He was the President of Iofos in the past two  terms. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology.  

bernitz@iafrica.com   

 Patrick Thevissen, Treasurer, Editor JFOS  

Patrick Thevissen finished his dental studies in 1980 at the Rijksuniversiteit Gent, Belgium and started a private dental practice in 1981. In 2005 he obtained his  master's degree (Msc) in forensic odontology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Since 2007 he has worked in the Department of Forensic Odontology at the School of Dentistry, Oral Pathology and Maxillofacial Surgery of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and teaches forensic odontology to international post graduate students. In 2009 he started his Phd thesis at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven on the research topic: Non-destructive forensic odontological age estimations revisited. 

denthepa@telenet.be

Francesco Pradella, Secretary

Private dental practitioner and forensic odontologist since 1985. He took a MD degree at the University of Padua in 1981, a DDS degree at the University of Verona in 1984 and a MSc degree in forensic odontology at the University of Florence in 2008.
He has been involved in damage evaluation cases and in forensic odontology cases since 1985 as a consultant for insurance companies, private or public institutions.  He regularly acts as expert consultant in criminal and civil court cases involving the different fields of forensic odontology. He has attended many courses and delivered papers and oral presentations related to forensic odontology in Italy and abroad, and has published scientific articles in national journals. Member of many scientific societies and among them SIMLA (Italian Society of Legal Medicine) and Pro.O.F (Forensic Odontology Project).

francesco.pradella@gmail.com

Stefano Garatti, Webmaster

He is a private dental practitioner in Monza. He is also the Clinical Supervisor of Department of Dentistry at the “A.O. fo Desio and Vimercate” near Milan.
He took a DDS degree at the University of Milan in 1986 and a MSc degree in forensic odontology at the University of Florence in 2008.
He cooperate with Special Care Dentistry at the hospital of Carate Brianza, near Milan, and he is the chief of Special Care Orthodontics  in the same hospital.
Forensic Odontologist since 1997, he has been involved in damage evaluation and in forensic odontology cases as a consultant for insurance companies, private or public institutions.  He regularly acts as expert consultant in civil court cases involving the forensic odontology concern, especially dental professional liability.
He is co-author of  forensic odontology  and Special Care Dentistry  textbooks, has written several  scientific articles and lectures  nationally and internationally.
Since 2006 member of the board and webmaster of Pro.O.F (Forensic Odontology Project).

s.garatti@studiogaratti.it

Hrvoje Brkic, Newsletter editor 

Hrvoje Brkić was born on August 12th 1963 in Zagreb. In 1988 he graduated from the School of Dental Medicine University of Zagreb. Ever since December 1998 he has been working at the Department of Dental Anthropology. He has been teaching dental morphology and courses in forensic dentistry in the graduate and post graduate studies.

Until today he has been managing several Croatian scientific projects as well as one international project financed by the EU. Since 2003 he has been the Vice Dean of the School of Dental Medicine University of Zagreb.

He has actively participated at numerous international conferences and he has published more than 100 scientific and professional publications, books and book chapters. He is also a member of several international editorial boards and, since 2006, he has been the editor in chief of the Journal Acta Stomatologica Croatica. He is married and father of three children.

hrvoje.brkic@zg.tel.hr