Mario J Soares is a physician-scientist with a formal grounding in human nutrition and physiology. He is a tenured Teaching & Research Academic at Curtin University, Perth, Australia with a cross appointment as Adjunct Professor, St. John's Research Institute, Bangalor,e India. His current research focuses on calcium and vitamin D in obesity and T2DM. He has served the Nutrition Society of Australia as Chairperson of its Perth Chapter and also was the Director, Research Training of the School of Public Health, Curtin University.
Associate Editors
Head of the Department of Epidemiology of the German Institute of Human Nutrition, Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Germany. His main research interests are in the area of Nutritional Epidemiology. Particularly, he is focusing on the role of food for disease prevention and food-based guidelines. This also includes studying the interaction of lifestyle factors with emphasis on the energy balance in relation to metabolite status and markers of certain disorders and ageing as well. Formerly, he was especially involved in studies on the etiology of cancer and chronic diseases, which have been based on his contribution to the EPIC study. He has published more than 800 peer-reviewed research papers, book sections, reviews and other publications so fare. He is Vice President of the Board of the German Nutrition Society and local PI of the EPIC-Potsdam study and the German National Cohort.
Claudio Maffeis, Italy
Expertise: Obesity and its complications in children and adolescents; Energy and nutrient metabolism; Diabetes mellitus in pediatrics
Current Director of the Complex Operative Unit of Pediatric Diabetology, Clinical Nutrition, and Obesity, and the Regional Center for Pediatric Diabetes, University of Verona. Claudio Maffeis' research interests lie in child nutrition and diabetes. In particular, he focused his research on the energy expenditure and nutrient metabolism in obese children as well as on the epidemiology and risk factors of childhood obesity. He coordinated research projects of national interest and published more than 170 peer-reviewed original research papers, including reviews and book chapters, and is currently Associate Editor of Pediatric Obesity. He is a member of the Commission on Dietetic and Nutrition of the Italian Ministry of Health. He is serving in the Board of The Italian Society of Obesity and the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics.
Anoop Misra, India
Expertise: Obesity & body composition in Asian Indians/South Asians; Nutrition strategies for weight loss & glycemic control in Asian Indians/South Asians; T2DM in South Asians/developing countries; Non-alcoholic fatty liver and fatty pancreas
Anoop Misra is presently Chairman, Fortis-CDOC Center of Excellence for Diabetes, Metabolic Diseases, and Endocrinology, New Delhi, and Director, National Diabetes, Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation, and Diabetes Foundation (India). He has received training at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India, Royal Free Hospital in London, UK and at Department of Medicine and Endocrinology at Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Texas, USA. He has been advisory board member of National Program for Cancer, Diabetes, and CVD, India and has been member, Working Groups on obesity, nutrition and diabetes for Indian Council of Medical Research, National Institute of Nutrition, National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (India) and the WHO. He has published more than 300 scientific papers in the National and International journals. Prof. Misra has several important scientific findings to his credit; he has lead countrywide consensus guidelines for obesity, the metabolic syndrome, physical activity, diets, and management of diabetes for Asian Indians. Dr Misra has been Awarded highest award for medicine in India Dr BC Roy award (2006) and prestigious National Honor, Padma Shree (2007). He has given 30 named orations in India and neighboring countries.
Giovanna Muscogiuri, Italy
Expertise: Vitamin D, Obesity, Insulin resistance, GLP-1, PCOS
Giovanna Muscogiuri graduated cum laude in Medicine from Catholic University, Rome in 2006 and then carried out postgraduate residency in Endocrinology and Metabolic Disease at the same University, obtaining her degree of specialization cum laude in 2012. She attended the post-doctoral fellowship at University of Texas Health science Center at San Antonio, TX – USA where she began her research in metabolic disease. Her research is on a range of nutritional topics including the study of insulin resistance, insulin secretion and GLP- 1. She is currently focused on the study of vitamin D and vitamin D related disease. She has received several awards for her scientific achievements in the metabolic research field. She has written or co-authored over 80 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and serves on the Editorial Boards of several endocrinological and/or metabolic journals.
Sumithra Muthayya, Australia
Expertise: Maternal and child nutrition; Vitamin and mineral deficiency; Food security; Micronutrients
Sumithra Muthayya is a nutritional epidemiologist, with interest and expertise in maternal and child nutrition. She is the Director of Aboriginal Health at the Sax Institute, Sydney, Australia. Using a range of epidemiological study designs, her work has addressed adverse birth outcomes and vitamin and mineral deficiency in developing countries and has informed the development of sustainable strategies and interventions for improved maternal and child health outcomes. Between 2010 and 2012, she was the global coordinator of a public-private alliance promoting large scale efforts to tackle vitamin and mineral deficiency worldwide. She played a key role in the early work towards the development of global technical guidelines for fortification of rice with micronutrients, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation. Her current interests include identifying culturally appropriate interventions to improve food security in Australian Aboriginal households and address high rates of obesity in Aboriginal children.
Philip Newsholme, Australia
Expertise: Metabolism; Insulin secretion and action; Nutritional supplementation and impact on gene expression and metabolism
Philip is currently Head of School, Biomedical Sciences at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia (September 2011 – December 2017). From January 2018 Prof Newsholme will take on academic responsibilities as a Teaching and Research Professor in the new School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at Curtin University. He obtained his B.Sc. and D. Phil. in Biochemistry from the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford, UK, respectively. His research interests are in the disciplines of metabolic biochemistry and molecular nutrition. Before taking up his present position he worked at University College Dublin, Ireland, in the fields of biochemistry, biomedical science, nutrition and sports science. He has published in excess of 100 research papers, 50 review articles, and 12 book chapters. He has previously collaborated with colleagues in the food industry via Food for Health Ireland (FHI) and in the pharmaceutical industry via AstraZeneca (Manchester, UK). He was recently a member of the Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts (2012 – 2015) where he served on the Biological Sciences and Biotechnology Panel. With respect to nutrition research, Prof. Newsholme collaborates with colleagues in Food Science and Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at Curtin University with respect to generation of glucose lowering bioactive peptides derived from Western Australian lupin seeds. He has most recently contributed to the development of teaching content covering fundamental biochemical aspects of the new Curtin medical curriculum.
Thomas MS Wolever, Canada
Expertise: Whole body human metabolism; Dietary carbohydrates in relation to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease; Insulin resistance / beta-cell dysfunction; Diabetes; Blood lipids
Thomas MS Wolever, obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Oxford University, UK in 1980, a PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Toronto in 1986 and a Doctorate in Medicine from Oxford University in 1993. My current position is Professor and Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto. I have the following cross appointments: Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto; Scientist, Keenan Research Centre of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto; Member, Active Medical Staff, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto; and Member, Consulting Medical Staff, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto. My research interests are the effects of dietary carbohydrates on human physiology and metabolism. I am, perhaps, most well-known for my work on the glycaemic index which was as first developed by Dr. David Jenkins and me, along with other collaborators, while I was a medical student. I have written or co-authored over 300 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and also authored a book entitled: The Glycaemic Index: A Physiological Classification of Dietary Carbohydrate published in 2006 by CABI (www.cabi.org). In 1997 I founded GI Testing, Inc. to provide confidential GI testing services to industry. To cope with the high demand for GI testing and to enable a wider range of clinical research services to be provided, Glycemic Index Laboratories, Inc. (www.gilabs.com) was formed in 2004; a corporation of which I am President. More important than anything else, I am married with 3 children aged 26, 24 and 17 years. I enjoy orienteering, cycling and recorder playing.
Shankuan Zhu, China
Expertise: Obesity and its related chronic diseases mechanism, risk factor, screening, diagnostic standard, and prevention
Dr. Zhu is a Qiushi Professor at Zhejiang University, China Medical Board (CMB) Distinguished Professor, a Professor at Women’s Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, and a Professor at the University of Toronto (Status Only). He is the Founding Director of Chronic Disease Research Institute, and the Chair of Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene at Zhejiang University School of Public Health. He is also the Founding Director of Obesity and Body Composition Research Center at Zhejiang University School of Medicine. Dr. Zhu served as Executive Dean and Vice Dean of Zhejiang University School of Public Health from 2009 to 2017.
Dr. Zhu graduated from Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan, and obtained PhD in 1997, he was an Assistant Professor at Nagoya University from 1997 to 2000. From 2000 to 2003, Dr. Zhu received Post-doctoral training at Obesity Research Center of Human Nutrition Institute at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) from 2003 to 2007 at Medical College of Wisconsin and Adjunct Associate Professor from 2008 to 2010. Dr. Zhu received US China Medical Board (CMB) Distinguished Professorship Award in 2009, University Silver Medal from Heidelberg University in 2012, and the Most Cited Chinese Researchers in Medicine (Elsevier) in 2014 to 2018.
Statistical Editors
Christian Ritz, Denmark
Christian Ritz, MSc, PhD, is an Associate Professsor in statistics at the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen. His research interests focus on statistical methodology linked to applications in nutrition, physiology, and toxicology, including dose-response analysis, mixed model methodology. Statistical computing is an integral part of this research. He has over 200 peer-reviewed publications; his methodological work has contributed to current understanding of some aspects of inference in mixed models. Also, his development of statistical software for dose-response analysis has been highly influential. He has been involved in most stages of design and analysis of both randomized controlled trials and observational studies.
Richard Woodman, Australia
Richard Woodman holds a balanced academic position at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, performing biostatistical consulting, independent research and teaching to undergraduate, postgraduate and MD students. He is currently the director of the Flinders Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Recently he has provided a lead role in establishing the methodology for the reporting of standardised in-hospital mortality ratios across Australia with the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in HealthCare (ACSQHC), the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, and the National Health Performance Authority. His work covers a broad range study designs and methodology including those used in clinical trials and observational studies, and he has authored more than 180 peer reviewed journal articles. He is also a former president of the South Australian branch of the Statistical Society of Australia (SSA) and current Council member.
Social Media Editor
Li Kheng Chai, Australia
Li is an Accredited Practicing Dietitian and a PhD candidate (Nutrition & Dietetics) at the University of Newcastle. She has sought experience from a variety of disciplines including clinical dietetics, nutrition research, community health promotion and education, and undergraduate teaching and supervision. Li is a strong advocate for children’s health and nutrition. Her current research interests lie in the fields of childhood obesity, one of the primary modifiable risk factors for chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and stroke. Her research focuses on using technology to develop, deliver and evaluate nutrition and lifestyle interventions to improve children’s health and diet quality, and to manage and treat obesity in children.