General Managing Director of the CPPN is Professor Dr. med. Vitalij Kazin (MHBA). Prof Kazin is also the Vice Rector at the Venlo University (the Netherlands). Professor Kazin received his PhD in Medicine with honours at Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany in 2006 and his Masters degree in Health Business Administration at the University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, in 2011. He has held numerous clinical and government leadership positions including Medical Advisor for the Bavarian State Ministry of Healthcare, Chief Physician at the Kaufbeuren district hospital (ZPH) and at the Sr. Georg Black Forest Clinic, Bad Dürrheim. He has published over 100 research articles. Among his many noteworthy achievements in psychiatry is the Award of the German Alzheimer Society for outpatient support of people with dementia in Swabia (Germany).

Prof. Kazin’s main area of research and clinical interest is neurodegenerative diseases, psychopharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, addictions and mood disorders, multicultural psychiatry and treatment of immigrants in Germany, where Prof. Kazin is an expert in mental disorders of Russian-German late repatriates. Besides that, he is also interested in pharmacoeconomics and psychoeducation.

Project Director of the CPPN is Dr. Alexander Merkin, MD, PhD, PD, FHEA. Dr. Merkin's background is in psychiatry and psychogeriatrics, psychotherapy, addictions as well as digital medicine. 

Dr. Merkin’s prime research interest is in the psychiatry, digital medicine and epidemiology, promotion of mental health, prevention and management of mental diseases and disorders occurring in older age. He has published over 40 research articles including monographies. Dr. Merkin is a member of several international mental health associations including the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, he is a scientific reviewer for JAMA Psychological Medicine and a member of the Editorial Boards of four international medical journals including the European Medical Journal.

Scientific Director of the CPPN is Professor Valery Feigin, MD, PhD, FAAN. Valery is also the Director and Professor of the National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences at the AUT University of Auckland, and Affiliate Professor of the Department of Global Health at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. He is also Honorary Professor of the Novosibirsk State Medical University, Russia.

Professor Feigin’s prime research interest is in the epidemiology, prevention and management of stroke and traumatic brain injury. He has published over 600 research articles and his publications were cited over 180,000 times. Professor Feigin is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Neuroepidemiology and a member of the Editorial Boards of 10 international medical journals. He is also a Director on the Board of Directors of the World Stroke Organization, and WHO expert on stroke.

In 2014 and 2015, he was awarded the McDiarmid Medal of the Royal Society of New Zealand and World Stroke Organization President’s Award for “outstanding contribution to stroke research and prevention”.