DNSG 2024
41ST International Symposium on Diabetes and Nutrition
Uppsala, Sweden (June 27th-30th, 2024)
SPEAKERS (in alphabetical order)
AAS, ANNE MARIE Anne-Marie Aas is a clinical dietitian at Oslo University Hospital, Aker, and associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo. Both work and research are focused on diabetes and nutrition. Aas has been a member of the Diabetes and Nutrition Study Group (DNSG) of the EASD since 2002 and the DNSG board from 2011-2022. She has been involved in the revision of the DNSG’s dietary recommendations and had similar obligations in the Norwegian guidelines for diet, physical activity and weight reduction in diabetes, the latter currently being updated. Aas is currently engaged in the development of an e-health program for type 2 diabetes remission. She is member of the Medical Board of the Norwegian Diabetes Association and is advisor for the association on issues regarding nutrition and dietetics. |
AUGUSTIN, LIVIA Livia Augustin is a nutrition researcher at the National Cancer Institute Pascale in Naples (Italy) where she conducts diet trials in women with breast cancer. She is part of the steering committee of the Nutrition and Oncology study group for the Italian Society of Nutrition (SINU) and proponent of the Consortium of Lifestyle trialists in Breast Cancer Survivors. In the late 1990’s she hypothesized that a high dietary glycemic index may be relevant in carcinogenesis given the higher surges in blood glucose and insulin compared to low glycemic index diets. She started and led the investigations of the glycemic index in cancer risk at the National Cancer Institute in Aviano (Italy) and St. Michael’s hospital in Toronto (Canada). She is the proponent and investigator of a RCT involving low glycemic index Mediterranean diet for the reduction of breast cancer recurrence and cardiometabolic risk factors in women with breast cancer (DEDiCa study). She conceived the International Carbohydrate Quality Consortium (ICQC) with worldwide experts (www.carbquality.org). Dr. Augustin has been an invited speaker at international scientific conferences, has more than 100 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and textbook chapters and she is an active reviewer for international scientific nutrition journals. |
BARAZZONI, ROCCO Rocco Barazzoni, MD, PhD is Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, director of the Postgraduate School of Sports medicine and consultant in Internal Medicine at Trieste University Hospital. His previous posts include Assistant Professor of Medicine and Research Fellow at Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota. He is the current Chairman of the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) and President of the Italian Obesity Society (SIO). He also co-chairs the ESPEN Special Interest Group on Obesity. He has participated in the Editorial Boards of several journals including Diabetes. His research focuses on nutritional and hormonal regulation of energy metabolism and related mechanisms in both clinical and experimental models in the settings of obesity, its metabolic complications and malnutrition. Professor Barazzoni has published more than 200 papers (h-index=49) in international peer-reviewed journals, including original research as well as editorials and guidelines. |
BERNARD, NEAL Neal Barnard, MD, FACC, is an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, DC, and President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Dr. Barnard has led numerous research studies investigating the effects of diet on diabetes, body weight, hormonal symptoms, and chronic pain, including a groundbreaking study of dietary interventions in type 2 diabetes, funded by the National Institutes of Health, that paved the way for viewing type 2 diabetes as a potentially reversible condition for many patients. Dr. Barnard has authored more than 100 scientific publications and 20 books for medical and lay readers, and is the editor in chief of the Nutrition Guide for Clinicians, a textbook made available to all U.S. medical students. As president of the Physicians Committee, Dr. Barnard leads programs advocating for preventive medicine, good nutrition, and higher ethical standards in research. His research contributed to the acceptance of plant-based diets in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. In 2015, he was named a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology. In 2016, he founded the Barnard Medical Center in Washington, DC, as a model for making nutrition a routine part of all medical care. Working with the Medical Society of the District of Columbia and the American Medical Association, Dr. Barnard has authored key resolutions, now part of AMA policy, calling for a new focus on prevention and nutrition in federal policies and in medical practice. In 2018, he received the Medical Society of the District of Columbia’s Distinguished Service Award. He has hosted four PBS television programs on nutrition and health. Originally from Fargo, North Dakota, Dr. Barnard received his M.D. degree at the George Washington University School of Medicine and completed his residency at the same institution. He practiced at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York before returning to Washington to found the Physicians Committee. |
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BJERKAN, KIRSTI |
BROWN, ANDREW Andrew W Brown, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Biostatistics Core Director for the Center for Childhood Obesity Prevention with Arkansas Children’s Research Institute. He has conducted research using simulation, in vitro, ex vivo, animal, and human observational and interventional models. He conducts “research on research” through qualitative and quantitative research summaries, characterizing reporting practices that perpetuate scientific misinformation, and evaluating methodological and statistical choices that may lead to misinterpreted research. He has received local, regional, and national recognition, including the Mead Johnson Award from the American Society for Nutrition. He is a Fellow of The Obesity Society, has served in leadership roles with the American Society for Nutrition, The Obesity Society, and the American Public Health Association, and is a member of AAAS, American Statistical Association, and Sigma Xi. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biochemistry from Iowa State University with a graduate minor in Statistics, earned his doctoral degree from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in the Interdepartmental Nutrition Program with a minor in Statistics, and completed postdoctoral training with the UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center, emphasizing meta-research, rigor, reproducibility, and transparency. |
CHIAVAROLI, LAURA Dr. Laura Chiavaroli is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto and Affiliate Scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital. Dr. Chiavaroli’s research program leverages collaboration with stakeholders to develop and test strategies for the translation and implementation of clinical practice guidelines and public health policy related to dietary patterns for the prevention and management of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. She leads large interdisciplinary teams in the co-design of digital tools leveraging the latest technology and behavioural interventions with testing across diverse communities and settings. She also leads the design, conduct, analyses, and interpretation of large pragmatic randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and embeds practices to address equity, diversity, indigeneity, inclusion, and accessibility throughout. |
CSANALOSI, MARTA Marta Csanalosi is passionate nutrition researcher dedicated to improving the health and well-being of individuals living with diabetes. With a background in nutrition science and a Ph.D. candidate in diabetology, Marta has conducted research on the impact of diet on blood sugar levels and insulin resistance. As a diabetes researcher, she works tirelessly to empower patients with the knowledge and tools they need to manage their condition effectively. |
DIMOSTHENOPOULOS, CHARILAOS (HARIS) Dr Charilaos Dimosthenopoulos received his PhD from the Medical School of the Kapodistriakon University, Athens. He holds a Bachelor degree on Biology from the School of Biology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a Postgraduate Diploma (PostDip in Dietetics) in Dietetics from Leeds Metropolitan University and a Master of Medicine and Science in Human Nutrition (MMedSci) from Sheffield University, UK. He holds a HACCP Inspector Certificate from the Agricultural University and TUV AUSTRIA. He works as Chief Dietitian of the Department of Clinical Nutrition, at the General hospital of Athens “Laiko” being responsible for the dietary monitoring and treatment of patients of various clinical conditions, since 2002. He has numerous publications while he has numerous participations in Greek and International congresses with oral presentations, abstracts and posters. He is Board member of the Society for the Study of Risk Factors for Vascular Diseases (EMPAKAN) and Board member of the Hellenic Diabetes Society (EDE). He is member of the Executive Committee of the Diabetes and Nutrition Study Group (DNSG) and was the Leader of the EFAD’s European Specialist Dietetic Networks (ESDNs) Diabetes (2018-2022). He is teaching in 6 different postgraduate programs of the Kapodistriakon University and the University of West Attica, Athens. |
GREGERSEN, SØREN Søren Gregersens is specialist in endocrinology and his research focusses on the health effects of bioactive food components, e.g. in coffee and berries. The effects are studied in short and longer-term intervention trials in healthy subjects and subjects with metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Additionally, the impact of lifestyle intervention on diabetic bone disease is of great interest. Søren Gregersen has supervised >15 PhD students and teaches both MSc and medical students. Further, Søren Gregersen is head of the clinical trial unit at Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus. |
GUASCH-FERRÉ, MARTA Dr. Guasch-Ferré is Associate Professor and Group Leader at the Department of Public Health and Novo Nordisk Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She is Deputy Head of the Section of Epidemiology at the University of Copenhagen. She also holds an appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA. Her research focuses on dietary and lifestyle epidemiology and prevention of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). She has incorporated high-throughput -omics techniques, primarily metabolomics, into traditional epidemiologic analyses to gain insight into underlying mechanisms that may explain associations between dietary factors and CVD and T2D. The research group she leads aims to advance the field of precision nutrition through the integration of -omics data and evaluating their association with diseases using large cohort studies and clinical trials with dietary data and metabolomics. Dr. Guasch-Ferré’s research activities have resulted in numerous manuscripts (>140, H-index 40) and she has been awarded several competitive European and American grants. She received the Sandra A. Daugherty Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Disease or Hypertension Epidemiology and Prevention from the American Heart Association (2021). She is the P.I. of an NIH-funded project entitled “Circulating plasma metabolites, lifestyle factors, and mortality risk”. |
HALFORD, JASON Jason Halford is Head of the School of Psychology at the University of Leeds, former President of the European Association of Obesity (EASO), and former Chair of the UK Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO). Jason is coordinator of the SWITCH study, a new trial to examine the impact of artificial sweeteners on appetite in the context of active weight management and is one of the coordinating leads for the €9 million H2020 SWEET project, which examines the risks and benefits of using sweeteners to replace sugar in the diet in the contexts of health, obesity, safety and sustainability. Additionally, he is a Board member of the European Coalition of People Living with Obesity (ECPO). |
HESS, JULIE Julie Hess, PhD is a Research Nutritionist at the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center (GFHNRC) in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Dr. Hess’s research is centered on identifying and evaluating strategies to help Americans meet recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Her work involves investigating how American diets currently align with dietary guidance and recognizing and addressing barriers to following recommendations, including dietary restrictions and dietary and cultural preferences. Before joining the GFHNRC, Dr. Hess served as Vice President of Scientific Affairs for the National Dairy Council in Chicago, IL. She is an active member and volunteer with several nutrition and scientific organizations, including the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), the National Nutrient Databank Conference, and the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), and currently serves as Chair of the Nutrition Translation Research Interest Section with ASN, a member of ASN’s Publications Committee, and a member of the Annual Meeting Scientific Program Advisory Panel for IFT. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at the University of North Dakota. Dr. Hess received Bachelor of Arts degrees in French and English from the University of Texas at Austin and earned a doctoral degree in Human Nutrition from the University of Minnesota. |
JENKINS, DAVID David J.A. Jenkins is an University Professor, and a professor in the Departments of Nutritional Sciences and Medicine, University of Toronto, a staff physician in the Division of Endocrinology, Director of the Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Center, and a Scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital. He was educated at Oxford University. He has served on committees in Canada and the United States that formulated nutritional guidelines for the treatment of diabetes and recommendations for fiber and macronutrient intake under the joint US-Canada DRI system (RDAs) of the National Academy of Sciences. He also served as a member of Agriculture Canada’s Science Advisory Board (2004-2009) on the future direction of Canada’s agriculture and agricultural research. He has spent much time working with the food industry to develop products for the supermarket shelf and, for example, helped to initiate Loblaw’s (Canada’s largest supermarket chain) ‘Too Good To Be True’ and most recently their popular “Blue Menu” line of products ( for cardiometabolic health). His research area is the use of diet in the prevention and treatment of hyperlipidemia and diabetes. He has over 400 original publications on these and related topics. His team was the first to define and explore the concept of the glycemic index of foods and demonstrate the breadth of metabolic effects of viscous soluble fiber, including blood glucose and cholesterol lowering. His group developed the cholesterol-lowering concept of the dietary portfolio that has entered guidelines in many jurisdictions (e.g. CCS, Heart UK etc.). He is co-chair of the International Carbohydrate Quality Consortium (ICQC) that promotes research and recommendations on the use of carbohydrate foods and their components. He believes in the therapeutic value of plant-based diets and their components and the diets that are advocated have to be environmentally sustainable and reduce the human footprint on the planet.David J.A. Jenkins is an University Professor, and a professor in the Departments of Nutritional Sciences and Medicine, University of Toronto, a staff physician in the Division of Endocrinology, Director of the Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Center, and a Scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital. He was educated at Oxford University. He has served on committees in Canada and the United States that formulated nutritional guidelines for the treatment of diabetes and recommendations for fiber and macronutrient intake under the joint US-Canada DRI system (RDAs) of the National Academy of Sciences. He also served as a member of Agriculture Canada’s Science Advisory Board (2004-2009) on the future direction of Canada’s agriculture and agricultural research. He has spent much time working with the food industry to develop products for the supermarket shelf and, for example, helped to initiate Loblaw’s (Canada’s largest supermarket chain) ‘Too Good To Be True’ and most recently their popular “Blue Menu” line of products ( for cardiometabolic health). His research area is the use of diet in the prevention and treatment of hyperlipidemia and diabetes. He has over 400 original publications on these and related topics. His team was the first to define and explore the concept of the glycemic index of foods and demonstrate the breadth of metabolic effects of viscous soluble fiber, including blood glucose and cholesterol lowering. His group developed the cholesterol-lowering concept of the dietary portfolio that has entered guidelines in many jurisdictions (e.g. CCS, Heart UK etc.). He is co-chair of the International Carbohydrate Quality Consortium (ICQC) that promotes research and recommendations on the use of carbohydrate foods and their components. He believes in the therapeutic value of plant-based diets and their components and the diets that are advocated have to be environmentally sustainable and reduce the human footprint on the planet. |
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KABISCH, STEFAN | |
KAHLEOVA, HANA Dr. Kahleova is a board-certified endocrinologist, with a PhD in human physiology and pathophysiology, and a board certification in lifestyle medicine. She serves as a director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and her research focuses on nutrition treatment of obesity, diabetes, and metabolic disease. As a member of the American Diabetes Association and as a board member of the Diabetes and Nutrition Study Group of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Dr. Kahleova is involved in the process of updating the nutritional recommendations for people with diabetes. |
KENDALL, CYRIL Dr. Kendall is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, and the Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Center, St. Michael’s Hospital, and an Adjunct Professor in the Division of Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Pharmacy and Nutrition at the University of Saskatchewan. He was educated at the University of Toronto, where he obtained his Honors BSc, MSc and PhD. His primary research interest is the role of diet in the prevention and treatment of chronic disease. Dr. Kendall has over 250 publications in peer-reviewed medical journals. His research on the Portfolio Diet, which combines cholesterol-lowering food components, has been included in several guidelines as an effective dietary strategy for cholesterol reduction. He has also conducted much research on the role of healthy dietary patterns, including low glycemic index diets, in the control of type 2 diabetes. Dr. Kendall is a founding member of the International Carbohydrate Quality Consortium (ICQC), Chair of the Diabetes and Nutrition Study Group (DNSG), and Director of Glycemia Consulting and the Toronto 3D Knowledge Synthesis and Clinical Trials foundation. |
KONIGORSKI, STEFAN Stefan Konigorski, PhD, is a Senior Researcher and Head of the Health Intervention Analytics lab (https://hpi.de/lippert/health-intervention-analytics-lab.html) at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany, and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Windreich Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. In his research, he develops computational tools and statistical methods for designing modern trials and estimating causal effects from them, with a specific focus on personalized digital health interventions by using N-of-1 trials, micro-randomized trials and reinforcement learning. Dr. Konigorski received a Diplom in Mathematics from the University of Heidelberg and M.Sc. in Biostatistics from the University of Toronto. He obtained his PhD from the Humboldt University of Berlin in Computer Science. |
LAMARCHE, BENOÎT Benoît Lamarche is Full Professor at the School of Nutrition and Scientific Director and founder of the FRQS-funded Research Center on Nutrition, santé et société (NUTRISS). He has published more than 430 peer-reviewed papers on physiological, clinical, epidemiological and public health issues related to nutrition, food and health. His research has been funded by CIHR uninterruptedly for the last 25 years. He currently leads NutriQuébec, the largest population-based study on nutrition and health funded by the Gouvernement du Québec. He has contributed to the training of more than 70 MSc, PhD students and postdocs. He has received numerous awards, including awards from the Société Québécoise de lipidologie, nutrition et métabolisme (Prix des Fondateurs, 2013) and the Canadian Nutrition Society (Centrum New Investigator Award, 2011 and the Khursheed Jeejeebhoy Award, 2020). He has co-written two books with the acclaimed Chef Jean Soulard on the topics of nutrition, sport and health. Benoît Lamarche is an Olympian (1984, 1988) in long track speed skating. |
LANDBERG, RIKARD Professor Rikard Landberg is head of the Department of Food and Nutrition Science at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. Landberg’s multidisciplinary group investigates the preventive role of (plant-based) foods through observational and interventional studies. Landberg is PI of several RCTs on the role of plant foods in appetite and weight regulation and on cardiometabolic risk. To date, the team has conducted about 15 studies involving more than 1500 participants, ranging from small acute meal studies and pharmacokinetic studies to investigate the basic mechanisms of specific dietary components on human physiology, to large long-term randomized controlled trials to support EU health claims. Landberg is also leading studies to test novel OMICs-based personalized approaches for improved cardiometabolic disease prevention. In his group, metabolomics is a key technique used for discovery and validation of exposure and prediction biomarkers and for molecular phenotyping as a basis for tailored dietary strategies for personalized nutrition. Novel food intake biomarkers for whole grain intake, fish, coffee and dietary patterns have emerged and have been widely validated and implemented by the international research community. The Landberg group uses well-established cohorts from Sweden (SIMPLER, Northern Disease and Health Study), Denmark (Danish Diet Cancer and Health – Next Generation cohort) and Europe (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition). Professor Landberg has authored ~205 papers, ~10 book chapters, ~30 invited/keynote lectures and is the editor of one book. He has a Scopus H-index of 43. Professor Landberg is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, the National Committee for Nutrition and Food Science of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Young Academy of Sweden (2018-2023) |
LANKINEN, MARIA Maria Lankinen (PhD) is an authorized clinical nutritionist, and docent in nutrition, with specialization in lipid metabolism. She is a university lecturer in the Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition at the University of Eastern Finland. She has 15 years of experience in randomized controlled clinical trials investigating health effects of diet. In recent years, she has focused on gene-diet interactions related to fatty acid metabolism and prevention of type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. |
LEAN, MIKE Prof Lean established the Department of Human Nutrition 1990 with a ‘broad-focus’ strategy for translational, integrative, research and teaching. He is the only doctor on the GMC Specialist Register for Human Nutrition, as well as Diabetes and Endocrinology and General/Internal Medicine. His main focusses are obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and health promotion. include DiabetesUK Rank Prize Lecture (2014) and Banting Memorial Lecture (2020-21), Tenovus Medal for Research (2017), FRSE (2018), Rank Prize for Nutrition Research 2024. Visiting professorships at Otago University and University of Sydney. Over 400 Original articles with G-Scholar, H-Index =125. Outside work, plays and makes violins, cycles, and climbs mountains. |
LIU, SIMIN Dr. Simin Liu is an epidemiologist and physician-scientist whose work unites molecular genetics, nutrition, clinical medicine, and public health. He is a Professor of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Surgery and director of the Center for Global Cardiometabolic Health (CGCH) at Brown University. He also holds an adjunct professorship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Liu’s research is mainly concerned with the etiology of complex diseases with special emphasis on identifying strategies for their prevention and control. Dr. Liu’s research group conducts both experimental and observational research that government funding bodies, private foundations, and industries have supported in identifying and confirming multiple novel genetic and biochemical markers and gene-nutrient interactions for cardiometabolic outcomes in diverse populations. His work is among the first to link intake of carbohydrates, insufficiency of micronutrients and minerals, and changes in weight to a series of cardiometabolic outcomes (diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease) prospectively in national cohorts. Dr. Liu has published > 500 original research reports, some of which are among the most highly cited with an H-index of 153. He has developed and taught eight courses and directly supervised 123 trainees at Harvard, UCLA, and Brown University. Dr. Liu is an elected fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA), American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), American Epidemiological Society (AES), and a permanent member of the Epidemic Intelligence Service Alumni Association (EISAA). He has also served as a member and chair on committees/study sections/advisory boards for federal and international agencies, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the European Union, the British Medical Research Council (MRC), and the World Health Organization (WHO) providing consultations on issues related to pharmaceuticals, nutrition, and global health. |
LIVESEY, GEOFFREY Geoff is a nutritional biochemist recently retired from being Director of the consultancy Independent Nutrition Logic Ltd (UK). Formerly he was at the Universities of Surrey (B.Sc. 1st. Biochem), Keele (Ph.D. Cell & tissue biology), Oxford (Post-doc clinical metabolism) and East Anglia (lecturer) in the UK. His first post was with the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation Cancer Research (Surrey, UK). His research interests have seen him associate with several university hospitals, Radcliff (Oxford), Addenbrooke’s (Cambridge) and Norfolk and Norwich (Norfolk), and he was Principal Scientist at the Institute of Food Research (Norwich, UK). Geoff’s interest in metabolic research began while at the MRC Metabolic Research Laboratory (Oxford) led by Sir H. A. Krebs. Geoff had grants and commissions from various organisations (EC, FAO, MRC, AFRC/BBSRC, MAFF, ILSI, EPA, CCC) and has contributed to the work of several expert groups (BNF, LSRO, ILSI, FAO, WHO, HC, DNSG, DGC). Current memberships include AfN, ASN, NS, SENSE, Acumentia, Diabetes UK, RSM, ICQC, Academia Edu., DNSG. and Alzheimer UK (Food for the brain). Geoff’s interests have seen him publish numerous research papers on energy, carbohydrate, fibre, lipid and protein metabolism in health and disease. |
LOVEGROVE, JULIE Julie Lovegrove is Professor of Human Nutrition, Director of the Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition, and Deputy Director of the Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research at the University of Reading. She has expertise in diet in the prevention of cardiometabolic diseases, with focus on the metabolic impact of dietary fats, dairy, plant phytochemicals, nutrient-gene interactions and personalised nutrition. Her work has made a major contribution in establishing the relevance of dietary fat quality to the development of cardiometabolic diseases. Professor Lovegrove serves on several external committees: she is Deputy Chair of UK Government’s Scientific Advisory Committee for Nutrition (SACN), Chair of SACN’S Framework for Evaluation of Evidence subgroup and previously on SACN’s ‘Saturated fats and Health’ and ‘Carbohydrates and Health’ working groups. She is a member of the Medical Research Council’s Population and Systems Medical Board. She was President of The Nutrition Society, UK and Ireland (2019-2023), Deputy Chair for the Association for Nutrition (AfN) Council (2016-2019), and Chair of the AfN Accreditation Committee (2011-2019). She was awarded Fellow of the AfN in 2014 and the British Nutrition Foundation Prize in 2022. |
MALIK, VASANTI Vasanti Malik, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She holds a Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Chronic Disease Prevention. Dr. Malik’s research uses a combination of epidemiological studies, clinical trials and evidence synthesis to evaluate dietary and modifiable risk factors for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases in different populations locally and globally, and on studying the intersection of diet, health and environmental sustainability. The goal of Dr. Malik’s work is to generate evidence that can inform dietary guidance, public policies and programs to prevent chronic diseases and promote more sustainable food systems. |
MANN, JIM Jim Mann is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Otago in New Zealand and has been a Consultant Physician (Endocrinology) at Dunedin Hospital for 35 years. He was the inaugural Director, and is now Co-Director, of the Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Centre, Director of one of New Zealand National Science Challenges and the New Zealand-China Non Communicable Disease Research Collaboration Centre. Prior to moving to New Zealand he was a lecturer at the University of Oxford and a Consultant Physician at the Radcliffe Infirmary. His research relates principally to the role of nutrition, and in particular dietary fibre in the prevention and management of non-communicable disease. He and his colleagues have published over 400 scientific publications, 90 book chapters and several textbooks, including Essentials of Human Nutrition, the 6th Edition having been published in 2023. He has been appointed by the World Health Organisation to lead and serve on numerous international advisory groups, including the Collaborating Centre for Human Nutrition, the Nutritional Guidance Advisory Group and the Expert Advisory Panel on Nutrition, and he has led national and international committees which have developed guidelines for the management of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk assessment. Professor Mann is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He has been awarded the Hercus Medal of the Royal Society and the University of Otago Distinguished Research Medal. In 2002, he was appointed a Companion and in 2022 a Knight Companion of New Zealand Order of Merit for services to medicine and medical research.. |
MARINANGELI, CHRIS Chris Marinangeli has a PhD in human nutrition sciences and is a registered dietitian. He is a scientist and food industry professional across consumer-packaged goods and the Canadian agricultural sector. He is currently Director of the Centre for Regulatory Research and Innovation at Protein Industries Canada and has held senior positions at Pulse Canada, and Kellogg Canada. Chris is experienced at leveraging human nutritional sciences to address knowledge and regulatory gaps that create new opportunities for sectoral differentiation and growth. He is also a recognized expert in national and international food regulations and currently serves on the Canadian Federation of Dietetics Research Scientific Review Committee. |
MECHANICK, JEFFREY Dr. Mechanick is Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health at Mount Sinai Heart, and in the Cardiovascular Institute and Division of Cardiology, and Director of Metabolic Support in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He received his M.D. degree from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, completed Internal Medicine residency at Baylor College of Medicine, and completed Endocrine Fellowship at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Mechanick authored over 420 publications in Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Nutrition Support with 302 PubMed citations, over 90 chapters, and 11 books currently. He is the 2016-2017 Past President of the American College of Endocrinology, 2013-2014 Past President of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and 2005-2006 Past President of the American Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists. Dr. Mechanick was appointed as a member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition (PCFSN) Science Board for 2010-2013 and was the 2013-2015 Editor-in-Chief and currently Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of the PCFSN quarterly publication Elevate Health. Dr. Mechanick currently serves as Chair of the Board of Visitors for the College of Computer, Mathematics, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland at College Park and was the 2011 recipient of the University of Maryland Industry Impact Award and 2011 University of Maryland Biology Alumnus Award. In 2016, Dr. Mechanick was honored as the Yogesh C. Patel Memorial lecturer at McGill University and in 2023, received an Honoris Causa Doctorate from Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania. Dr. Mechanick is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, American College of Nutrition, and American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN), as well as Master of the American College of Endocrinology. In 2023, Dr. Mechanick was appointed President of the Scientific Advisory Board of the BetterMe Lifestyle Medicine Center in Bucharest, Romania. Dr. Mechanick also serves on the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) Board of Directors. Dr. Mechanick’s research interests are in the fields of nutrition and metabolic support, obesity and lifestyle medicine, and network analysis of complex systems. Dr. Mechanick is responsible for training cardiology fellows at Mount Sinai in lifestyle medicine, nutrition, and metabolic support and serves as Chair of The Mount Sinai Hospital Nutrition Care Committee |
MERINO, JORDI Jordi Merino is a molecular epidemiologist with specific training and expertise in human nutrition, metabolism, and genomics. He obtained his PhD in atherosclerosis and lipid metabolism at Rovira i Virgili University, Spain, and completed postdoctoral training in genetic epidemiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA. Jordi Merino leads the genomics and precision medicine research group at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen. The group focuses on understanding the molecular heterogeneity that characterizes diabetes. Using advanced techniques like multi-omics profiling, wearable devices, and bioinformatic approaches, his team refines strategies for diabetes prevention and care, advancing the field of precision medicine for cardiometabolic diseases. |
ORHO-MELANDER, MARJU Marju Orho-Melander is professor of genetic epidemiology at the Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, since 2010. She has MSc in biochemistry from Helsinki University 1995 and PhD in experimental endocrinology from Lund University 1999. Her main research interest is on prediction and prevention of cardiometabolic diseases with focus on the role of diet, the gut microbiome and human genetic variation in cardiometabolic diseases utilizing mainly large population cohorts. She has been awarded by the Fernström award of Lund University 2010 and the Novo Nordisk Foundation Lecture prize 2013. She was recipient of the European Research Council consolidator grant 2015-2020. She is author of 313 articles with 33324 citations and an h-index of 81 (Scopus). |
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PFEIFFER, ANDREAS | |
RABEN, ANNE Anne Raben (AR) has a Ph.D. degree in Human Nutrition and is Professor in the section for Preventive and Clinical Nutrition, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, SCIENCE, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. AR is also Senior Researcher at the Department for Clinical and Translational Research, Copenhagen University Hospital – Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, Denmark. AR has solid experience with small, short–term and large, long-term clinical intervention studies within obesity, diabetes and related diseases. Especially, the role of different dietary compositions, macronutrients, and hereunder carbohydrates (glycemic index, sucrose/starch, and non-energy sweeteners) have been in focus. AR also runs courses in human nutrition for bachelor and master students. Currently, AR is co-coordinator and work package leader of a 1-y intervention study in the Horizon-2020 project “SWEET” (www.sweetproject.eu, 2018 – 2024) focusing on the impact of sweeteners and sweeteners enhancers on health, obesity, safety and sustainability (1). AR has published 229 scientific papers and has an H-index of 60. |
RAMDATH, DAN Dr. Dan Ramdath received his PhD in Human Nutrition and postdoctoral training in Clinical Biochemistry. He has conducted numerous community and hospital based human trials to support public health nutrition policy and regulatory approval of health claims, and has actively promoted the use of credible evidence for policy formulation. Dan’s early research led to the development of F100 therapeutic feed for severely malnourished children; he also contributed to a standardized method for measuring the glycemic index of foods. He was involved in preparing clinical practice guidelines for diabetes and hypertension in the Caribbean, and led the development of the current WHO/PAHO Caribbean DRI Guidelines. Dan has served on several WHO/PAHO Technical Committees for healthy eating, and is currently a member of the WHO guideline development group on consumption of tropical oils. He is a Scientific Advisor to the Caribbean Public Health Agency and was Vice-Chair of WHO/PAHO Expert Committee to establish a Nutrient Profiling Model for the Americas. This policy document has served as the basis for the development and implementation of front of pack labelling in the Americas. He was a Commonwealth Medical Fellow and is recognized as a University of the West Indies Distinguished Alumni. |
REYNOLDS, ANDREW Dr Andrew Reynolds Co-Director of Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Dr Andrew Reynolds is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Otago and is interested in lifestyle risk factors such as what we eat, when and how we move, and the resulting health outcomes. Andrew has a particular interest in fibre-containing foods and dietary fats. Andrew undertakes systematic reviews and meta analyses to synthesise current knowledge or conducts randomised controlled trials to generate new knowledge. His work has informed international clinical and dietary guidelines, including for the World Health Organization and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. |
RICCARDI, GABRIELE Medical Doctor and Nutritionist, Gabriele Riccardi is past Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases at the “Federico II” University in Naples, Italy and Chief of the Diabetes Unit in the University Hospital. His previous positions were President of the Master’s Degree in Human Nutrition and Chairman of the Bachelor’s Degree in Dietetics. He has been President of the Italian Diabetes Society and is now its Honorary President. He has participated in the Joint Committee of the European Society of Cardiology and the European Atherosclerosis Society, which has issued the Guidelines on Management of Dyslipidemias. Gabriele Riccardi has published over 450 research papers in prestigious scientific journals and has held invited lectures at major national and international conferences and in many universities all over the world. In recognition of his scientific commitment, in 2016 he was awarded the Celso Prize “for his innovative leadership and lifetime achievements in diabetes research”. His research interests are mainly related to dietary interventions for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. |
RISÉRUS, ULF Ulf Risérus is a professor of clinical nutrition and metabolism, and head of the clinical nutrition research unit at Uppsala University, Sweden. Risérus conducted his basic medical training at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden and earned a PhD degree in medicine and nutrition at Uppsala University in 2002. After 2 years of postdoctoral training at Oxford Centre of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Churchill Hospital, Oxford University, he has lead a research group at Uppsala University, targeting dietary prevention and management of type 2 diabetes, NAFLD and cardiovascular disease, with special focus on dietary fatty acids. Risérus has initiated and led a series of randomized feeding trials, demonstrating novel effects of different dietary fatty acids on liver fat accumulation and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Risérus has apart from fatty acid research conducted pioneering randomized studies on the metabolic health effects of a Healthy Nordic diet, with the first results published in 2011, and since then extended the research with larger clinical trials on this topic. Risérus has a H-index of 63, with >240 peer-reviewed publications and has >18.500 scientific citations. Risérus was the president of the Diabetes and Nutrition Study Group (DNSG) of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) between 2012-2018, and has been in the working committee of the recent European evidence-based clinical guidelines for dietary management of diabetes. |
RIVALLESE, ANGELA Full Professor of Food and Dietetic Sciences. Angela Rivellese graduated with honors in Medicine, at the University of Naples, Italy, where she got her post-graduate degree in Endocrinology and in Internal Medicine. Research Assistant at the Endocrine Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, London in 1975-76 and Visiting Professor at the Department of Medicine, University of Helsinki in 1993. Research Assistant and then Associate Professor from 1980 to 2015 at the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine of the Federico II University of Naples. Full Professor of Food and Dietetic Sciences from 2015 to 2021 at the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery of the Federico II University of Naples. Chairman of the Study Group on Diabetes and Nutrition of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (2004-2007), and of the Study Group on Diabetes and Atherosclerosis of the Italian Diabetes Society. Chairman of the Undergraduate course in Dietetics of the Federico II University of Naples (2006-2016) and of the Master’s degree in Human Nutrition (2016-2021). Associate editor for the Journal Nutrition Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases and First Editor for the British Journal of Nutrition Research activity on nutrition and metabolic diseases; diabetes and lipid metabolism; diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, with particular experience in intervention clinical trials. Author of approximately 300 full papers on peer-reviewed, international journals. |
ROSQVIST, FREDRIK Graduated from Stockholm University/Karolinska Institute with a Master in Nutrition. He defended his Doctoral thesis at Uppsala University and is currently an associate professor/docent in nutrition and metabolism, as well as senior lecturer in food studies, nutrition and dietetics. He performed his postdoctoral studies at Oxford University, focusing on hepatic lipid metabolism. His research interests include the effects of diet on ectopic fat, body composition and other cardiometabolic risk markers as well as the use of circulating fatty acids as biomarkers. |
SALAS-SALVADÓ, JORDI Distinguished Professor of Nutrition and Director of the Human Nutrition Unit – University Rovira i Virgili (URV) and ICREA Academia Investigator. CIBERobn Principal Investigator and Coordinator of its Nutrition Programme. He is currently Director of the Catalan Nutrition Centre (CCNIEC), President of the World Forum for Nutrition Research and Dissemination (INC), and a member of the expert panel of the Diabetes and Nutrition Study Group (DSNG). Prof Salas’ research has focused on human clinical trials to evaluate the effects of foods, dietary compounds and dietary patterns on obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. Since 2005, he has been one of the principal investigators of the PREDIMED study (n=7447 participants) and is currently the coordinator and chairman of the steering committee of the PREDIMED-Plus study (n=6874 participants), two large clinical trials for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and mortality. PREDIMED-Plus is a multi-collaborative project involving 30 research groups and has received national, European, Canadian and US grants. Through all these projects and collaborations, the group has developed skills in precision medicine using different OMIC methodologies, in particular metabolomics and metagenomics, which we are now implementing in epidemiological and clinical studies. He is also involved in two prospective national and international cohort studies: CORALS (children followed for 10 years) and LEDFERTYL (men of reproductive age). He has published more than 750 scientific articles with more than 45000 citations and an SCI H-index of 100, has published 14 books and has supervised 32 PhD students. Has been named one of the world’s most influential researchers by Clarivate Analytics and Standford University. |
SCHWAB, URSULA Ursula Schwab, PhD, is a professor (nutrition therapy) at the University of Eastern Finland and leads the curriculum of nutrition. She works also as a clinical nutritionist at the Kuopio University Hospital. Her expertise is in planning and conducting randomized controlled dietary interventions regarding the effects of diet, e.g. the Healthy Nordic Diet and the quality of dietary fats and carbohydrates, on lipid and glucose metabolism, low grade inflammation, type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease including nutrigenetics, nutrigenomics, lipidomics and metabolomics approaches. She has been involved in updating the Nordic and Finnish Nutrition Recommendations, the European nutrition guidelines for diabetes, and several national good practice guidelines, e. g. on dyslipidemia, diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. |
SIEVENPIPER, JOHN Dr. Sievenpiper is a Clinician Scientist who holds appointments as a Professor in the Departments of Nutritional Sciences and Medicine and Nutrition theme lead in the MD Program at the University of Toronto and Consultant Physician in the Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism and Scientist in the La Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s Hospital. Dr. Sievenpiper completed his MSc, PhD and PDF training in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto. He completed his MD at St. Matthew’s University followed by Residency training in Medical Biochemistry at McMaster University leading to his certification as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada (FRCPC). He has established an internationally recognized research program focused on using randomized trials and epidemiological approaches to address questions of clinical and public health importance in relation to diet and cardiometabolic disease prevention with a particular interest in the role of carbohydrate quality and plant-based dietary patterns. He is directly involved in clinical practice guidelines development for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in Canada and Europe. He is the recipient of numerous awards including a Stanley N. Gershoff Memorial Lectureship Award, Insulin 100 Emerging Leader Award, Khursheed Jeejeebhoy Award, CNS Young Investigator Award, PSI Foundation Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship, Diabetes Canada Clinician Scientist Award, Banting & Best Diabetes Centre Sun Life Financial New Investigator Award, among others. He has authored > 280 scientific papers and was recognized as a 2023 Highly Cited Researcher (top 0.1% of researchers). |
SLAVIN, JOANNE Joanne is a professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, She teaches Advanced Human Nutrition, a writing intensive course twice yearly. 4With the help of current and former graduate students (n=90), she has authored more than 350 scientific articles on dietary fiber, carbohydrates, whole grains, protein, snacking, gut health, brain health, and sustainable agriculture. Joanne was a member of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) She is a Science Communicator for the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and a member of numerous scientific societies, including the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) and the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) Dr. Slavin has given more than 400 scientific presentations around the world Dr. Slavin grew up on a 119 acre farm in Walworth, Wisconsin which she owns and manages She has BS, MS, and PhD degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a Registered Dietitian (RDN) |
SOEDAMAH-MUTHU, SABITA Her current appointment at the universities of Tilburg and Reading allows her to link her experience in clinical epidemiology, lifestyle epidemiology with psychological interventions. She carried out several meta-analyses and initiated new projects to study nutritional factors (from nutrients, foods and dietary patterns) in the development of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. She has many national and international collaborations (Europe, USA, Australia) and access to several large cohort studies and clinical trials. Her main goal is to set up research on how to influence lifestyle behaviour, including psychological factors, psychological interventions and digital health. So far, all her work led to >160 full-text publications with a web of science H-index of 40 and google scholar index of 51. She is currently involved as (co)promotor of 8 PhD students and supervision of several junior researchers and post-docs. |
SONESTEDT, EMILY Emily Sonestedt is an associate professor in nutritional epidemiology at Lund University and in food and meal science with a specialization in nutrition at Kristianstad University. She holds a master’s degree in nutrition from Stockholm University and a PhD in public health from Lund University. She is the head of the nutritional epidemiology research group at Lund University, Sweden. The focus of her research is on sugar consumption and cardiometabolic risk. She was an expert for the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations published in 2023 in the areas of carbohydrates and sugar, beverages, sweets, and dairy products. |
SROUR, BERNARD Bernard Srour is a junior professor of epidemiology at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE) and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), and is a group leader in the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (CRESS-EREN), in the Paris area. Pharmacist by training, he holds a PhD in public health and epidemiology from the Sorbonne Paris Nord University, and is a postdoc alumni of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). He is the head of the Nutrition and Cancer Research Network (NACRe network) and has expertise in the role of dietary behaviours (meal timing, fasting) and food processing on the risk of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases, with more than 100 publications on these topics. He was granted one of the “Jeunes Chercheurs” awards from the Bettencourt-Schueller Foundation in 2020. |
SUN, QI Dr. Qi Sun is Associate Professor in the Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is also Associate Professor of Medicine at Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Sun’s primary research interests are to identify and examine biomedical risk factors, particularly dietary biomarkers, in relation to type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease through epidemiological investigations. His research is primarily based on several large-scale cohort studies, including the Nurses’ Health Studies and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Dr. Sun is also interested in understanding the role of environmental pollutants, such as perfluoroalkyl substances and legacy persistent organic pollutants, in the etiology of weight change and type 2 diabetes. His research has led to more than 300 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Sun is currently leading a few NIH-funded projects that focus on food biomarker discovery and validation, as well as relationships between obesogens and weight change, in human populations. |
TARAZONA, FRANCISCO JOSÉ Senior Consultant and Geriatric Residency Programme Tutor. Department of Geriatrics. Hospital Universitario de la Ribera (Alzira, Valencia, Spain) Professor of Geriatrics. School of Medicine. Catholic University of Valencia. Sant Vicent Màrtir. Clinical Member. Member of the Executive Committee. Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology (SEGG). Former Financial Director. Member of the Executive Board. European Society of Geriatric Medicine (EuGMS). Author of 81 publications in indexed journals. Index h: 27 and index i10: 48. |
VAN GAAL, LUC Professor of Medicine, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism, Antwerp University Hospital, Antwerp, Belgium. Luc Van Gaal studied medicine at the University of Antwerp, where he graduated in 1978. He obtained a specialist degree in internal medicine and afterwards in endocrinology and metabolism in 1983. Since then, he has become responsible for the Metabolic Unit at the Antwerp University Hospital. In 1992 he became Professor of Medicine at Antwerp University and is currently -as an emeritus professor- honorary consultant at the department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism of the University Hospital. Professor Van Gaal’s main clinical and research interests are related to obesity, type 2 diabetes and lipid metabolism. He is a member of many scientific, national and international societies and a member of the Editorial Board of a series of scientific journals. He was a board member of the Belgian Association for the Study of Obesity (BASO) and Past-President of the Belgian Endocrine Society and the Belgian Diabetes Association. He is as a founding member of the International (IASO) SCOPE programme. In 2000, he was the co-President of the 10th European Congress on Obesity, organized in Antwerp in May 2000. He participated to and/or featured as (country) coordinator or principal investigator a number of clinical (outcome) trials in the field of obesity and diabetes. He recently also became interested in the obesity associated liver disease (NAFLD – MASHD) He is also involved in a number of EU consortia for metabolic diseases. He has published more than 500 papers in international medical journals, mainly in the areas of general endocrinology, obesity, diabetes and lipids and has contributed to a number of textbooks about obesity. |
WITTENBECHER, CLEMENS Dr. Wittenbecher specializes in molecular profiling, particularly metabolomics and lipidomics, to investigate the relationship between diet and cardiometabolic disease risk. His methods include network analyses, risk prediction, machine learning, and causal modeling in cohorts and diet trials. His team’s goal is to validate the causal impact of diet on disease etiology using -omics technologies and diverse study data. A key research area is the dietary influence on lipid metabolism. Additional focuses are molecular subtyping of diseases and multi-omics data integration in population studies. Dr. Wittenbecher’s translational objectives are to refine dietary guidelines and develop biomarker-driven precision nutrition approaches. |