Endocrine, Metabolic & Immune Disorders - Drug Targets

Dr Chang Kim is a leading scientist in the areas of lymphocyte trafficking, mucosal immunology, and follicular T cells. He received his B.S. in Biology at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 1990 and M.S. degree in 1992. Then, he moved to the biotech branch of LG Chem LTD, South Korea before his PhD at Indiana University School of Medicine and his postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. He is the section head of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at Purdue University and serves the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Diseases as a program leader.

Degree in Biology (1997) at the University of Bari, Bari, Italy; PhD in Immunology (2008) at the University of Bari, Bari, Italy Consultant in Immunology (2012-2014) at the University of Bari, Bari, Italy; Research Professor of Immunology and General Pathology at the University of Bari, Bari, Italy, since 2015; Fields of interest: Immunonutrition, mucosal immunology, microbial immunity; Publications listed in PubMed: 55; Editorial Board Member of: Immunopharmacology and Immunotoxicology, Endocrine Metabolic Immune Disorders-Drug Targets, Clinical Immunology Endocrine Metabolic Drugs, Recent Patent in Biotechnology.

Kostas N. Priftis, MD is Associate Professor in Paediatric Pulmonology, at the Children’s Respiratory and Allergy Unit, Third Department of Paediatrics, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Greece. Graduated from the Medical School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1976) and defended his PhD thesis at the University of Athens (1982). Completed his residency training in Paediatrics at the University of Patras (1985) and a research fellowship in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at the Children’s Respiratory Unit, University of Nottingham Medical School, UK (1989). His research focuses on childhood asthma, chronic endobronchial infections, breath sounds and allergy. He has authored more than 160 scientific publications in peer reviewed international journals (h-index 31), edited 5 books or special issues (in English) and his work has received over 3,100 citations. This period serves as chair of Bronchology Group of the ERS Paediatric Assembly.

Dr. Fabrizio Bruschi graduated in 1979 in Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy. Hematology Specialization, University of Pisa, Italy. He obtained the Certificat d'Etudes Superieures in Immunologie et Pathologie Parasitaires at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. Researcher since 1984, confirmed since 1987, then Associate Professor in General Pathology, Medical Faculty, University of Perugia,Italy (1992-1997), then University of Pisa, Italy until 2002. Research interests include: host-parasite relations in a model of helminthic infection such as trichinellosis of which different aspects, both experimental and clinic have been studied. At present he is President of the Società Italiana di Parassitologia He is author or co-author of over 130 publications among which chapters in books from international publishers. Since 2014 he is a member of the Baylor College of Medicine National School of Tropical Medicine (NSTM), Houston, Texas (U.S.A.).

Dr. George Chrousos is Professor of Pediatrics and Endocrinology and Chairman of the First Department of Pediatrics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine, Athens, Greece. Dr. Chrousos pioneered studies that elucidated the effects of stress on the organism at the behavioral, neuroendocrine, cellular and molecular levels and made fundamental contributions to the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of pituitary, adrenal and stress-related pathologies, i.e., major depression, obesity/metabolic syndrome, and autoimmune/inflammatory, reproductive and sleep disorders. He made seminal observations in the glucocorticoid signaling system and deciphered some of its key clinical implications. Dr. Chrousos is universally regarded as one of the most prominent paediatricians and endocrinologists.

Dr. Elmadfa was Trained in Nutritional Sciences (MSc), PhD and Habilitation in Nutritional physiology at JLU Giessen, Germany. Till 1990 he was university assistant, dozent and full professor at the Institute of Nutrition, JLU Giessen and 1990-2011 Founding Director and professor of the Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Vienna. His research interests covered Nutrient requirements in health and disease (member of WG Dietary Reference Intake Values for Central European Countries), Monitoring of nutrition and health status, Nutrient bioavailability, Immuno-nutrition, Food safety and quality. He was coordinator, partner and work package leader of many nationally and ten EU- funded projects, author of the Austrian Nutrition Report (1998, 20003, 2008, 2012), the European Nutrition and Health Report (2004 and 2009) and over 400 original publications in international scientific journals.

Dr. Giagulli is head of Outpatient Clinic Unit for Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Conversano Hospital and professor of Endocrinology for nursing degree program at the University of Bari (Italy). Dr. Giagulli was Researcher fellow in Endocrinology of the University of Ghent (Belgium) and Professor of Endocrinology at the Post-Graduate School of Endocrinology in Bologna (Italy). He obtained a Postgraduate in Endocrinology from the University of Bari, a doctorate (Ph.D) in Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases from the University of Bari and Naples and a Master's degree in Andrology from the University of Florence (Italy). He published more than 60 scientific publications and is currently on the Board of Italian AACE (American Association for Clinical Endocrinologists) Chapter.

Dr. Hardy did his medical studies at Laval University in Quebec City, Canada (1979-1984) and a specialization in Pediatrics-Neonatology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada (1985-1994). He continued his training with a doctorate in pharmacology at the University of Montreal, Canada (1995-2000) and a fellowship at the Institute of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering of the University of Philadelphia (2000-2002). His areas of expertise are: angiogenesis, retina, eye, retinopathy, microvesicles, macrophages, retinoblastoma, macular degeneration, and microenvironment. Research of Dr. Hardy field covers the role of the microvesicles of cellular origin on pathological angiogenesis and tumor development and their effects on the modulation of the microenvironment including macrophages. He assesses how the environment within the retinal or tumor tissue changes functions and the phenotype of the macrophages.

Dr. Asiful Islam completed his PhD in genetics of antiphospholipid syndrome from Human Genome Centre, Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2018. Currently, he is working as a senior lecturer in the same university under the Department of Haematology. He has published around 34 (Web of Science-indexed) journal articles so far (total impact factor 2018: 107.057 citations: 554; h-index:13; i10-index: 16). He has been working as an academic editor for the journal PLOS ONE. His current major research interest includes haematological malignancies in autoimmune diseases.

Dr. Jacobs studied chemistry and obtained his doctorate (PhD) from the university of Hamburg, Germany. Since then his scientific interests are mainly focused on regulation of T cells during infectious diseases by co-inhibitory molecules and how these molecules contribute to the development of the immune response that can either lead to protection or pathology. 2000 he joined the Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine in Hamburg (Germany) as senior scientist. Since 2016 he is head of the newly formed group “Protozoan Immunology” which is mainly working on malaria and chagas disease.

Prof. Francesco Marotta has got specialization in Hepato-Gastroenterology. He holds a Japanese Ph.D. granted by Hirosaki University, and Japanese Ministry of Science at National Cancer centre, Tokyo. He has received several international prizes and co- edited 2 successful books on aging- intervention and over 10 book chapters. His skills and expertise are in Antioxidant Activity, Food Analysis, Food and Nutrition, Liver Diseases, and clinical trials. He has contributed more than 250 publications, having citations around 2, 562.

Since 2006 Eduardo Ortega (Doctor in Biology-Immunology by Complutense University of Madrid, Spain; and Professor of Physiology at the University of Extremadura, Spain) is the founder and head of the Immunophysiology Research Group, mainly focused on the modulation of innate and inflammatory cells by stress messengers at physiological concentrations released after different physiological conditions and strategies; also evaluating the potential dysfunctions in the bidirectional interactions between the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems; particularly with regard to the feedback between stress and inflammatory responses and with special emphasis in the well-balanced innate and inflammatory processes.

Dr. Wu obtained his medical degree, MS in Physiology, and Ph.D. in Immunology from Jilin University, Bethune School of Medicine, China, and completed his post-doctoral training in the research area of nutritional immunology at Tufts University. He is currently a Scientist I and the Associate Director at the Nutritional Immunology Laboratory, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, and an Associate Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University. He has conducted very productive research and published more than 90 peer-reviewed papers.

Dr. Surajit Pathak is an Indian born research scientist, advisor and an Associate Professor at CHETTINAD ACADEMY OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATION, Chennai who has multiple expertise encompassing endocrinology, cancer biology, stem cell and regenerative medicine. He started active research in the year 2001 and received his Ph.D. from University of Kalyani, INDIA in 2007.Worked in USA, Italy and Sweden over 10 years with 930 citations. Dr. Pathak has published over 52 papers till date.