SCOPE Fellows

Dr Abd Tahrani, UK, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in March 2020, having previously been awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2014.

Abd is a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinician Scientist at the University of Birmingham (UoB), an Honorary Consultant Endocrinologist at the University Hospitals of Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, the lead for weight management research and diabetic neuropathy services at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, the lead for translational research in the Centre of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (CEDAM), Birmingham Health Partners and the communication co-lead in the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research (IMSR) at the UoB.

He obtained his PhD in 2013 from the UoB, which was focussed on the impact of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

Abd’s research has the following themes: the metabolic consequences of sleep-related disorders, obesity management and complications, diabetes-related neuropathy, and the pharmacology of type 2 diabetes and obesity. Abd has published over 130 peer-reviewed articles, and delivered more than 80 invited talks in the internationally leading conferences in the field. He was awarded the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Sleep Disordered Breathing Investigator of the Year award in 2013, and two awards from the NIHR in the UK in 2008 and 2013, amongst several other awards.

Abd is an elected member of Neurodiab, a trustee of the Association for the Study of Obesity ASO (UK), a panel member of the NIHR Research for Patients Benefit (RfPB), the NIHR Dissemination Centre, the program organising committee of European Congress of Obesity 2019, and the British Sleep Society Research Committee, and he is an Expert Advisor to the Medical Technology Advisory Committee of NICE and the chair for the Obesity Management Committee in the ASO (UK). He is a regular peer reviewer to the leading journals in medicine, sleep, obesity, diabetes and endocrinology and multiple national and international research funding organisations.

Dr Ada Cuevas, Chile, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2012.

Dr. Cuevas was born in Santiago, Chile. She studied in the Faculty of Medicine at the Catholic University of Chile. After she earned her MD, she obtained a Masters in Clinical Nutrition at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, University of Chile (1990-1991). Dr Cuevas then continued her studies in Nutrition and Metabolism doing a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Center for Human Nutrition, Southwestern Medical Center, University of Texas at Dallas (1992-1993).

Between 1995 and 2003 she was a professor at the Department of Nutrition, Diabetes and Metabolism in the Catholic University of Chile, Medical School. During that period, she was focused on clinical research in Obesity, Nutrition and Dislipidemias.

Between 2004 and 2012 she served  as Director of the Department of Clinical Nutrition,  at Las Condes Clinic in Santiago, Chile. Between 2009 and 2012 she has been Chair of the Regional Executive Committee for America of the International Atherosclerosis Society (IAS). Also, she founded the Chilean Atherosclerosis working Group, member of the IAS.

Dr. Cuevas is member of several scientific societies including the Chilean Chapter of IAS, Medical Society of Santiago, Chilean Association of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism and Chilean Endocrinology and Diabetes Society. She is also on the Editorial Board of several peer review medical journals.

Recently she has focused on the area of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome, and contributing to the understanding of these increasing problems  in Latin America.

Dr Cuevas is Chair of World Obesity's Clinical Care Committee.

Dr Adrzej Milewicz, Poland, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Dr Agnieszka Zak-Golab, Poland, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2011.

Prof Alain Golay, Switzerland, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Prof Golay has been Professor in Medicine at the Service of Therapeutic Education for Chronic Diseases, University Hospital, Geneva, since 1993 and has been head of the service since 2003. He is responsible for diabetes and obesity outpatients, patient education and cognitive behavioural approaches. His main research interest is in the field of insulin resistance, patient education and psychology.

Alain graduated in medicine in 1980 from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and subsequently became a Research and Clinical Fellow in the Department of Endocrinology at Stanford University, California, USA. He worked in the research department of Professor Reaven who discovered the metabolic syndrome.

During his career, Professor Golay has published widely concerning diabetes, obesity and patient education and has received various awards for his contribution to medical research in diabetes, obesity, and patient education.

Dr Alberic Fiennes, UK, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2012.

Dr Albert Lecube, Spain, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2012.

Dr Alexander Kokkinos, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2011, and in 2017 was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship.

Alexander is Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, specializing in obesity and diabetes, at the First Department of Propaedeutic Medicine of the University of Athens, Greece. He studied Medicine and specialized in Internal Medicine at the same University. He then trained in diabetes and obesity, and participated in research locally, as well as the Department of Metabolic Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London, UK.

He has published a substantial number of papers and given many congress presentations in these fields, in addition to numerous national and international congress abstracts.

Dr Alexander Miras, UK, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2017.

Dr Alfred Wirth, Germany, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Dr Angelo Pietrobelli, Italy, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Angelo is a Doctor in Medicine with the specialty on Pediatric Endocrinology who worked with Dr. Heymsfield for four years at the New York Obesity Research Center, Columbia University, St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York (USA). Currently, he is working, as Associate Professor, in the Premature Intensive Unit Care in Verona Pediatric Clinic, Verona University Medical School, Verona (ITALY).

He is Associate Professor in Nutrition and also  Adjunct Associate Professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, (USA).

His research interests include the use of Dual energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) with pediatric samples and also other body composition measurements (e.g., anthropometrics and bioimpedance analysis). Currently he is involved in several projects related to nutrition both in premature babies and in infants, as well as prevention and treatment of Pediatric Obesity. He serves as a reviewer for many scholarly publications, including New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, American Journal of Physiology, Journal of Pediatrics, Obesity,  International Journal of Obesity, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Diabetes Care, British Medical Journal and British Journal of Nutrition.

Among publications nationals and internationals, (actually 175 in Medline), book chapters and reports, we would like to mention papers published on Pediatrics, Journal of Pediatrics, American Journal of Physiology, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Obesity, International Journal of Obesity  and Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA).

Dr Anna Maria Wolf, Germany, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2005.

Dr Arnaud Basdevant, France, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Professor of Nutrition at the University Pierre & Marie Curie, Arnaud  is head of the Department of Endocrinology at Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. He has a long-standing interest in obesity management and research in collaboration with Pr. Bernard Guy-Grand. His medical team is in charge of an “obesity unit” and receives referrals from around France. Clinical activities focus particularly on patients with extreme obesity, severe complications and genetic/syndromic obesities (rare diseases) and therapeutic education (diet and physical activity). The department is associated with the clinical investigation unit “Center of Human Nutrition Research” of the Ile de France region (director Pr. Jean Michel Oppert) and with the Inserm research unit “Nutriomic” of  Pr. Karine Clément. Pr. Basdevant’s major research interest is in the field of the behavioural, genetic and biological determinants of obesity and the mechanism of associated complications. P Basdevant initiated the French guidelines on “Prevention and Management of Obesity” and he is at present in charge of a nation-wide plan for the organisation of hospital care for obese patients for the French national health service. Pr. Basdevant is a founding fellow of SCOPE, member of EASO and AFERO and participates on the Obesity Management Task Force.

Dr Arne Astrup, Denmark, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Professor Arne Astrup is Head of The Department of Human Nutrition at The Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He was awarded the Chair in Nutrition at the University in 1990. Arne Astrup is the Director of the Danish Nordea Foundation OPUS research centre 2009-14. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Copenhagen in 1981 Arne Astrup completed residencies in internal medicine at the Glostrup and Hvidovre Hospitals in Copenhagen. He attained a Doctorate in Medical Science at The University of Copenhagen in 1986. Arne Astrup’s main areas of interest and research include physiology and pathophysiology of energy and substrate metabolism, with a special emphasis on the etiology and treatment of obesity. The research of Arne Astrup and his group covers an extensive area. Major research collaboration includes participation in the EU multicenter studies: EUROSTARCH, CARMEN, NUGENOB, DIABESITY, DIOGENES, EMOB, and HEALTHGRAIN. Arne Astrup has published over 265 original papers, including papers published in journals such as The Lancet, the British Medical Journal, and The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Citation H-index is 54. He has contributed to over 700 other scientific publications, such as textbook chapters, scientific abstracts, reviews, and letters. He was President of The International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) 2006-2009, and chairman of IASO 2009-, Editor-in-Chief of the IASO journal Obesity Reviews. He is a member of the editorial boards of The International Journal of Obesity and The Journal of the Danish Medical Association. Honors received include Servier's Award for Outstanding Obesity Research in 1990, the IASO André Mayer Award, 1994, the Danone Chair in Nutrition, 2002, at The University of Antwerp and The Faculty of Life Sciences and the University of Copenhagen Communication Prize 2007. Arne Astrup was made Knight of the Order of Dannebrog in 1999.

Prof Arya M Sharma, Germany, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Arya is Professor of Medicine and Chair of Obesity Research and Management at the University of Alberta, Canada. He is also the Medical Director of the Capital Health Regional Weight Wise Program and the Scientific Director of the federally funded Canadian Obesity Network. Past appointments include Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Cardiovascular Obesity Research and Management and Professor of Medicine at the Michael G DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and Director of the Centre for Cardiovascular Obesity Research and Management at Hamilton General Hospital. Until 2002, he was Professor of Medicine, Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, at the Franz-Volhard-Klinik–Charité in Berlin, Germany. His research focuses on the environmental and biological causes of obesity and an evidence-based approach to managing obese patients. Professor Sharma is on the editorial boards of several journals and has authored or co-authored more than 250 scientific articles. He has also lectured widely on the aetiology and management of hypertension, obesity and related cardiovascular disorders. Professor Sharma graduated from the Free University Berlin, Germany, and holds post-doctoral degrees in internal medicine and nephrology. Professor Sharma maintains a widely-read blog where he regularly posts his ideas and thoughts on obesity prevention and management: http://www.drsharma.ca/

Dr. Atieh Mehdizade was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2022.

After compleing her medical education, she continued with a PhD education (2013-2018) and earned a MD-PhD Certificate in 2019 from Mashhad University of Medical Science in Iran. She currently works as a Nutritionist in Qaem Educational, Research and Treatment Hospital in Mashhad and also has a private Nutrition Clinic. She is a University Lecturer and Vice-President of Iranian Nutrition Society (Khorasan-Razavi).

She is also approved as an international teacher for life-long learning workshops of ESPEN and the local organizer and lecturer of SCOPE-accredited workshops in Iran. She is head of a skill-oriented education program focusing on prevention and treatment of obesity in Razavi Hospital in Mashhad. She obtained her ESPEN diploma certification from the European Society of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism in 2021 and is pursung a 3-month education completion (ESPEN training program) in the Medical University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Dr Avraam Avramidis, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2005.

Dr Baldwin Yeung, Singapore, was awarded SCOPE National Fellowship in 2022.

He is a Consultant General and Upper Gastrointestinal (UGI) surgeon and the Head of UGI and Bariatric Surgery service at Sengkang General Hospital (SKH), Singapore.

He  undertook a one-year fellowship in laparoscopic UGI surgery and advanced endoscopy at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong; and a one-year fellowship in UGI cancer surgery and bariatric surgery at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.  He has undertaken several short fellowships at: Functional Gut Clinic, London; ZhongShan Hospital, Shanghai, China; AZ Sint Jan Hospital, Bruges, and IHU Strasbourg, to refine his skills in foregut functional studies, advanced endoscopy, bariatric surgery and endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty respectively.

He completed his undergraduate BSc(Hons) degree and MBChb(Hons) from the University of Glasgow and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde.  

His  subspecialist interests are bariatric surgery, endobariatrics (endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) and intra-gastric balloon insertion), therapeutic endoscopy, ERCP and Spyglass Cholangioscopy.

Dr Barbara Krzyzanowska-Swiniarska, Poland, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2008.

Dr Barbara McGowan, UK, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2015.

Dr Barbara Zahorska-Markiewicz, Poland, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Barbara is the Director of the Department of the Obesity Management clinic, Katowice. Previously, she was Senior Assistant of the Department of Internal Diseases between 1961 and 1974, then Associate Professor of the Department of Gastroenterology from 1974 to 1986. Professor Zahorska-Markiewicz became Professor of the Department of Physiology, Institute of Occupational Medicine, Sosnowiec from 1986 to 1990 and also the Professor and Dean of the Department of Pharmacology, Silesian Medical Academy, Katowice in 1990 to 1996. In 1996, she became Chief of the Department of Pathophysiology till 2008 where she was made the Director. Professor Zahorska-Markiewicz was a member of Senate of the Medical University of Silesia, President of the Polish Association for the Study of Obesity till 2011 and Member of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (Obesity Management TaskForce).

She has published over 200 publications and 35 book chapters. She has many years of research experience in physiology, pathophysiology and internal diseases with special emphasis on etiology and treatment of obesity. Major fields of interest are: the regulation of food intake and treatment of obesity, serum concentrations of the cytokines in obesity, role of the sympathetic nervous system in the metabolism and energy balance.

Dr Bernard Guy-Grand, France, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Dr Bernhard Ludvik, Austria, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Bernhard is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna. He is Vice-chairman of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism in the Department of Internal Medicine III and acting Head of the Diabetes and Metabolism Outpatient Clinic of the General Hospital Vienna (AKH Wien). Dr Ludvik has published more than 90 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is currently the leader of the working group on obesity and endocrinology. His research interest lies in basic and clinical research concerning the pathogenesis and clinical therapy of type 2 diabetes mellitus, the metabolic syndrome, obesity and lipid-related disorders as well as nutritional medicine. He serves as principal investigator of clinical trials in phases 1, 2 and 3. Dr Ludvik is the immediate Past-President of the Austrian Diabetes Association, Past-President of the Austrian Obesity Association and member of the Editorial board of "Journal für Ernährungsmedizin" and Section Editor (clinical aspects and treatment) of Obesity Facts – The European Journal of Obesity.

Dr Boris Krahulec, Slovakia, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2005.

Prof Kuo-Chin (Brett) Huang, Taiwan, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2012.

Brett is the professor and director in Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine in National Taiwan University (NTU). He is the head of Department of Family Medicine and chief of Section of Preventive Medicine at NTU hospital. He has worked in clinical practice, teaching and research of obesity field for more than 20 years. He has published many obesity papers in prestigious journals and acts as a leading role in national policy and guidelines for obesity management in Taiwan. Over recent years, he has also been invited to devote his effort in the research of geriatric nutrition as the co-investigator at Division of Gerontology Research, National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan. His major research interest has mostly focused on human nutrition, obesity and its related diseases. Professor Huang is currently the president of Taiwan Medical Association for the Study of Obesity, chief editor of Taiwan Geriatrics & Gerontology, and associate editor of Obesity Research and Clinical Practice. Since August 2010, he has been elected as the president of Asia-Oceanic Association for the Study of Obesity.

Prof Carel Le Roux, UK, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2010.

Carel graduated at the University of Pretoria, South Africa and completed his postgraduate clinical training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and Imperial College London. He was awarded a Wellcome Fellowship for his PhD and worked in Prof Steve Bloom’s laboratory. His work on appetite regulation lead to a postdoctoral Clinician Scientist’s award by the Department of Health in the UK. He is a Reader in Metabolic Medicine and currently heads the Obesity working group at Imperial College London. His work is focused on understanding the mechanisms by which bariatric surgery affects energy balance.

Dr Carla Gauna, ARG, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2022.

Carla is an Obesity and Diabetes Physician with more than 10 years of experience in this field. She works at CINME (Centro de Investigaciones Metabólicas), Buenos Aires, Argentine as Medical Director and team leader of Essentia, the Weight Control Program in CINME. She is a titular member of Argentine Nutrition Society, Argentine Diabetes Society and Latin American Diabetes Association, plus a member of Obesity and Diabetes Committee of Argentine Diabetes Association and member of Cardio metabolism Council of Argentine Cardiology Society. 

She has been involved in teaching activities since her undergraduate career and is currently a teacher of Master's degree of Obesity at Catholic Cordoba University and Obesity and Diabetes Diploma at National University of North East (UNNE) both in Argentine.

She is passionate in innovation, research, and working collaboratively with all stakeholders to improve the lives of people with obesity.

Dr Carly Hughes, UK, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2014.

Carly undertook her BA at Cambridge where she studied at the Dunn Nutrition unit. She qualified with an MBBS from the Royal London hospital, and later undertook an MSc in Health Science at the University of  East Anglia (UEA). She has been a GP partner in Norfolk for 21 years, and over the last 10 years has developed her interest and skills in managing Obesity with the aid of the SCOPE programme.

Her team developed an in-house weight management programme based on the NICE guidelines which won the overall NoF excellence award in weight management 2010. In conjunction with Norfolk public health and North Norfolk CCG they were awarded an NHS Innovation fund grant and developed a Tier 3 multidisciplinary weight management programme for North Norfolk. This programme offers multi-component interventions with 2 GPs with bariatric training, obesity specialist nurses, dietician, psychologist, exercise professional, health trainer and onsite gym.

Carly is a member of the RCGP nutrition group; co-authored the RCGP 10 top tips for GPs on post-bariatric surgery care, was involved in the RCGP SCOPE accredited obesity e-learning modules and has represented the RCGP on national level committees addressing nutritional issues.

She is a member of the 2014 NICE Obesity GDG reviewing the current Obesity guidelines.

Carly co-founded the Norfolk Obesity network, and is an active member of the eastern region ASO, and presents at regularly at both groups. She is an honorary lecturer at the UEA and teaches undergraduates, GP registrars, and allied health professionals on obesity related topics as well as presenting regularly at a national level on obesity-related topics..

Dr Christopher Ebenbichler, Austria, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2012.

Dr Christos Manes, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2006.

Christos’ MD was titled ‘The Antipyrine Clearance in the Investigation of Liver Function in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus’. He is a member of the IDF (International Diabetes Federation), EASD (European Association of the Study of Diabetes) and the Greek Diabetes Association. He was elected president of the Diabetes Association of Northern Greece from 1999 to 2002. Additionally, Christos Manos was a member of the Executive Committee of the Diabetes Foot Study Group of the European Association of the Study of Diabetes for 5 years. He is currently chairman of the Balkan Diabetes Network supported by WHO. Dr Chrsitos Manes is the chairman of the Greek Association for the Study of the Diabetic Foot Diseases and is a member of the Greek Association for the study of Obesity and European Association for the Study of Obesity. He is chairman of the Study Group for Obesity in the Internists’ Society in Northern Greece and is a SCOPE member.

Dr Constantine Tsigos, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Dr Cristina Parrino, Denmark, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2017.

Dr Danuta Pupek-Musialik, Poland, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2006.

Prof David York, USA, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2012.

David retired in 2014 from his position as a Professor in the Biology Department at Utah State University. Prior to that he was Associate Executive Director for Basic Science at the Pennington Center in Baton Rouge and a faculty member in the Human Nutrition Department of Southampton University in the UK.

He now has an adjunct appointment at Wayne State University in Detroit where he now lives. He was previously the Treasurer of the International Association for the Study of Obesity and now serves as Editor in Chief of Obesity Reviews and as Chair of the Publications Committee of World Obesity. It was his initiative to develop the Stock conference series and he has been responsible for organization of every conference to date.

He has published over 240 manuscripts/book chapters during his lifetime of research which was focused on animal models of obesity, particularly on understanding the central mechanisms that regulate feeding behaviour and peripheral metabolism. His early work showed the close integration of feeding behaviour with autonomic regulation of peripheral metabolism that has proven important in understanding the underlying pathophysiology of obesity.

Dr Dėnes Molnár, Hungary, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Dėnes is a leading member of the European Childhood Obesity Task Force and was a Congress Member of the International Scientific Committee of European Congress of Obesity in Helsinki and Vienna. She is also an active member of the principle obesity, nutrition and pediatric committees in Hungary. She is a leading international name in her field. Dénes Molnár is particularly interested in the metabolic and hormonal changes caused by different diseases, especially in childhood obesity. She has published over 84 original papers and 9 book chapters. Dénes runs a clinic for children and adolescents suffering from obesity.

Dr Dimiter Dimitrov, Bulgaria, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2006.

Dimiter has more than 10 years of research experience in the field of life science.  He has a solid background in physiology and endocrinology applied to energy and hormonal modulation associated with obesity, adipose tissue metabolism and diabetes. In 2009 he worked at the Department of Life Science, Chalmers Technical University, Gothenburg, on the role of gut microbiome in obesity. In 2008 he worked as an obesity expert in Sweden for AstraZeneca R&D. Dimiter Dimitrov worked at the University of Varna on pioneering projects such as ‘Nutrigenomics & Pharmacogenomics laboratory for nutrient-gene and drug-gene interactions underlying individual variation in response to food and drugs’ in 2007. Previously Dr. Dimitrov worked at the University Hospital Varna as an endocrinologist and obesity treatment specialist.

Dr Dimitrios Kiortsis, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2004.

Dr Dimitrios Patoulias, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2023. Dimitrios is an Internal Medicine Specialist with a special interest in Cardiometabolic Medicine. He earned his MD degree from the Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He also earned an MSc degree in the field of Medical Research Methodology from the Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In addition, he holds a PhD degree from the Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in the field of Cardiometabolic Medicine. Currently, he is a Research Associate in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

Dimitrios has authored or co-authored 203 peer-reviewed articles indexed in the PubMed database, mainly in the field of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. He has also served as a referee in 100 journals indexed in the same database, including The Lancet, BMJ, BMJ Open, Diabetologia, European Journal of Internal Medicine, eClinicalMedicine, The Lancet Regional Health, Metabolism: Clinical and Experimental, Cardiovascular Diabetology, Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism, Molecular Metabolism, Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, International Journal of Cardiology and The American Journal of Cardiology. In addition, Dimitrios has served as a Sentinel Reader of the MORE system from the Health Information Research Unit at McMaster University (Canada) since January 2021.

Dimitrios is a member of the American College of Physicians, the European Society of Cardiology. He is also appointed as a member of the Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease (D&CVD) Study Group of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) and the Insulin Resistance Study Group of EASD.

Dr Dominique Durrer-Shutz, Switzerland, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2007.

Dr Donna H. Ryan, USA, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2015.Dr Donna H. Ryan, USA, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2015.

Donna is Past President of the World Obesity Federation and professor Emerita at Pennington Biomedical in Baton Rouge, LA, where she directed clinical research for 22 years. Her own research includes participation on the teams that developed and executed the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), POUNDS Lost, DPP (Diabetes Prevention Program) and Look AHEAD Studies. Donna's continuing research interests focus on translation of effective weight management into primary care practices.

Donna's scholarly activities include authorship of more than 200 original publications and 45 books, chapters and reviews, primarily in the field of obesity. She is Associate Editor-in-Chief for Obesity. She served as co-Chair of the Expert Panel that produced the AHA/ACC/TOS 2013 Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Obesity and was a panel member of the 2015 Endocrine Society Systematic Evidence Review and Guidelines for Medications that Affect Body Weight. 

Dr Dragan Micic, Serbia, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Dr Dror Dicker, Israel, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2005.

Prof Eddy Karnieli, Israel, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Eddy is a graduate of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion– Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. He obtained clinical training in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology at the Rambam Medical Center and from 1979 -1981 did his Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Diabetes and Obesity at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He was a visiting scholar at the University of California at San Diego, NIH and Mount Sinai School of Meidicine in New York.

Eddy is currently the Director of the Institute of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (IEDM) at the Rambam Medical Center and the Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Haifa Israel.

Eddy's main research interests are the molecular mechanisms for regulating cellular glucose uptake and transporters and their implications in diabetes, obesity and insulin resistance; Gene therapy modalities to trans-differentiate human cells toward beta-cells as a potential cure for type 1 diabetes; Medical informatics, telemedicine and personalized medicine. Further, Eddy's group participates in clinical studies evaluating new therapeutic modalities for the treatment of Diabetes and Obesity. He has published about 70 peer reviewed papers and reviews. He was the guest editor for the 2008 issues of Endocrinology,and Metabolism Clinics of North America on Obesity: Brain-Gut and Inflammation Connection. Professor Karnieli serves on the editorial board of several scientific journals and review boards.

Eddy is a retired Colonel from the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps, was president of the Israel Diabetes Association and is a former Deputy Director of the Rambam Medical Center.

Dr Edita Stokić, Serbia, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2005.

Edita Stokić, an endocrinologist from Novi Sad, was born in Kikinda 1962, graduated in Medicine from University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Medicine and was awarded MSc in Internal Medicine and PhD from the same University, where she holds the position of Professor of Internal medicine-Endocrinology. She is employed in the Clinic of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders of the Clinical Centre of Vojvodina in Novi Sad, Serbia. In 2005. she was appointed as Chief of Department. 

She is currently the Vice President of Serbian Association for the Study of Obesity and Chairman of the Continuing Education Board (Society of Physicians of Vojvodina of the Medical Society of Serbia). She is also President of the Internal Medicine Section, and (2002-2004) President of Endocrinology Section within same Society. 

She is a member of several distinguished professional societies and organizations such as European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS), European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), Association of Clinical Research Professionals, American Diabetes Association (ADA), which include the National SCOPE Fellow (Specialist Certification of Obesity Professionals in Europe), and also awarded the Prize of Yugoslav Association for the Study of Obesity (YASO) in1996, and Annual Award for Scientific Research  from Medical Society in 2008. 

Edita is an author or co-author of 350 scientific articles, and publications on obesity, dyslipidemias and diabetes (Practical guide for obesity treatment, Practical guide for cardiovascular risk factors treatment, Practical guide for dyslipidemia treatment), and book chapter Sagittal abdominal Diameter as the Anthropometric Measure of Cardiovascular Risk, in Recent Advances in Cardiovascular risk factors (edited by Mehnaz Atiq), published in 2012. She has also published monograph Gojaznost je bolest koja se leči (Obesity is treatable disease) in 2004. 
 

Dr Efthymios Kapantais, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2005.

Dr Elisabeth Mathus-Vliegen, Netherlands, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Elisabeth is a consultant in Gastroenterology at the Academic Medical Centre, lecturer in Gastroenterology and since 1992 Professor in Clinical Nutrition at the University of Amsterdam. She has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles and 170 non-peer-viewed articles, and has also published 65 chapters in books. These publications dealt with nutrition and diseases, fibre-enriched nutrition, artificial nutrition, feeding of the critically ill, tube feeding, percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, contamination of enteral feedings, overweight and obesity, intragastric balloons, laparoscopic gastric banding, constipation, diarrhoea, bowel cleansing, laser treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, Peutz-Jeghers’ syndrome, familial adenomatous polyposis, malignant lymphoma, angiodysplasias etc.

Her work in obesity concerned the treatment of obese patients by VLCD and by drugs (dexfenfluramine, orlistat, sibutramine, topiramate, rimonabant, taranabant, Pfizer Cannabinoid-1 receptor antagonist, Johnson and Johnson triglyceride synthesis inhibitor). Also, she investigated endoscopic methods to treat obesity such as intragastric balloons (Wilson Cook, Ballobes, Bioenterics Intragastric Balloons (BIB), Spatz Adjustable Gastric Balloons (AGB)), as well as more invasive endoscopic operations (TERIS Transoral Endoscopic Restrictive Implant System). Also, the difference between laparoscopic and open Gastric Banding was investigated as well as the long-term outcomes of VBG (vertical banded gastroplasty). Gastro-oesophageal reflux, oesophageal manometry, secretion of gastric, CCK, PP and ghrelin, eating patterns, psychological aspects and quality of life Have her interest.

Professor Mathus-Vliegen has received awards and honorary memberships such as the Nutrition Award General Biscuits Netherlands in 1995, honorary membership of the Dutch Association of Dieticians in 1997, Founding Fellowship of the Specialist Certification of Obesity Professionals in Europe and was named as a Medical-Biological Scientific Researcher (SMBWO – Foundation for Education to Medical-Biological Scientific Researcher) and a Nutrition Researcher B (Netherlands Academy of Nutritionists). She is a member of many associations and steering groups.

Dr Erik Muls, Belgium, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Dr Erik Näslund, Sweden, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Dr Erlend Aasheim, Norway, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2011.

Dr Eva Malecka-Tendera, Poland, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Dr Fábryová Lubomira, Slovakia, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2005.

Fábryová graduated from Medical Faculty of Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovakia) and completed residency training in 4th Dept. of Internal Medicine Comenius University. In 2008 she received PhD in Internal Medicine from Medical Faculty of Comenius University. At present time she is a head of a metabolic center -MetabolKLINIK in Bratislava.

Fábryová is an author and coauthor of more than 100 publications (in the field of diabetology, lipidology and obesitology) in medical and scientific journals and textbooks. She has served as national, principal coordinator and scientific guarant of slovakian research projects and studies (WHO MED PED project, Screening of serious dyslipidaemias in quadragerian slovak population (2003,2006), AtheroEduc project (2009,2010), Atherogenic dyslipidemia II in Diabetes Mellitus II survey in Slovak Republic (2011,2012) and as a principal investigator on a number of pharmaceutical-sponsored drug trials and multicenter clinical studies.

Fábryová is teaching at Dept. for diabetology, metabolic disorders and nutrition of

Slovak Medical University in Bratislava and she is member of PhD Study Board in the field of internal medicine at Medical Faculty of Comenius University in Bratislava.

Fábryová is a past president of Slovak Association of Atherosclerosis, scientific secretary of Obesitology Section of Slovak Diabetology Society, member of the Lipidology section board of Slovak Diabetology Society, member of the Slovak Medical Society, member of Slovak Cardiology Society, member of Residual Risk Reduction Iniciative, member of EASD, member of EAS and IAS, member of EASO and IASO. She is National Fellow of SCOPE program of the International Obesity Taskforce.

Fábryová is a member of Editorial Board in journal Via practica, reviewer for journals Via practica, Internal Medicine, Bratislava Mecidal Journal and editor of many supplements focused on diabetology, obesitology and lipidology. She has lectured on topics in diabetology, lipidology and obesitology.

Dr Feray Akbas, Turkey, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2010.

Dr Fotios Barkas, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2023. 

Fotios is an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ioannina, Greece. He received his Medical Degree (MD, 2010) at the University of Ioannina Medical School, Greece, a Master of Science Degree (MSc) in Clinical Nutrition, Applied Nutrition and Dietetics at Harokopio University, Athens, Greece and finished his doctoral dissertation entitled ‘Association of established and novel risk factors with cardiovascular disease in patients with dyslipidemia’ (PhD) at the University of Ioannina Medical School, Greece in 2020.

Fotios’ research interests have focused on the prevention of cardiovascular disease with a special interest in lipids, obesity and diabetes. He participates in the clinical and research work of the Outpatient Lipid & Obesity Clinic of the University Hospital of Ioannina in Greece since 2011 and has taken part in >10 multicenter randomized clinical trials focusing on the area of dyslipidemias, obesity and diabetes. In 2022, Fotios joined the research group of the Imperial Centre for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention of the Imperial College, London, UK.  Fotios has published a considerable number of papers and given many congress presentations, in addition to numerous national and international congress abstracts. 

Fotios has been selected as a participant in the European Atherosclerosis Society Young Fellows Programme 2022-2023. He was also elected as a board member of the Hellenic Atherosclerosis Society in 2022. 

Dr Francis Finucane, Ireland, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2012.

Francis qualified from RCSI in Dublin and completed physician training in Beaumont Hospital, obtaining the MRCPI in 2001.  He continued clinical training in endocrinology, diabetes mellitus and general internal medicine in Dublin, including a period of clinical research at the Metabolic Research Unit in St. James’ Hospital under the supervision of Prof. John Nolan.  There, he conducted detailed metabolic assessments of young people with obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes and was awarded an MD from the University of Dublin (TCD) in 2008 for this work.  In order to explore further the mechanistic basis for the association between insulin resistance and adiposity, he undertook a four year period of post-doctoral research at the MRC Epidemiology Unit in the Institute of Metabolic Science in Cambridge, supervised by Prof. Nick Wareham and Dr. Simon Griffin and funded by travel grants from Irish training bodies and then an MRC Career Development Fellowship.  Building on his work in Dublin, he conducted a formal assessment of the effects of aerobic exercise in older people and different factors modulating the response to an aerobic exercise intervention.  He published the first study to show that exercise reduces liver fat content in humans.  He led the writing group on a major international collaboration describing a novel genetic polymorphism associated with reduced body fat but increased diabetes and cardiovascular risk (IRS1).  Since returning to Ireland in 2010, Dr. Finucane has led the development of clinical services for people with severe obesity and related metabolic disorders from the West of Ireland.  He is a principal investigator with Molecular Medicine Ireland and is an honorary senior lecturer in medicine at NUI Galway.

Dr Franco Contaldo, Italy, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Dr Frank Greenway, USA, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2012.

Frank is an endocrinologist and directs the outpatient research at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  The Pennington Biomedical Research Center is a research campus of Louisiana State University that has a research focus on obesity.  Dr. Greenway did his undergraduate work at Stanford University and obtained his medical degree at the University of California at Los Angeles.  He did his internal medicine residency and endocrinology fellowship at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California and is board certified in both internal medicine and endocrinology.  Dr. Greenway had a practice of internal medicine and endocrinology in Marina del Rey California and taught at Harbor-UCLA for 20 years prior to coming to the Pennington Biomedical Research Center where he holds the rank of Professor.  Dr. Greenway is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Obesity, has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, over 30 book chapters, mostly in the field of obesity and holds several patents.  He has an interest in developing new treatments for obesity and has been active in clinical trials of candidate pharmaceuticals, dietary herbal supplements, medical foods and devices.   

Dr Franklin Abalos, Argentina, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2024.

Franklin is a specialist in Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Sports Medicine, and a Scope specialist in Obesity. He also holds a diploma in Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

He is the principal investigator at the Research Center of the Sanatorio Norte (Santiago del Estero, Argentina), where he develops studies on new drugs for Obesity, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Diseases.

He has served as the head of the Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Center in the Municipality of the City of Santiago del Estero since 2006.

Franklin is an advisor to the Quality of Life Center of the Provincial Health System of Santiago del Estero. He has written two books on diabetic education and recently published ‘First Aid Kit in Epidemiology and Biostatistics’.

He is a full member of the Argentine Society of Diabetes.

Dr Friedrich Hoppichler, Austria, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2007.

Dr Fritz Horber, Switzerland, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2004.

Fritz is an internationally recognised expert in the field of obesity. Born in Switzerland 1957, Dr. Horber studied medicine at Bern University and graduated in 1979. He then trained in nutrition, endocrinology and metabolism at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA. Specialising in internal medicine and nephrology, he worked at the University Hospital in Bern, attaining consultancy in 1991. His interest in obesity flourished, and in 1997 he set up his own department of internal medicine in Zurich, specializing in obesity. Since 2006 Dr. Horber is head of internal medicine and the centre of obesity at the private Lindberg Clinic in Winterthur. In addition to a thriving clinic that treats 800 in-patients and 15,000 out-patient visits each year, Dr. Horber has developed a successful research unit. Current interests centre around the relationship of genes with obesity, appetite, behaviour and treatment outcome, with recent publications in the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Genetics, Human Molecular Genetics, International Journal of Obesity or Obesity Surgery. In addition is involved with active collaborations with the State University New York, the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, and Bioscientia, Ingelheim, Germany.

Prof Gary Wittert, Australia, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2012.

Gary is a graduate of Johannesburg’s University of Witwatersrand who obtained postgraduate training at Christchurch Hospital and Otago University, in New Zealand, at the Harvard Medical, Boston and Oregon Health Sciences University.

He is currently Mortlock Professor of Medicine, and Head of the School of Medicine at the University of Adelaide, Senior Consultant Endocrinologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and a member of the Hanson Research Institute. He is a past President of the Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity, and is currently vice president of the Asia Oceania Association of the Study of Obesity.

Gary’s research focuses on the relationships between dietary macronutrients, appetite, nutrient-oxidation, and energy expenditure, leptin, uncoupling proteins and the regulation of cellular energy utilisation and the relationships between gonadal hormones and body composition. He is the lead investigator on the Florey Adelaide Male Aging Study (FAMAS), and is also an investigator in the North West Adelaide Obesity and Lifestyle and Environment (NOBLE) Study and the Men in Australia, Telephone Survey (MATeS). He is also the principle investigator of a number of clinical trials of novel drugs to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Gary has authored over one hundred peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, and is a founding Editor in Chief of the “Journal of Obesity Research and Clinical Practice".

Dr Georgia Argyrakopoulou, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2024.

Georgia specialized in Internal Medicine and later trained in obesity and diabetes in the First Department of Propaedeutic Medicine of the University of Athens, Greece. She holds a MSc and a PhD in Diabetes and Obesity from the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Upon receiving a scholarship from the Hellenic Medical Association of Obesity she also trained at the Centre for Diabetes and Metabolic Medicine of Barts and the London, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, United Kingdom. 

She currently holds the position of Director of the Diabetes and Obesity Unit of Athens Medical Center in Athens, Greece. In the aforementioned clinic along with her clinical work, she conducts research and runs clinical studies regarding obesity and diabetes. She also holds the position of Editor in Chief of the Scientific Journal of the Hellenic Medical Association of Obesity.

Dr George Panotopoulos, France, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2004.

George is a member of the French Association for the Study of Obesity (AFERO). Between 1995 and 2001 he has held the positions of General Secretary, Vice-President and President of the Hellenic Medical Association for the Study of Obesity. He was concurrently the Association’s Representative on the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) and on the Executive Council of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO). He has participated in several International and Greek conferences as an invited speaker, round-table rapporteur, oral presentation speaker and as a conference participant. He is an active member of various international and national medical societies, namely the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO), the French Association for the Study of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases (ALFEDIAM), the French Association for the Study of Obesity (AFERO), the French Society of Nutrition (SFN), the Hellenic Association of Lipidology and Atherosclerosis, and the Hellenic Society of Atherosclerosis. He is a founding member, Vice President of the executive and Greek representative in the Pan-European Association “Eurobesitas” (a non-profit medical organization for patients suffering from obesity and nutritional diseases. He is present on a daily basis on radio broadcasts on SKY channel concerning Nutrition, Health and Quality of Life. George Panotopoulus is a member of the Working Group "Health and Quality of Life" of the Foresight Program of the General Secretary of Research and Technology (Greek Ministry of Development, Research and Technology).

Dr Rigas was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2021 and she renewed her fellowship in 2022.

Dr Rigas is a vocationally trained GP, with a primary focus on the multi-generational effects of obesity. She was the founding Chair of the RACGP obesity network and still assists with the College in matters pertaining to obesity management.

She is involved with a number of research projects at St George Private Hospital, Australia’s first Bariatric Centre of Excellence.She is on a number of medical scientific advisory boards both in Australia and abroad.

Dr Rigas is committed to ongoing education in obesity management to both GPs and other healthcare professionals.

Dr Georgios K. Dimitriadis, UK, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2019.

Georgios graduated from Sofia Medical School with honours in November 2005. After graduation, he was appointed in various junior clinical posts and in 2009 he started his core medical training in Greece. During his training in 2011 he started being exposed to clinical research in Oncology and Metabolism. Subsequently he pursued further specialist training in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. In 2013 he graduated his MSc/MRES from Athens Medical School with first class honours, studying female reproductive disorders with special interest in the effects of obesity on female reproduction. He was then awarded after competitive selection, a six-month fully-funded scholarship by Athens Medical School to join the University of Warwick – Human Metabolism Research Unit (HMRU) in order to design and conduct his own collaborative research project and moved to the UK in May 2014. He was awarded for his study design a UEMS 3E section (Exchange in Endocrinology Expertise) European Union of Medical Specialists award. In 2015 he was awarded the Warwick Medical School “Chancellor” scholarship to continue his clinical research at the HMRU studying energy expenditure in states of excess energy intake. The same year, he joined the 3rd European Obesity Academy (EOA) clinical, research and leadership programme – which he graduated in 2017 with a PGDip in Obesity awarded by Karolinska Institute and sponsored by J&J/Ethicon. 

In 2016 and after three rounds of competitive selection, he was one of three finalists for the NovoNordisk UK Research Foundation National PhD Fellowship. In 2017 he passed his membership exams (MAcadTM) and joined the European Academy of Translational Medicine, and completed his specialist training in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. In 2018, he graduated the 1st “Emerging Obesity Leaders” clinical, research and leadership programme sponsored by ASO and Novo Nordisk UK and was awarded a PGCert in Obesity.
 
In September 2019 Georgios was appointed Consultant Endocrinologist and Obesity Physician by King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust where he is the lead physician for Tier 4 ASO/EASO CoE for Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery. In February 2020 he was awarded, after competitive selection, the NIHR South London CRN "Green Shoots" investigator award.

Dr Georgios Valsamakis, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2023.

Dr Valsamakis was previously the recipient of a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2011. He is employed by the Ethnikon and Kapodistriakon University of Athens and works in Aretaieion University Hospital. His vast roles include serving as an Endocrinologist at the Centre for Obesity and Metabolism (COM), where he collaborates with the University Surgical Department in treating patients with morbid obesity.

Dr Valsamakis works as an Endocrinologist in the Fetal Maternal Unit, focusing on metabolic disorders during pregnancy. He also dedicates his expertise at the IVF Unit, assessing couples with metabolic disorders.  Outside of Aretaieion, he serves as a postdoctorate researcher and educator in the University's two-year postgraduate program 'Research in Gynecologic Reproduction and Endocrinology'. Adding to his list of esteemed titles, Dr Valsamakis holds the position of European Scope Fellow in Obesity and the title of Assistant Professor of Endocrinology at the Medical School of Larissa, University of Larissa.

He did his clinical training in Diabetes and Endocrinology in the University Hospitals of Birmingham, UK. He submitted his thesis with title “Assessment and pathophysiology of central obesity and its connections with the metabolic syndrome” to the University of Birmingham in 2003.

Dr Gerd Bonner, Germany, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2005.

Dr Gerrit De Groot, Netherlands, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2006.

Dr Hamed Yahiya Hussein, UAE, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2017.

Dr Hamid Farshchi, Iran, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2010.

Dr Hans Hauner, Germany, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Dr Hermann Toplak, Austria, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Hermann is a specialist for Endocrinology and Metabolism, an Associate Professor of Medicine and in charge of the Medical Curriculum in Internal Medicine at the Medical University Graz. Having received training in aeromedicine and being Resident in laboratory medicine at the Metabolic Unit of the department of Pediatrics at the University of Graz, he became Resident in Surgery and Internal Medicine in the General Hospital of Rottenmann and in the  Metabolism Unit of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Berne, Switzerland. In 1990, Dr Toplak became the Head of the Metabolic Unit. He is a member of various national and international associations such as the Austrian Obesity Association, the Austrian Diabetic Association, the Austrian representative in the General Council of IASO and the Regional Vice President for Middle Europe of EASO. As a member of various organising committees he has played a vital role in the organisation of several national and European congresses. He is one of the Founding Fellows of the Specialist Certification of Obesity Professional Education programme.

Dr Iain Broom, UK, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2006.

Iain is one of the founding members of ACERO. He is research Professor at The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen and a Consultant in Clinical Biochemistry and Metabolic Medicine at NHS Grampian where he runs the Aberdeen obesity clinic, which is one of the longest established obesity clinics in the UK. Professor Broom is the current Chairman of Counterweight: this programme brings together expertise from obesity management specialists from seven centres throughout the UK.

Prof Ian Caterson, Australia, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2012.

Ian is currently Foundation Director of the Boden Institute of Obesity Nutrition Exercise and Eating Disorders and Boden Professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Sydney. He has held the latter position since 1997. Prior to that he was Senior Staff Specialist and Director of Clinical Endocrinology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where, in 1984, he established the first multi-disciplinary weight management service in Australia.

His research interests have and do span several areas of obesity. Initially he was interested in the biochemical causes and effects of insulin resistance, but now his laboratory interests are in the epigenetics of obesity and in the role of the gut microbiota. He has worked extensively and is a recognised expert on the management of obesity, its causes and its prevention. He has authored over 200 scientific papers mostly on aspects of obesity or insulin resistance.

He has been president of both the Australian Diabetes Society and the Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity was regional vice-president of the Asia Oceania Association for the Study of Obesity and now is president-elect of the World Obesity Federation.

He is also on the Clinical Care group of World Obesity and the Scientific Programme Committee for its International Congresses. He chairs the Expert Obesity Committee for the Australian National Preventive Health Agency, and is on the Prevention and Community Health Committee of the NHMRC of Australia.  

Dr Imre Rurik, Hungary, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2011.

Imre has been a chairperson of Department of Family and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Public Health at the University of Debrecen, Hungary since 2008. 

His main research topics are; nutrition and related metabolic diseases (diabetes, obesity), andrology, geriatric, “aging male”, sexual medicine and primary care health services research. He established the first doctoral (PhD) programme for family physicians in Hungary. Imre Rurik is an acting vice-chairman of the Hungarian Association for the Study of Obesity. In 2011 he was awarded as European SCOPE Fellow recognized later as International Fellow. 

Since 1998 he is a direct member of WONCA (World Organization of Family Physicians, invited speaker and chair of its World and European conferences. He is also a member of the European Academy of Nutritional Science (2010), academic adviser of the EGPRN (European General Practice Research Network), a member of Executive Committee (2003), General Assembly of Primary Care Diabetes Europe (2011), a member of the Advisory Board of the European Forum for Primary Care (2013). 
In 2014 he was elected as a President of the Hungarian Research Organization of Family Physicians.

He led many Hungarian and contributed in EU FP7 funded primary care research and epidemiological projects as well.
Imre Rurik has written 127 scientific publications, 2 books and 22 book chapters and is an editorial board member of 3 international primary care and many Hungarian journals. In 2012, he has been invited as Primary Care Editorial Advisor of the British Medical Journal. 

Dr Ioannis Ioannidis, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2007.

Dr Ioannis Kaklamanos, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2005.

Ioannis was born in Istanbul in 1943.  He studied Medicine at the Medical School of the University of Athens and is a specialist in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology.  For four years he was the director of the Department of Endocrinology at the Social Insurance Institute in Athens.  His speciality is in the treatment of obesity and related metabolic diseases and he has focused his scientific interest on that field for the last 30 years.  He is the representative of Greece at the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) since 2000 and he is a member of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO).  He has run several terms in the Council of the Hellenic Medical Association for Obesity since 1999:

• Secretary General (1999-2000)
• President (2001-2002)
• Vice-President (2003-2004)
• President (2005-2006)
• Secretary General (2007-2008)

During his presidency the HMAO was nominated to organise the 14^th European Congress on Obesity (Athens, 1-4 June 2005) and it initiated the founding of the Balkan Network on Obesity, being the president of it since its establishment. He was one of the main contributors to the realisation of the 1^st Panhellenic Study for the Prevalence of Obesity, conducted by the Hellenic Medical Association for Obesity. Ioannis has been a member of the National Committee for the Nutrition Policy of the Greek Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity and is coordinator of the Committee for the Prevention of Childhood Obesity. He participates in the organisation of the Greek part of the WHO Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI).

Dr Ioannis Kyriazis, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2007.

Ioannis is a Consultant at the Internal Medicine Department and the Obesity Outpatient Clinic at Asclepeion General Hospital, Athens. Since 2002 she has also been a Consultant at the Obesity Outpatient Clinic at Corinth General Hospital. She has participated and contributed to numerous international and national conferences, and has published valuable research. She is a member of many national and international associations including the International Diabetes Federation, the European Atheroscleroses Society and is a leading member in the management of the Greek Medical Association of Obesity.

Dr Isabel Beltran Margarit, Spain, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2005.

Isabel is a medical nutritionist and the current Professor at the University of Barcelona where she has contributed to the Graduate IUSC-UAB in Obesity. Dr Margarit is a member of the European EASO-IOTF/European Association for the Study of Obesity and the SCOPE Program (Specialist Certification of Obesity Professionals in Europe Program) and SEED (Spanish Society for the Study of Obesity). She works as a specialist in the Treatment of Obesity and in various media.

Dr Jacqueline Cleator, UK, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2014.

Jackie has been a Lecturer in Nursing at The University of Manchester, UK since 2012. After graduating from the University of Liverpool with a degree in modern languages, she completed her nurse training at The Thomas Guy School of Nursing in 1987. Various ward-based clinical roles as a staff nurse and ward sister in General Surgery, Urology and Elderly Medical units followed. She completed a MA in Health Services Management before returning to Liverpool University in 1997 to join Professor John Wilding’s Diabetes and Obesity Clinical Research Group as a research nurse. During the 12 years she worked in this department she gained extensive clinical and managerial experience of obesity, working variously as a clinical trial co-ordinator on many anti-obesity and diabetes medication studies, as an Extended Scope Practitioner in the Aintree Weight Management Service and as the Operational Manager of the Ashton, Leigh & Wigan Specialist Weight Management Service.  Whilst working in the clinical setting she developed a research interest in Night Eating Syndrome and in 2012 was awarded a PhD for investigations into the prevalence and characteristics of night eating behaviour in severely obese populations.

Since moving to The University of Manchester she has sought to use her prior clinical experience and knowledge to raise the profile of obesity as a significant health issue amongst nurses and to embed teaching on obesity in the undergraduate nursing curriculum. She continues to pursue her research interests, which include understanding the role of circadian rhythm dysfunction and disrupted sleep in both severe obesity and other long term conditions such as heart failure and investigating the impact of disrupted sleep and eating behaviour on successful behaviour change. 

Dr Jamy Ard, USA, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2015.

Dr Jane Wardle (1950-2015), UK, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2012.

Dr Wardle was Professor of Psychology and Director of the Health Behaviour Research Centre at University College London. Her obesity research spanned three areas: i) genetic and environmental influences on early appetite and growth, ii) novel intervention strategies for health behaviour change, and iii) the role of energy balance behaviours in cancer risk and progression. She founded the charity Weight Concern to provide a voice and a source of support for people with obesity. Dr Wardle was a fellow of the British Psychological Society, the Academy of Behavioral Medicine and the American Psychological Society.

Dr Jarl Togerson, Sweden, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Dr Jean-Michel Oppert, France, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Jean-Michel is professor of Nutrition at University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. His current clinical position is Deputy head of the Department of Nutrition, Heart and Metabolism Division, at Pitié-Salpêtrière university hospital in Paris. His current research interests include the measurement of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in health and disease including obesity, the investigation of environmental determinants of physical activity, eating habits and obesity, and lifestyle and physiological changes induced by obesity surgery. He has been or is involved in EU projects centred on obesity and/or physical activity such as Nugenob (FP5), HOPE (FP6), SPOTLIGHT (FP7), ALPHA (DG SANCO)... He is founding member and has been member of the Steering Committee of the Health Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA)-Europe network supported by WHO Europe (2005-2012). He has been member of the executive committee of the EASO from 2002 to 2012, as treasurer, president-elect and then president. He is immediate past president of the EASO.

Dr Jens Jordan, Germany, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2006.

Jens is currently director of the department for clinical pharmacology at Hannover Medical School (MHH) in Germany.  He graduated from Medical School at Free University Berlin and received his training in clinical pharmacology and internal medicine at Franz-Volhard Clinic in Berlin and at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Jens Jordan and his group are pursuing mechanisms controlling cardiovascular regulation and molecular mechanisms responsible for obesity associated cardiovascular and metabolic disease. A particular focus is the pathogenesis and treatment of obesity-associated arterial hypertension. He is chair of the European Society of Hypertension Working Group on Obesity, Diabetes, and High Risk Patients. He serves as a member of several editorial boards including “Hypertension”  and “American Journal of Physiology Regulatory”. Jens Jordan is associate editor of “Clinical Autonomic Research” and has published more than 180 original manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr Jim Mann, New Zealand, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2012.

Dr Johannes Wechsler, Germany, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

Dr John Blundell, UK, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2012.

Prof John Wilding, UK, was awarded a SCOPE Founding Fellowship in 2004.

John leads Clinical Research into Obesity, Diabetes and Endocrinology at the University of Liverpool. He graduated from Southampton University in 1985, where he continued his clinical training until moving to the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital, London where he undertook specialist training in Diabetes and Endocrinology, and three years laboratory-based research into the neurobiology of obesity and diabetes.  He has been a clinical academic at the University of Liverpool since 1996, and was appointed as Professor of Medicine in 2005.  He leads specialist services for severe obesity at University Hospital Aintree – designated a Centre for Obesity Management by the UK and European Associations for the Study of Obesity.  

John’s research team focusses on developing new treatments and strategies to reduce the burden of obesity-related disease. John has published over three hundred papers, chapters and review articles related to his clinical and laboratory research interests, which include clinical trials in obesity and diabetes, adipocyte biology, functional neuroimaging of appetite in obesity & endocrine disease, and studies of metabolism in obesity and diabetes.

He is an Associate Editor of Diabetic Medicine, and chairs the National Clinical Research Network Metabolic and Endocrine Speciality Group.  He is a past Chair of the UK Association for the Study of Obesity, a member of the Royal College of Physicians Advisory Group on Nutrition, Weight and Health.

John is the President-Elect of the World Obesity Federation.

Dr Jonathan Webber, UK, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2007.

Dr Jøran Hjelmesaeth, Norway, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2011.

Dr Jorga Jagoda, Serbia, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2004.

Prof Joseph Proietto, Australia, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2016.

Joseph is an Endocrinologist specialising in Diabetes and Obesity. He is the past chair of World Obesity's Clinical Care Committee and a world-renowned investigator of the management of obesity.

Joseph established the first obesity clinic in Victoria at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and is now Head of the Weight control clinic at Austin Health. Professor Proietto was the inaugural Sir Edward Dunlop Medical Research Foundation, Professor of Medicine, and Head of the Metabolic Disorders Research Group in the Department of Medicine, Austin Health, The University of Melbourne. He was the inaugural coordinator of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (The University of Melbourne), Diabetes, Obesity and Endocrinology Research Domain, and the Director of the University of Melbourne Obesity Consortium. He has been an invited panel member on several Government committees, including The National Preventative Health Taskforce Obesity Working Group, The Department of Human Services Bariatric Surgery Working Group and the National Health and Medical Research Committee Obesity Guidelines Working Committee.

Joseph has published over 180 articles and several book chapters on obesity and diabetes.

Dr Judit Gonczi, Hungary, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2005.

Prof Karine Clement, France, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2012.

Karine is Professor of Nutrition, Division of Cardiometabolism, Pitié Salpêtrière hospital and at Paris 6 Pierre et Marie Curie university in Paris. KC has been involved in genetic aspects of human obesity. Her work led to the identification of monogenic forms of obesity (Leptin receptor and MC4R mutations) and to several genetic risk factors in common obesity. She contributed to more than 200 international publications, reviews and many international conferences in the field. She performed a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University, CA, USA where she acquired competencies in gene profiling approaches applied to complex diseases (1999-2000). In 2001 she obtained a young INSERM “Avenir” team focused on the characterization of patterns of gene expression induced by environmental perturbations. Her group showed notably that inflammatory and remodeling genes in human adipose tissue are modulated by weight variation in parallel to macrophage infiltration changes. Since January 2006, she is director of the INSERM team Nutrition and obesity (Nutri0mique) and joined in 2007 the Cordelier Research Center (www.crc.jussieu.fr). She is a member and expert of several national and international scientific committees in obesity and metabolism and contributes to several European Networks in genetics and functional genomics (Diogenes, Hepadip, ADAPT, FLIP and recently METACARDIS). Since 2011, she is director of the Center of Excellence ICAN Institute de CardiometAbolism and Nutrition, dedicated to innovative Care, Research and training in the field of Cardiology and metabolic diseases. 

Dr Kathy James, USA, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2013.

Kathy is a nurse scholar recognized internationally for her work in childhood obesity. She has a doctorate in nursing and is a family and women’s health nurse practitioner. She is an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of San Diego and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nurses. Her expertise has advanced the care of families in obesity prevention/intervention through workshops for hundreds of nurses, physicians, and allied health professionals globally. Dr.  James has over 20 years of clinical experience working with children and adults with obesity problems and oversees patient care at three weight loss clinics.  Her scholarship provides empirically derived knowledge to inform practice and health policy related to childhood obesity and health outcomes. Dr. James is dedicated to improving the quality of life of underserved families facing the challenges of childhood obesity and has demonstrated this with her community work, research, national and international presentations, and publications. Her recent publications (Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing, 2008;2010 and Infant, Children & Adolescent Nutrition, 2012) regarding the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a family based intervention to provide family focused nutritional and weight management strategies to underserved diverse populations, is an example of the utilization of current research including findings from her most recently funded studies. She has a strong commitment to advancing nursing practice and research, and to increase interdisciplinary respect for nursing scholarship as evidenced by her consistently being targeted to assume interdisciplinary leadership roles to significantly influence policy and health outcomes for families and children. She is a primary consultant to the California Medical Association Foundation and California Association of Health Plans; contributes on the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality; chaired California Association of Nurse Practitioners Practice Issues; serves on the Expert Panel on Child and Family Health for the American Academy of Nurses and has served as a Legislative representative for Southern California with the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. She continues to look for collaborative opportunities nationally and internationally to provide obesity education and to apply evidence based treatment modalities with multi-disciplines.  

Dr Ken Fujioka, USA, was awarded a SCOPE International Fellowship in 2012.

Ken  is director of the Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center and the Center for Weight management in La Jolla, California at the Scripps Clinic. His time is divided equally between clinical research and clinical practice. Dr Fujioka’s research interests include diets, medications, bariatric surgery, medical devices, web-based weight loss programs, and outcomes in obesity treatment. 

The Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center has completed over 100 clinical trials in obesity related areas.  The Center for Weight Management is a referral based multispecialty center that includes endocrinologists, surgeons, psychologist, dietitians, exercise physiologist, and nurse practitioners. The multispecialty clinic sees over 1000 patients a month. It is a recognized Center of Excellence and attempts to treat all forms of obesity, morbid obesity, and eating disorders.  

Ken has also worked for the Medical board for the state of California as an expert witness. In 1997 he was asked to define the standard of care in the treatment of obesity. He has published original research, as well as chapters of books and reviews. He has worked with multiple government agencies and pharmaceutical companies on drug development and use in clinical practice. 

Dr Khin Swe Myint, UK, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2014.

Dr Konstantinos Michalakis, Greece, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2011, and an International Fellowship in 2018.

Dr Krassimira Ikonomova, Bulgaria, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2006.

Dr Kristine Leopold, Germany, was awarded a SCOPE National Fellowship in 2005.