Keynote Speakers
Keynote Speakers
Professor Juleen R. Zierath is a Professor of Clinical Integrative Physiology at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, and Professor and Executive Director at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen. She is a member of the Nobel Assembly and Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, the European Molecular Biology Organization, and Academia Europaea. She is former Chair of the Nobel Committee and past President of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). She has received several awards, including the Claude Bernard Medal and Minkowski Prize from the EASD, the Harold Rifkin Award for Distinguished International Service in the Cause of Diabetes from ADA, and a Distinguished Alumnus Award and Honorary Doctorate of Science from University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
She graduated with an M.A. in Exercise Physiology from Ball State University in 1986 and a Ph.D. in Medical Science from Karolinska Institutet in 1995. She performs translational research to delineate mechanisms for Type 2 diabetes pathogenesis. Current work is focused on the role of epigenetic processes for insulin resistance and the interaction between circadian rhythms and exercise training in the control of metabolism.
Professor Kirsty Elliott-Sale completed her undergraduate degree and PhD [Exercise Physiology] at Liverpool John Moores University. Her PhD examined the effects of female reproductive hormones on muscle strength and since then her work has primarily focused on female athletes. She worked as a Lecturer at Brunel University and the University of Brighton, before undertaking a four-year Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at Kings College London. She worked at Nottingham Trent University from 12 years, before joining the Institute of Sport at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2022 as a Professor of Female Endocrinology and Exercise Physiology. In addition to her research on female athletes, which includes the menstrual cycle, hormonal contraceptives, the Female Athlete Triad and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, her work in recent years has involved designing and implementing exercise interventions during and following pregnancy in a variety of populations including servicewomen (i.e., military personnel), athletes, and women with obesity. She has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, expert statements, and editorials on/for sportswomen. In addition, she works with many organisations such as the English Institute of Sport, the Football Association, The Australian Institute of Sport, The European Club Association, and The Wu Tsai Performance Alliance and is part of several special interest groups and advisory boards related to female athletes.
Professor Mark Febbraio is a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Research Investigator and the Head of the Cellular and Molecular Metabolism Laboratory within the Drug Discovery Program at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University Australia. He is also the Founder of the recently incorporated company Celesta Therapeutics. His research is focussed on understanding mechanisms associated with exercise, obesity, type 2 diabetes and cancer and his aim is to develop novel drugs to treat lifestyle related diseases. He has authored over 280 peer reviewed papers in leading journals and has over 50,000 career citations. Throughout his career, he has won many prestigious awards including the A K McIntyre Prize for significant contributions to Australian Physiological Science (1999), the Kellion Award for the Australian Diabetes Society (2017), The Eureka Scientific Prize (2020), The GSK Award for Research Excellence (2020), The Endocrinology Society UK International Medal (2021) the Kirsten and Freddy Johansen Rigshospitalet International Award, Denmark (2022) and The Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University Award for Excellence in Research (2022).
