Violeta Iotova
Dr. Violeta Iotova is a Professor of Pediatrics at MU-Varna and a pediatric endocrinologist, currently the Head of the Department of Pediatrics. She has extensive clinical, scientific and teaching practice, as well as international recognition. Dr. Iotova is Co-Chair of the Working Group on Education and Teaching of the European Reference Network on Rare Endocrine Diseases (www.endo-ern.eu) and Chair of the Varna Union of Scientists. She mentored 12 PhD students so far. Prof. Iotova co-authored more than 140 scientific publications in international journals and has many international and national participations, mainly in the field of growth, obesity and diabetes, as well as in rare endocrine diseases.
Tulay Guran
Professor Tulay Guran, is a clinical consultant and senior lecturer at Marmara University Faculty of Medicine, where she leads the adrenal and disorders/ differences of sex development (DSD) clinical service. She completed her residency in Pediatrics and fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at Marmara University. In 2008, she worked as ESPE and EMBO visiting research fellow in at University of Cambridge (UK) and between 2013-2015 as Marie Curie postdoc research fellow at University of Birmingham, (UK). In 2015, she was awarded with Young Investigator Award by ESPE. She has more than 150 peer-reviewed articles in the field of pediatric endocrinology. The main focus of Dr Guran`s research has been to investigate the pathogenesis of adrenal insufficiency, disorders of steroidogenesis and DSD. She is currently the coordinator of the ESPE DSD working group. She is a member of steering committee of the I-DSD Registry Network, ESPE research fellowship reviewer board, associate editorial board of Hormone Research in Paediatrics journal. She holds a member position in the Scientific Advisory Board of Turkish Ministry of Health Neonatal CAH screening programme. She is also the general secretary of Turkish Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes since June 2021.
Nienke Biermasz
Nienke Biermasz is a professor of Endocrinology based at the Leiden University Medical Center with a focus on pituitary disease, in adults. In 2005 she defended a PhD thesis on Acromegaly: treatment and Follow-up. Research is dedicated to understanding and improving the impaired quality of life and functional outcomes of pituitary diseases, e.g. by studying PROMS, comorbidities, and treatment outcomes in the pituitary care path. The LUMC is a EndoERN reference center. Nienke Biermasz is adult chair of the main thematic group for Pituitary.
Maggie Shepherd
Maggie trained at King’s College Hospital and worked as Diabetes Specialist Nurse before joining the Exeter monogenic diabetes team in 1995. She has a PhD in Medical Science, qualifications in Specialist Nursing(diabetes), Medical Education, Genetic Counselling and Genomic Medicine. She is Lead Nurse for Research (Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust) and Honorary Clinical Professor of monogenic diabetes (University of Exeter). She was an NIHR70@70 Senior Nurse Research Leader (2019-22). She has >145 publications and was the first nurse awarded the Arnold Bloom lecture (2019). She was one of the Women in Global Health’s 100+ Outstanding Nurses and Midwives 2020 and was awarded a prestigious Florence Nightingale Foundation Leadership scholarship (2022).
Katharina M.Main
Professor Katharina M Main, MD, PhD, graduated from the University of Bonn, Germany in 1986. She is certified as pediatrician and pediatric endocrinologist. Her research interests focus on early human gonadal development and differences of sex development including adverse health effects of environmental endocrine disrupting chemicals. She has published more than 280 scientific papers and supervised 28 PhD students. She is an active member of the Endocrine Society, ESPE and FIGO (Int Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics).
Justin Davies
Professor Justin Davies is Professor of Paediatric Endocrinology at the University of Southampton and Southampton Children’s Hospital, UK. He is head of department for paediatric endocrine services at Southampton, which covers a population of 4 million in the South of England. His research interests include growth and imprinting disorders, secondary osteoporosis and care for children with differences of sex development. He was a past Chair of the British Society of Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes (BSPED) 2016-2020. He is the current chair of the international – DSD care quality committee and co-chair’s the BSPED growth disorders special interest group. Professor Davies leads the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology, Winter School.
Francesco Chiarelli
Francesco Chiarelli is Professor and Head of Paediatrics at the Department of Paediatrics, University of Chieti in Chieti, Italy. He is also Head of Research Labs at the Research Center, University of Chieti, Italy. He received his undergraduate education at the University of Siena, Italy.
Professor Chiarelli’s research interests include the molecular and cellular biology of diabetic macroangiopathy; growth and insulin resistance in children; early detection of diabetic microangiopathy in children; obesity and type 2 diabetes in children.
Professor Chiarelli has written extensively and been published in leading scientific journals. He is on the Editorial Board of Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, Hormone Research in Pediatrics, European Endocrinology, Diabetes, Nutrition and Metabolism. He has also been an invited lecturer throughout Europe, Japan, Australia, North and South America.
Professor Chiarelli holds membership in several professional organizations, including the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE), the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD), the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the Italian Society for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology (ISPED) and the Italian Society for Pediatric Research (ISPR). He has served ESPE as Secretary General from 2004 to 2011 and as President in 2009 and 2013. He has been President of ISPR (2012-2015). He is currently a member of the European Commission and WHO Committee for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) in Children (2016-2022).
Erica LT van den Akker
Erica LT van den Akker is pediatric endocrinologist and associate professor. She is head of the division of Pediatric Endocrinology at the department of Pediatrics Erasmus University Medical Center Sophia Children’s Hospital and lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She is co-founder of Obesity Clinic CGG, together with Prof Liesbeth van Rossum, which is an EASO Center of Management for diagnosis and treatment of children and adults with obesity.
The center is national referral center for genetic obesity. Van den Akker is member of the clinical practice committee of the European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and member of the steering group Growth and Obesity of the European Reference Network EndoERN and Erasmus MC HCP representative for EndoERN.
Christa E. Flück, MD
University Children’s Hospital Inselspital, Bern, 3010 Bern, Switzerland
Christa E Flück is Professor for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology and head of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism at the Bern University Children’s Hospital in Bern, Switzerland. Her research interests are in topics of rare and common disorders of (adrenal) steroidogenesis and differences of sex development from bed to bench.
Claus Højbjerg Gravholt @chgravholt
Claus H. Gravholt is Full Professor at the Department of Endocrinology and the Department of Molecular Medicine at Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University.
He coordinates the clinical and research activities of the DSD reference centre at Aarhus University Hospital since 2016. This centre is dedicated to the multidisciplinary care and research in the field of variant sex development.
His main research focuses on morbidity, mortality, genomics and socioeconomic aspects of rare DSD conditions, such as Turner, Klinefelter, 46,XX male DSD, 46,XY female DSD, congenital adrenal hyperplasia and others. He has supervised 20 finished and 6 ongoing PhD students and (co-)authored more than 250 original papers and invited reviews and has a H-index of 56.
Claus H. Gravholt has been a member of the clinical committee of ESE (2015-2019). He has optimal contacts with several patient organisations, such as the Turner syndrome association, the Klinefelter syndrome association, the CAH association in Denmark.
Baris Akinci
Professor Baris Akinci received his M.D. degree from Ege University, Turkey. He completed his residency and fellowship at Dokuz Eylul University. He worked with Professor Eleanor Scott at the University of Leeds, UK- Diabetes and Cardiovascular Research (2008-2009), Professor Abhimanyu Garg at UT Southwestern, TX, USA- Internal Medicine, Human Nutrition (2011-2012), and with Professor Elif Oral at the University of Michigan, MI, USA- Metabolism, Endocrinology, and Diabetes (2018-2021). Dr.Akinci is the founder of the Turkish Lipodystrophy Study Group. His research focuses on the clinical characteristics and natural history of lipodystrophy, and the link to metabolic abnormalities and end-organ complications. Dr. Akinci is a board member of the European
Consortium of Lipodystrophies and a member of the Eclip Lipodystrophy Registry Board. Dr. Akinci has more than 100 published articles in peer-reviewed international indexed journals.
Agnès Linglart
Agnès Linglart is a Professor of Paediatrics at the Bicêtre Paris Saclay University and Hospital in Paris, France. She is the national coordinator of the Centre of Reference for Rare Disorders of Calcium and Phosphate Metabolism and of the network for rare bone diseases OSCAR. She is also involved in teaching activities in pediatrics and endocrinology; since 2017 she is vice-dean for the Department of International Affairs of the Paris Saclay faculty of medicine. She is also involved as chair of the Strategic and Finance committee of the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE).
Professor Linglart attended the University of Paris Medical School, going on to complete a PhD in Biology and PhD at Paris Descartes University, Paris, France. From 2003 to 2005, she held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Endocrine Unit of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, before working as a senior research scientist, a pediatric endocrinologist and an academic teacher in Bicêtre Paris Saclay Hospital in Paris, France. Professor Linglart’s area of interest is pediatric endocrinology, with a particular focus on rare diseases affecting the bone metabolism, calcium and phosphate homeostasis.
