SPEAKERS

Thomas Badger, PhD
Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, Arkansas
Professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Director of the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center and the principal investigator for the Dietary Factors Research Project. Research focus is on the long-term health consequences of early nutrition and diet. He has published extensively in peer reviewed journals.

Neal Barnard, MD
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington DC
Nutrition researcher, author, and health advocate. He conducts studies on the role of nutrition in diabetes, obesity, and lipid management, among other health issues. His most recent clinical trial, funded by the NIH, established the value of a novel dietary program for type 2 diabetes.

Annika Carlsson-Kanyama, PhD
Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
Researcher and project leader at the Energy and Environmental Security Group in Stockholm. Her research focus is mainly on the environmental impacts from consumption and production patterns. She has published in peer reviewed journals and written several chapters for books.

Jacqueline Chan, DrPH
Loma Linda Univesity, California
Epidemiologist with advance training in preventive care. She is part of the Adventist Health Study 2 research team. Her doctoral research work was on water-heart attack connection which was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Peter Clarys, PhD
Vrije Universiteit, Belgium
Physician from Belgium with research interest in the health and fitness related parameters in Flemish life-long vegetarians. He has authored and co-authored several research publications.

Winston Craig, PhD
Andrew's University, Michigan
Professor of Nutrition and Director of the dietetics internship program, Andrew’s University. His research interests include diet and heart disease and phytochemicals and health. He has authored several articles for the scientific and lay public. He recently wrote a book Nutrition and Wellness: A Vegetarian Way to Better Health.

Ibrahim Elmadfa, PhD
University of Vienna, Austria
Professor and director, Institute of Nutritional Sciences, a member of several international organizations and editor of the Annals of Nutrition Metabolism. He has over 300 publications in international scientific journals and authored several books on human nutrition. His main research focus is on the nutrient requirements in health and disease.

Gidon Eshel, PhD
Simon's Rock College of Bard, Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Assistant professor with primary research focus on ocean-atmosphere dynamics and interactions relevant to the Earth’s climate. He recently gave the key note address at the 8th Conference on Mediterranean Storms and Extreme Events in an Era of Climate Change. He has several publications in scholarly journals and written chapters for books.

Gary Fraser, MB, ChB
Loma Linda University, California
Professor of epidemiology and preventive care. Primary investigator of the NIH funded Adventist Health Study 2 and serves as the Chair, National Institute of Health Review Committee Special Emphasis Panel. He has extensive peer reviewed publications and recently wrote a book Diet, Life Expectancy and Chronic Disease.

Victor Fulgoni, PhD
Nutrition Impact LLC, Michigan
Senior Vice President of Nutrition Impact, LLC a consulting firm that helps food companies develop and communicate aggressive, science-based claims about their products and services. Prior to this he worked for the Kellogg Company as Vice President of Food and Nutrition Research.

Kathryn A. Greaves, PhD
The Solae Company, Missouri
Clinical Nutrition Lead for the Solae company. Her current research interests include the effects of greater inclusion of soy protein in the diet on risk factors associated with heart disease and the metabolic syndrome. She has published several articles and has given presentations for both the scientific community and the lay public.

Ella Haddad, DrPH
Loma Linda University, California
Associate professor, President of the Association of Graduate Programs in Public Health Nutrition and Chair, Legislative Committee, Inland District Dietetic Association. She has published several scientific articles in peer reviewed journals. She is the recipient of the 2006 The Alumni of the Year Award.

David Heber, MD, PhD
University of California Los Angeles, California
Professor and Chief, Division of Clinical Nutrition, Department of Medicine and the Founding Director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. He was recently elected Chair of the Medical Nutrition Council of the American Society for Nutrition. He has written over 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles and over 50 book chapters.

Ingrid Hoffmann, PhD
Justus-Liebig University, Germany
Professor of nutritional ecology with research interest on the effect of different dietary regimens on health, environment and society, conceptual development of nutritional ecology, and transfer and application of complex systems theory. She has published several scientific articles in international journals.

Donald Ingram, PhD
Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana
Professor and director of the Nutritional Neuroscience and Aging laboratory. He has over 300 peer reviewed publications and is the recipient of the 2005 Melvin A. Eggers Senior Alumni Award. His current research interests include the development of calorie restriction mimetics.

David Jacobs, PhD
University of Minnesota, Minnesota
Professor of epidemiology and has several funded projects particularly in the area of diet and chronic diseases. He is one of the principal investigators in several important epidemiological studies such as MRFIT, CARDI and MESA projects. He has over 500 peer reviewed publications and has written several book chapters.

David Jenkins, MD, PhD, DSc
University of Toronto, Canada
Professor and Chair, Nutritional Sciences and the director of the Risk Factor Modification Center, St. Michael’s Hospital. His research is focused on the role of diet in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases primarily heart disease and diabetes. He has published extensively in peer reviewed journals.

Jim Joseph, PhD
Tufts University, Massachusetts
Research physiologist, Jean Mayer USDA HNRCA Laboratory at Tufts University. His research focus is on mechanisms involved in brain aging and nutritional modulation of the aging process. He has over 200 scientific publications and wrote a book Color code. He is the recipient of the 2007 North Atlantic Area USDA Agricultural Research Service Scientist Award.

Cyril Kendall, PhD
University of Toronto, Canada
Professor and research scientist in Nutritional Sciences Department. He has extensive research experience in dietary studies on foods and cardiovascular disease and diabetes and has published several scholarly articles and presented at several prestigious conferences.

Tim Key, DPhill
Oxford University, United Kingdom
Principal investigator for EPIC-Oxford, chairman of the EPIC prostate cancer working group and member of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition. His main interests are the roles of diet and sex hormones in the etiology of cancer. He has published extensively in peer reviewed journals.

Johanna Lampe, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Washington
Member of the core faculty of the Nutritional Sciences Program and associate member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Her research explores the mechanisms by which components of diet, particularly constituents of plant foods, alter risk factors for cancer. She has published extensively in scholarly journals.

Amy Lanou, PhD
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, DC
Senior nutrition scientist, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and assistant professor of health and wellness, University of North Carolina-Asheville. She researches and writes about the connection between plant-based diets and reduced risk of chronic diseases and has established numerous campaigns to promote good nutrition.

Alexander Leaf, MD
Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts
The Jackson Professor of Clinical Medicine, Emeritus, Harvard University. He served as chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Harvard for 10 years. He has published over 300 articles and received several prestigious awards including the 1995 George M. Kober medal and the 1997 A.N. Richards Award.

Bo Lönnerdal, PhD
University of California Davis, California
Professor of nutrition and nutritionist in Agricultural Experiment Station. He was conferred an honorary doctorate in medicine by the University of Uppsala, Sweden, for his achievements in nutrition research and his collaboration with Swedish universities regarding teaching, training and research. He has more than 200 publications in scientific journals.

Iqwal Mangat, MD
St. Michaels Hospital, Canada
Clinical cardiac electrophysiologist, he is involved in diagnosing and treating patients with various heart rhythm disturbances. His research interests include atrial fibrillation, with a special interest in prevention. He is involved in research that examines the beneficial effects of omega-3 fatty acids on atrial fibrillation.

Hal Marlow, PhD
Loma Linda University, California
Environmental health professional with over 30 years of private and academic practice experience in environmental health and sciences. He has a rich and diverse consulting background in a variety of environmental health applications throughout the United States, with emphasis in Alaska and California. He is also a co-investigator with the LLU Center for Public Health Preparedness.

Mark Messina, PhD
Loma Linda University, California
Co-owner of Nutrition Matters, Inc., a nutrition consulting company, adjunct associate professor at Loma Linda University, and the Executive Director of the Soy Nutrition Institute. He has published more than 50 articles and book chapters for health professionals, and has given more than 400 presentations.

Suzanne Montgomery, PhD
Loma Linda University, California
Professor and chair of the School of Public Health Center for Health Research. She has several years of experience in funded and non-funded community based participatory action research, working in partnership with hard-to-access populations. She has published extensively.

Julio Acosta Navarro, MD, PhD
Heart Institute, Hospital das Clinicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil
A senior cardiologist with strong research interest in the area of vegetarianism. He holds specialties in Internal Medicine, Clinical Cardiology and Intensive Care Medicine recognized by their respective Brazilian Societies. He has published several articles, books and presented at world congresses on topics related to vegetarian nutrition.

P. K. Newby, PhD
Boston University, Massachusetts
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Pediatrics, Boston University. Dr. Newby is a nutritional epidemiologist whose research expertise is in the field of diet and obesity, and she has conducted studies on the dietary etiology of obesity among children, adolescents, and adults in the US and abroad. Her studies have used both traditional and novel approaches to measure diet, ranging from single nutrients, foods, and beverages to total diet quality and dietary patterns.

John Pierce, PhD
University of California San Diego, California
Professor, Cancer Center / Family and Preventive Medicine. He has published over 260 papers in areas of cancer prevention and control. He initiated the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) trial that investigates the role of a plant-based dietary pattern (particularly vegetables) in breast cancer progression.

Sujatha Rajaram, PhD
Loma Linda University, California
Assistant professor in nutrition and the chair of the scientific program planning committee of this congress. Her research interest is on the role of nuts in the prevention of chronic diseases. She has published several articles in peer reviewed journals and written several chapters for books on nutrition.

Emilio Ros, MD
Endocrinology & Nutrition Service Hospital, Spain
Deputy chief of the Lipid Clinic, Endocrinology and Nutrition Service. His current research is on the basic mechanisms of the effects of the Mediterranean diet on heart disease. He has published extensively in peer reviewed journals, written several book chapters and received the 2005 Spanish Atherosclerosis Society award.

Joan Sabaté, MD, DrPH
Loma Linda University, California
Professor and chair of the Department of Nutrition and the chair of the current edition of this congress. He is one of the pioneers in the field of research involving nut consumption and prevention of heart disease. He has published extensively in peer reviewed journals, contributed chapters for several books and edited the book Vegetarian Nutrition.

Joel Simon, MD, MPH
University of California San Francisco
Professor of medicine and epidemiology and staff physician, medical service at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. His research interests include epidemiology of cardiovascular disease and smoking cessation. He is a co-investigator on the Heart and Estrogen-progestin Replacement Study (HERS) and is well published in scholarly journals.

Pramil Singh, DrPH
Loma Linda University, California
Associate professor in epidemiology and principal investigator for several externally funded research projects. He has over 30 peer reviewed publications and received the 2001 New Investigator Award (North American Menopause Society) for a scientific paper published.

Connie Weaver, PhD
Purdue University, Indiana
Distinguished Professor and Chair of Nutrition, Director of the NIH Botanical Center for age related diseases, past-president, ASNS and a member of the National Academy of Sciences Food and Nutrition Board Panel. She received the 2003 USDA A.O. Atwater Lecture Award and has over 200 scholarly publications.

Walter Willett, MD, DrPH
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Fredrick John Stare professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition and one of the principal investigators on the Nurses Health Study. He has over 300 publications in peer reviewed journals, has published several book chapters and wrote the book Eat, Drink and be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating.