Executive Committee

Arne Astrup, MD, PhD

Arne Astrup is Head of The Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at The Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is Director of the OPUS Research Centre 2009-14 funded by the Nordea Foundation (total grant of 15 mill. €).

Arne Astrup was created Knight of the Order of Dannebrog in 1999, and Knight of the First Order of Dannebrog in November 2012.

Astrup attained his medical degree from the University of Copenhagen in 1982 and a Doctorate in Medical Science in 1986. He was appointed Professor of Nutrition at the Research Department on Human Nutrition at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark in 1990. His main areas of interest include the physiology and pathophysiology of energy and substrate metabolism, with special emphasis on the aetiology and treatment of obesity. Major research collaborations include participation in the EU multicenter studies EUROSTARCH, CARMEN, NUGENOB, DIABESITY, DIOGENES, EMOB, and HEALTHGRAIN. He is author/co-author of Over 510 peer-reviewed original, review, and editorial publications (citations-H-index: 67), and more than 950 other academic publications such as textbook chapters, scientific abstracts and letters. The great majority of these publications relate to nutrition, obesity and diseases relating to obesity, and several are published in the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, and Nature. Thomson Reuters Science Index 2010: 5th for obesity publications.

Arne Astrup is currently Associate Editor of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2010-) and member of the Editorial Committee of Annual Reviews of Nutrition (2013-). He was founding Editor-in-Chief of Obesity Reviews in 1999-2010. He was President of The International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) 2006-2009 and Chairman 2009-2010.

Academic honours include: Servier's Award for Outstanding Obesity Research 1990; IASO André Mayer Award 1994; Danone Chair in Nutrition 2002 at The University of Antwerp; LIFE Communication Prize 2007; International Association of Business Communicators’ EME Excel Merit Award for Communication Leadership 2009; LIFE Innovations Award 2010; Nutrition & Santé Weight Management Award (France) 2010; Finnish Association of Internal Medicine Esko Nikkilä Prize 2012; American Society for Nutrition Robert H. Herman Award 2012; Danish Communication Association KomPris´12 to the OPUS Research Centre 2012. IASO Willendorf Award 2014.

Arne Astrup is currently consultant or member of advisory boards for a number companies, including: Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA; Basic Research, USA; BioCare Copenhagen, DK; Dutch Beer Knowledge Institute, NL; Gelesis, USA; Gerson Lehrman Group, USA; Global Dairy Platform, USA; McCain Foods Ltd, USA; McDonald’s, USA; Pathway Genomics Corporation, USA; S-Biotek, DK; Twinlab, USA; Vivus Inc., USA. He is recipient of honoraria as speaker for a wide range of Danish and international concerns. Arne Astrup is co-owner and member of the board of the consultancy company Dentacom Aps, Denmark and owns shares in Mobile Fitness A/S, Denmark. He holds rights to patents registered in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen.

Steve Blair, PED

Steven N. Blair is a Professor at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Blair is a Fellow in the American College of Epidemiology, Society for Behavioral Medicine, American College of Sports Medicine, American Heart Association, and National Academy of Kinesiology; and was elected to membership in the American Epidemiological Society. Dr. Blair is the recipient of three honorary doctoral degrees--Doctor Honoris Causa degree from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium; Doctor of Health Science degree from Lander University, U.S.; and Doctor of Science Honoris Causa, University of Bristol, UK. He has received awards from many professional associations, including the Honor Award from the American College of Sports Medicine, the Population Science Research Award from the American Heart Association, and the Stunkard Lifetime Achievement Award from The Obesity society. He also was granted a MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health, and is one of the few individuals outside the U.S. Public Health Service to be awarded the Surgeon General's Medallion. He has published over 650 papers and chapters in the scientific literature, and is one of the most highly cited exercise scientists, with over 42,000 citations to his work and a current annual citation rate of >4,000. His h-Index is 97.

Wendy Brown, PhD

Wendy Brown is Director of the Centre for Research in Exercise, Physical Activity and Health http://www.hms.uq.edu.au/research/research-centres/centre-for-research-on-exercise,-physical-activity-and-health-(crexpah)/ and Professor of Physical Activity and Health in the School of Human Movement Studies at the University of Queensland. Wendy's principal research interests are in the public health aspects of human movement, (including the role of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in energy balance and prevention of weight gain and chronic health problems) and development of evidence based preventive health policy.

She has conducted numerous studies which aim to improve measurement and understanding of physical activity and sitting time throughout the adult life-span, as well as intervention trials with various population groups, including women from non-English speaking backgrounds, mothers of young children, and residents of retirement villages. Wendy was the lead investigator on the '10,000 steps Rockhampton' project - a multi-strategy intervention project which sought to activate the 60,000 residents of Rockhampton in Central Queensland. More recently her intervention work has focused on the role of physical activity in the prevention and management of chronic disease in the baby boomer generation. Over the last eighteen years Wendy's work on the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health has focused on identifying the determinants of inactivity and weight gain in women, and on dose-response relationships between activity, weight and health outcomes. The role of sitting time as an independent determinant of weight gain and chronic disease outcomes is an area of critical enquiry in Wendy's current research program.

Professor Brown's work in the area of understanding and influencing physical activity in populations has been widely used to inform the development of evidence-based policy and practice in the government and non-government sector. For example, in relation to physical activity, she contributed to the development of ‘Getting Australia Active’ which underpinned the national policy on physical activity, and was the lead writer of the ‘Choose Health; Be active’ initiative for veterans. Wendy was a member of the 'Prevention and Healthy Ageing' Sub-Committee of the Prime Minister's Science and Engineering Innovation Council from 2002-2003 and more recently was the lead consultant to the Department of Health and Ageing on the development of the new National Physical Activity Guidelines. In relation to energy balance and obesity prevention, Wendy was the lead writer of the Heart Foundation’s fact sheets on Physical Activity and Energy Balance, and contributed to the 2005-2007 action plan for ‘Addressing Australia’s weight problem’. She is a Fellow of the Australian Sports Medicine Federation, and an international fellow of the American College of Sports Science and the American Academy of Kinesiology. Her work is widely published in the international scientific literature, as well as in the lay press, which aids with dissemination of important public health messages to the general population.

Gregory A. Hand, PhD, MPH

Gregory A. Hand, PhD, MPH is Professor of Epidemiology and Founding Dean of the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center School of Public Health at West Virginia University, USA. He previously served as Professor of Exercise Science and Associate Dean for Research and Practice of the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, USA. He received his PhD degree from the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, his MPH degree from the University of South Carolina and a MS degree from the University of Arizona. He received postdoctoral training at the Moss Heart Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Dr. Hand began his research career examining the neurobiological basis for cardiovascular adjustments to muscular activity. His interest in physical activity and the physiological stress associated with movement led him to begin research on the effects of physical activity on physiological, metabolic and anthropomorphic issues related to infection and antiretroviral therapy in people living with HIV/AIDS. Currently, Dr. Hand’s research is focused on energy balance, weight management and the health outcomes associated with the amount of energy that an individual expends and consumes. He has published over 100 journal articles and book chapters on the role of physical activity and exercise on determinants of health and health outcomes.

His work has been funded by multiple federal agencies, private foundations and corporate entities. He has been honored by election to American Physiological Society, The Obesity Society, Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society and The American Association for Advancement of Science. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Marianella Herrera, MD, PhD

Marianella graduated from Medical School in Caracas Venezuela and she holds a Master Degree in Human Nutrition from Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas.She has been involved in nutrition education, patient care and consulting for 20 years since she started to work as a physician and realized that so many health concerns were related to nutrition. Now as the President of Venezuelan Scientific Society of Obesity (SCVO), and Professor for the Post-Graduate Program in Obesity she has been given the opportunity to research some relevant topics in Venezuelan nutrition and obesity scenario like conducting the first research in obesity in 8 cities and communicate to people and organizations as well as to assess educational campaigns that could help avoiding the raising of obesity in the country. In May 2011, she was appointed as a professor at Central University of Venezuela at CENDES, a multidisciplinary center dedicated to development issues where she researches in the Food and Nutrition Public Policies field. Recently she became the coordinator of the Venezuelan Health Observatory. In 2007 she became a member of American Dietetic Association (Now Academy of Nutrition and Dietetic) as a New York affiliate, then discovered American Overseas Dietetic Association (AODA) in 2008 and become involved in AODA’s activities which has been exciting and is making the path she was looking for to work for a proper global nutrition. In 2009 she was elected AODA’s Nominating Committee Chair and now serves as Venezuela´s country representative and media representative.

James O. Hill, PhD

James O. Hill, Ph.D. is the Founding Executive Director of the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He also holds the Anschutz Endowed Chair in Health and Wellness. He is Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine. He was President of The Obesity Society (TOS) 1997-8 and President of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) 2008-9. Dr. Hill has published more than 500 scientific articles and book chapters that focus on the importance of healthy eating and physical activity in weight management. Dr. Hill is a cofounder of the National Weight Control Registry, a registry of individuals who have been successful in maintenance of a reduced body weight. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine. He is co-founder of America on the Move, a national weight gain prevention initiative that aims to inspire Americans to make small changes in how much they eat and how much they move to prevent weight gain. He is the author of the Step Diet Book, published in June 2004 and the State of Slim published in August 2013.

Nahla Hwalla, PhD

Dr. Nahla Hwalla is Professor of Human Nutrition and Registered Dietitian with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, USA. She also serves as Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at AUB. Her research focuses on obesity, its prevalence, determinants and dietary manipulation to curb its effects. She has received extensive funding for her research from local and international agencies such as WHO, IAEA and the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS), and has published numerous articles on obesity and related topics in peer-reviewed international journals. Dr. Hwalla has provided Lebanon with the 1st and 2nd national studies on obesity and has established an Associated Research Unit on Under-nutrition and Obesity and another on Nutrition and Non-communicable Disease supported by the Lebanese CNRS. She has served on various international expert committees and was appointed by the Director General of WHO to serve on the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Nutrition. Dr. Hwalla is the Director of the Lebanon World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Nutrition. She is involved in the national strategic planning for nutrition and in building capacity for food security nationally and regionally. She has provided Lebanon with the 1st Country Profile on Nutrition and established the 1st NGO for nutritionists in Lebanon and the region, the Lebanese Academy for Nutrition and Dietetics (LAND). In recognition of her work, Dr. Hwalla was elected as Fellow of International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) in 2009, and has become more recently a Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (FAND). She has also received the Lebanese CNRS Distinguished Researcher Award in 2012, and was recently awarded the 2014 Susan Bulkely Butler Leadership Excellence Award by the International Breast Cancer and Nutrition (IBCN) group at Purdue University, USA.

John C. Peters, PhD

John C. Peters, PhD is a professor of endocrinology and the chief strategy officer of the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center on the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus. He received his BS and PhD degrees in Biochemistry from the University of California at Davis and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, respectively. Following his graduate work, Dr. Peters joined the faculty at the University of Cincinnati, School of Medicine, where he taught biochemistry and nutrition and conducted research on nutritional support for catabolic illness. He spent the next 26 years in research and development at The Procter & Gamble Company conducting and managing research in a variety of areas including obesity, diabetes, lipid absorption and metabolism, vitamin and mineral bioavailability and the science of sustainability. Dr. Peters is involved in a number of public health initiatives aimed at promoting healthy behaviors for the prevention/management of obesity and diabetes. Dr. Peters is past president of the Friends of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado, past president of the International Life Sciences Institute Center for Health Promotion, and is CEO of the America on the Move Foundation. He sits on the scientific advisory board the Arkansas Bioscience Research Institute and has served on two Institute of Medicine Committees concerning obesity prevention among children and youth.

Wenhua Zhao, PhD