Scientific Advisors
Gordon Duff MD, BM, BCh, FRCP, PhD, Fmed Sci
Florey Professor of Molecular Medicine
Director, Division of Genomic Medicine
School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
University of Sheffield
Sheffield, UK
Gordon W. Duff, M.D., Florey Professor of Molecular Medicine, is the former Director of the Division of Genomic Medicine in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Sheffield in the U.K. He has an extensive research focus in the fields of inflammation, cytokine biology, and genetics, and has authored more than 300 publications. In the early nineties, he and his colleagues were the first to report on varying inflammatory responses in relation to IL1 and TNFa genetic variations. He is accredited in General Medicine with specialist accreditation in Molecular Medicine and in Clinical Rheumatology. Dr. Duff chairs several UK national advisory bodies related to biological medicines and medicines regulation. The recipient of several international prizes and honors, he was previously Research Dean of the Sheffield Medical School, Research Director of the Faculty of Medicine and President of the International Cytokine Society. Doctor Duff is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on the role of genetics on the inflammatory process and chronic disease risk. He was knighted in 2007 for his outstanding contributions to drug safety as Chairman of the UK Commission on Human Medicines.
Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Chief, Cardiovascular Medicine
Brigham & Women's Hospital
Boston, MA
Peter Libby, M.D., is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Libby's current major research focus is the role of inflammation in vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis. He has received numerous awards and recognitions for his research accomplishments including the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American College of Cardiology in 2006. His areas of clinical expertise include general and preventive cardiology. An extensive author and lecturer on cardiovascular medicine and atherosclerosis, Dr. Libby has published numerous research articles in medical journals including Circulation, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Nature. Dr. Libby has served as associate or consulting editor for Circulation, Arteriosclerosis and Thrombosis and The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Robert Lindsay, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., F.R.C.P.
Chief of Internal Medicine at Helen Hayes Hospital
Director of Helen Hayes Clinical Research Center.
Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University
Editor of Osteoporosis International.
West Haverstraw, NY
Robert Lindsay, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., F.R.C.P. is Chief of Internal Medicine at Helen Hayes Hospital in West Haverstraw, New York. A Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University, Dr. Lindsay has authored over 200 journal articles, abstracts, and book chapters on osteoporosis and estrogen replacement therapy. A graduate of the University of Glasgow where he received his BSc, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., and F.R.C.P., Dr. Lindsay completed an internship and residency in medicine at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow and an internship in surgery at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow.
He is an Accredited Specialist in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology with the Royal College of Physicians, a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition, a Fellow of the American College of Endocrinology, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Lindsay is also a member of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research from which he received the Bartter Award for excellence in clinical research in 1997. He is also a member of the Endocrine Society, the American College of Physicians and is past President of the National Osteoporosis Foundation, and is the 1999 recipient of the Scientific Leadership Award of the Foundation.
Director of Orthopedic Research
Professor of Cellular & Structural Biology
Assistant Dean for Clinical Research
Director, Cancer Center Support Grant
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
San Antonio, TX
Dr. Gregory Mundy is Director of the Vanderbilt Center in Bone Biology and the John A. Oates Chair in Translational Medicine at Vanderbilt University. He was previously Assistant Dean for Clinical Research and Professor in the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology (2002-06), and Head of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism (1980-2001) at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Dr. Mundy’s highly productive and well-funded research program included a National Cancer Institute funded Program Project grant on the effects of tumors on the skeleton. Current research interests include drug discovery in osteoporosis and other bone diseases, the effects of tumors on the skeleton, and osteoclast and osteoblast biology. Dr. Mundy's publications number more than 550 papers and book chapters. Dr. Mundy has been elected member to both the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and the Association of American Physicians (AAP). He has founded four biotechnology startup companies for drug discovery. He is the Past-President of the International Bone and Mineral Society and a Past-President of ASBMR. He currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) and the International Myeloma Foundation.
Professor of Genetics
Tufts University Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences
Professor of Nutrition
Gerald J & Dorothy R Friedman School of Nutrition Sci. & Policy
Senior Scientist & Director of the Nutrition & Genomics Lab
Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging
Tufts University
Boston, MA
Jose Ordovas, PhD, is Professor of Nutrition, Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and Professor of Genetics, Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences and the Director. He is also senior scientist and Director of the Nutrition and Genomics Laboratory, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA), one of six human nutrition research centers in the United States supported by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the research arm of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). His research focus includes molecular biology, nutrition and genetics; and lipoproteins and cardiovascular disease risk. An extensive author and lecturer, Dr. Ordovas is an internationally recognized expert in the intersection of genetics, cardiovascular disease, nutrition, and aging. He has over 400 publications, including original science, reviews, books and book chapters.
Professor and Chair of Gastroenterolgy
Aberdeen University
Aberdeen, Scotland
Emad El-Omar MD, is an expert in genetics and the risk and management of gastrointestinal cancers. His work has led to the understanding that inflammation in the stomach caused by Helicobacter pylori infection - the bacterial infection implicated in GI ulcers and also considered the primary risk factor in gastric cancer - is excessive in people with specific IL-1 genetic variations. The excess inflammation appears to lead to decreased stomach acid and atrophy of the gastric mucosa (tissue lining the stomach), leading to cancerous changes.
Dr. El-Omar is Professor and Chair of Gastroenterology and leader of the Biology of Cancer Theme within the Institute of Medical Sciences, Aberdeen University, Scotland. He was previously at the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland. In 2000, Professor El-Omar published a landmark paper (Nature 2000 404:398-402) describing the role of interleukin-1 genetic variations in gastric cancer. Since that time, investigators have confirmed his findings in over 20 studies. His current research focuses primarily on the role of inflammation in GI cancers.
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Assistant Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Chair, Council on Epidemiology & Biostatistics, American Diabetes Assoc.
Associate Editor, Diabetes Care
James Meigs, MD, is Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director, Massachusetts General Hospital Clinical Research Program Disease Management Research Unit. Dr. Meigs’ research is focused on the causes and prevention of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. His studies emphasize the inter-related roles of obesity, insulin resistance, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and underlying genetic susceptibility as risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. He is Associate Editor for Diabetes Care. He is a member of the American Heart Association’s Statistics committee, and recent Chair of the American Diabetes Association Council on Epidemiology and Statistics. He has authored over 175 peer-reviewed papers on causes and management of type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and obesity.
Professor, Department of Medicine
Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas
John Foreyt, PhD is a Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Department of Medicine. He also is the Director of the DeBakey Heart Center's Behavioral Medicine Research Center. He has served as a member of the National Task Force on the Prevention and Treatment of Obesity for the National Institutes of Health; The Committee to Develop Criteria for Evaluating the Outcomes of Approaches to Prevent and Treat Obesity for the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences; and The Expert Panel on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Adults at High Risk for Cardiovascular Disease for the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of NIH. Dr. Foreyt has published extensively in the areas of diet modification, cardiovascular risk reduction, eating disorders, and obesity. He has published 17 books and more than 270 articles in these areas.