PLENARY SPEAKERS

Ľubomíra Fábryová (Slovak Republic)

Dr. Ľubomíra Fábryová has graduated from Medical Faculty of Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovakia) and completed residency training in 4th Dept. of Internal Medicine Comenius University (internal medicine and diabetology, metabolic disorders and nutrition). In 2008 she received PhD in Internal Medicine from Medical Faculty of Comenius University. At present time she is a head of a metabolic center – MetabolKLINIK in Bratislava, Department for Diabetology and Metabolic Diseases (focused on management of diabetic patients, overweight and obese patients and high risk patients with familiar hypercholesterolaemia).

Rich is also the publishing and editorial activities, as well as work in the editorial boards of journals. She has published more than 200 papers in domestic and foreign medical journals. She is the author of chapters in the monograph General endocrinology, editor and author of chapters in the monograph Clinical Obesitology and many others. She has served as national, principal coordinator and scientific guarant of slovakian research projects and studies (WHO MED PED project, Screening of serious dyslipidaemias in quadragerian slovak population (2003, 2006), AtheroEduc project (2009, 2010), Atherogenic dyslipidemia II in Diabetes Mellitus II survey in Slovak Republic (2011, 2012), ObezitaEDUC project (2015–2017) and as a national coordinator and principal investigator on a number of multicenter clinical studies. Dr. Fábryová is teaching at Dept. for diabetology, metabolic disorders and nutrition of Slovak Medical University and Medical Faculty Comenius University in Bratislava, she is member of PhD Study Board in the field of internal medicine at Medical Faculty of Comenius University in Bratislava. She has lectured on metabolic disorders topics (diabetes, hyperlipoproteinaemias and obesity). Dr. Fábryová is a member of the Executive Committee of Slovakian Diabetes Society, 2010–2014 scientific secertary and since 2014 president of the Obesity section Slovakian Diabetes Society. For many years she has been active in the Slovak Association of Atherosclerosis (scientific secretary, president, past president). She is a founder of a School Lipidology. She is a member of many national and international societes (Slovak Medical Society, Slovak Cardiology Society, EASD, EAS, IAS, EASO, WOF). She works as a member of an international organization R3i (Residual Risk Reduction Initiative).

Martin Fried (Czech Republic)

Prof. Martin Fried, MD, PhD is currently the Head of OB klinika – Centre for Treatment of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders in Prague, Czech Republic. He also works as Professor of Surgery at 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague.

His bariatric career started in 1993 when he was among the first Worldwide to perform non-adjustable gastric banding LAPAROSCOPICALLY.

To mention some of his primacy achievements in bariatric and metabolic surgery, it should be noted that Prof. Fried was the First in the Country and among the first in Europe to Perform the laparoscopic operation – Greater Curvature Plication, the First in the Country to perform Adjustable gastric band with ROBOTICS and the First in the World to complete the Swedish Adjustable GB VC operation.

In 1995 he was among the Founding Members of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity (IFSO) and in 2004 of the IFSO European Chapter. He served as IFSO President in 2001–2002.

He´s member of the following Scientific Societies: International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity (IFSO) & IFSO – European Chapter, the European Association for Study of Obesity (EASO) and its Obesity Task Force.

He’s Honorary member of the Polish Society for Endocrinology & Obesity, Association of Polish Surgeons, The Obesity Society of India and The Czech Surgical Society.

Currently, he’s the President of the Czech Society for Study of Obesity of the Czech Bariatric Chapter of the Czech Surgical Society

Vojtěch Hainer (Czech Republic)

Career of Vojtěch Hainer was associated with the Departments of Medicine at The First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague over more than thirty years. He focused his interest mainly on endocrinology and obesity. In 1988 he founded the first Obesity Unit in former Czechoslovakia. During the period 2002–2011, he acted as a director of the Institute of Endocrinology in Prague. In 1993, he co-founded the Czech Society for the Study of Obesity, of which he was the first president. His extensive international responsibilities included the Obesity Management Task Force of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO; 2001 – ongoing, chairman 2001–2006) and the Executive Committee of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (2003–2009, president: 2006–2009). He has been a member of the Editorial Boards of several medical journals. He participated in organizing the European Congresses on Obesity (ECO; member of international scientific committees, co-president of the 13th ECO in 2004), the Congresses on Controversies to Consensus in Diabetes, Obesity and Hypertension (CODHy), Central European Congresses on Obesity (CECON) and the Round Table Meetings on Obesity Management. He was an author of several textbooks on obesity and co-author of the Guidelines on Obesity Management in Europe. He has published over 200 papers in medical journals, 145 of them appeared on PubMed. His research topics included: very low energy diets, factors affecting outcomes of obesity treatment, genetic and environmental aspects of weight change in obesity, eating behavior and health risks, pathogenesis and health risks of obesity in adolescence, evaluation of anti-obesity drugs, adenovirus infection and obesity, hormonal and metabolic response to bariatric surgery.

Eszter Halmy (Hungary)

President of the Hungarian Society for the Study of Obesity, Editor of Obesitologia Hungarica and Director of Platon Health Advisory and Services Ltd Budapest. She was the President of the 5th CECON 2015, member of the Organizing Committee of the 3rd CECON 2011, 2nd CECON 2009 and 15th ECO 2007. Her main scientific interests are lifestyle interventions, socio-economic background of obesity, PhD studies on the role of environmental factors in obesity.

Martin Haluzík (Czech Republic)

Martin Haluzík is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Experimental Medicine and Head of the Metabolic Research Group at the Centre for Experimental Medicine and the Diabetes Centre of the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague. He is also a Professor of Internal Medicine in the 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.

Dr Haluzík's main areas of clinical expertise include diabetology, obesitology and general internal medicine. The major focus of his research concerns the aetiopathogenesis of obesity, insulin resistance, and type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Dr Haluzík has special interests in the endocrine function of adipose tissue, the incretin system, novel hormonal factors involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis and glucose metabolism, and the use of novel technologies and therapeutics in the treatment of diabetes. He has been involved in the EU-FP7 program SAFEGUARD, which explored the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal safety of incretin-based therapies.

Svetoslav Handjiev (Bulgaria)

Prof. Svetoslav Handjiev is a founder and a honorable president of the Bulgarian association for the study of obesity and related diseases. He is a well-recognized specialist with more than 30 years' experience in the field of nutrition and obesity management. Prof Handjiev is a Principal investigator of the DiOGenes (Diet, Obesity, Genes, 2005–2009, 6th FP) and the project PREVIEW for prevention of type 2 diabetes in obese subjects (2013–2018, 7th FP). Furthermore, he is a coordinator of the EPHE project for prevention of childhood obesity in Bulgaria, and coordinator of MOCA project.

Teodora Handjieva-Darlenska (Bulgaria)

Dr. Teodora Handjieva-Darlenska graduated Medical Faculty in Medical University – Sofia, Bulgaria in 2005. Since then, she received two separate specializations in Pharmacology (2010) and in Nutrition and dietetics (2016). Further to her expertise she defended two PhD levels in Pharmacology (2009 from Medical Faculty – Sofia), and in Nutrition and obesity (2011 from University of Copenhagen, Denmark). She is currently an Associate professor in Medical University – Sofia. Dr. Handjieva-Darlenska is a daily coordinator of the Bulgarian center of the PREVIEW project, supported by the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union. She is also actively involved in different national and international projects. Her main research interests are in the field of nutrition, obesity and pharmacology.

Michal Holecki (Poland)

Dr. Michal Holecki is an alumnus of Medical University of Silesia (2001). He is currently holding a position as an Associated Professor of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine and Metabolic Diseases of Medical University of Silesia and the Vice-Dean of the School of Health Science. He is the specialist in the field of Internal Medicine, Nephrology, Diabetology and European SCOPE Fellow. Since 2002 he has been consulting patients in the Weight Management Clinic “WAGA” (Head of Clinic: Prof. Barbara Zahorska-Markiewicz). He defended his PhD thesis in 2005, and habilitation thesis in 2011. Dr Holecki was a Representative of Young Investigators United Board from EASO's Middle Region (2010–2015), and since 2015 is a member of OMTF (Obesity Management Task Force). Dr Holecki is a member of EASO, IASO, Multidisciplinary Osteoporotic Forum and PASO (where he holds the position of secretary). He was an associated editor of Clinical Obesity (2011–2015), editor (clinical research) of Annales Academiae Medicae Silesiensis, and Member of Editorial Board Obesity & Metabolic Surgery. Dr Holecki serves as a reviewer in the following medical magazines: Metabolism, Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Nutrition and Metabolism, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Kidney and Blood Pressure Research, Endocrinology, Macedonian Journal of Medical Science, Advances in Medical Science, Polish Archives of Medical Science. The research line of Dr. Holecki is mainly focused on the study of influence of obesity on bone metabolism and fracture risk. Moreover, he is interested in the problem of obesity induced hypertension, chronic kidney failure and glomerulonephritis. He is an author of more than 95 articles published in peer-reviewed journals (total IF 46.3; Hirsch Index 10).

Pavol Holéczy (Slovak Republic)

Pavol Holéczy is a general and bariatric surgeon. He started his surgical experience as a trainee of Prof. Jan Černý, MD, Ph.D. in Bratislava. From 1991 he was head of the Surgical department Railway hospital in Bratislava, where he started new era of bariatric surgery in Slovakia in 1997 (adjustable gastric banding). He was a pioneer of laparoscopic surgery in Slovakia. In 1995 he was a founding member of Section of endoscopic surgery, a chapter of Slovak surgical society. He served as a president of the Section until 2004, when he moved to Czech Republic. From that time he is working in Vitkovice hospital INC., Ostrava. He is many years member and vicepresident of the Obesity section, the chapter of Slovakian Diabetes Society. He is active in bariatric surgery as a member of Czech Bariatric Chapter of the Czech Surgical Society. In Vitkovice hospital he created Obesitologic center with wide range of bariatric procedures. The Center cooperates with Obesitologic center of Ostrava university. He closely cooperates with Surgical Department of Faculty hospital in Trnava, Slovakia, where a first bariatric center in Slovakia was created.

He was member of Executive committee of Slovak surgical society from 1996 and scientific secretary from 1998 to 2004. He is Honorary member of Czech surgical society and Honorary member of Section of videoeurgery, chapter of Polish surgical society. In 2015 he was awarded with bronze medal of Slovak medical association.

He is an author and co-author of nearly 100 publications. He is a member of editorial board in many journals in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. He is a member of IFSO and EAES.

Peter Kovacs (Germany)

Prof. Peter Kovacs, Ph.D., is professor for Genetics of Obesity and Diabetes at the Integrated Research and Treatment Center Adiposity Diseases, University of Leipzig (Germany). His main research focuses on identification and understanding of genetic determinants of obesity and related metabolic traits. Prof. Kovacs is a principal investigator of several research grants funded by German Research Foundation, German Diabetes Association or German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. He is an author/co-author of 245 peer reviewed publications/ book chapters and reviews. He has been serving as editor in several scientific journals (e.g. Diabetes, Frontiers in Endocrinology) and for his excellent work he received scientific awards including the Fellow Award for Research Excellence by National Institutes of Health (USA) or Menarini Research Award of the German Diabetes Association.

Marie Kunešová (Czech Republic)

Prof. Kunešová started her work as internist at the 1st Medical Faculty, Charles University in Prague. Later she specialized in endocrinology and obesitology. She is head of the Obesity Management Centre in the Institute of Endocrinology and professor of the Internal Medicine in the 1st Medical Faculty Charles University in Prague. She was the second president of the Czech Society for the Study of Obesity. Dr. Kunesova has been involved in obesity management and in pregraduate education and successful postgraduate educational programs in obesitology which have been run in the Czech Republic. She participated in many research projects concerning obesity management in adults and epidemiological studies in children. She published several books and over 100 original papers mainly in international journals. Citation H-index is 22.

Magdalena Olszanecka-Glinianowicz (Poland)

Prof. Magdalena Olszanecka-Glinianowicz, MD, PhD is a President of Polish Association for the Study of Obesity from 2011 year. MD graduation in 1997 Medical University of Silesia, Katowice Poland. PhD graduation in 2003 Medical University of Silesia, Katowice Poland. Assistant professor graduation in 2009 Medical University of Silesia, Katowice Poland. Professor graduation in 2013 by Polish President. She is the specialist in the field of Public Health (2004) and Internal Medicine (2010) and European SCOPE Fellow. Currently she is Head of Department of Health Promotion and Obesity Management, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland and Head of Metabolic Disease Management Center "Linia", Katowice, Poland. Since of 2011 she is Editor in Chief Nutrition, Obesity & Metabolic Surgery. Prof. Olszanecka-Glinianowicz is a member of Coalition Against Obesity. Her main field of research are: adipokines in pathogenesis of obesity complications, psychological disturbances in obesity, the factors regulating food intake and treatment of obesity. She is an author of more than 200 articles published in peer-reviewed journals (total IF 316; Hirsch Index 14).

Dominik Pesta (Germany)

Dominik Pesta is currently a senior research associate at the German Diabetes Center in Düsseldorf, Germany. He received his Ph.D. from the Innsbruck Medical University, Austria, and went on to complete his postdoctoral training at the Yale School of Medicine, USA, under the direction of Gerald Shulman. His research is focused on understanding cellular and molecular mechanisms associated with obesity and related diseases such as type 2 diabetes and exploring the potential and clinical relevance of innovative exercise interventions for prevention and treatment of metabolic diseases in humans and animal models.

Šárka Slabá (Czech Republic)

She graduated from Philosophical Faculty of Charles University with a degrees in Psychology. In 1998, she started to work at the 3rd Medical Department of the 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University and General Faculty Hospital in Prague, she gave lectures at 1st Faculty of Medicine and also educated nutritional specialists. She was focusing on treatment of obesity and diabetes in her practice. From 2017, she works at the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, where she also treats obesity within the scope of co-operation with the IVF Centre. She is a member of Czech Society for Study of Obesity and the chairperson of its Chapter of Psychology.

Hermann Toplak (Austria)

Prof. Hermann Toplak graduating with a M.D. from the University of Graz in 1984, then he went into military training with aeromedicine before becoming a resident in Laboratory Medicine, at the Metabolism Unit of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Graz. He then was a resident in Surgery and Internal Medicine in the General Hospital of Rottenmann, Austria as well as a Resident at the Metabolism Unit of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Berne, Switzerland. Since 1988 he is working in the department of Medicine at the Karl-Franzens-University, Graz, where in 1990 he became the Head of the Metabolism Unit. Since October 1997 he is also a Specialist for Endocrinology and Metabolism and Associate Professor of Medicine. Dr. Toplak is in charge of the entire Medical Curriculum in Internal medicine at the Medical University Graz and holds a full professorship for continuing professional development (CPD) and life long learning. He is a member of various national and international associations such as the Austrian Obesity Association, where he was President from 1997-2000 and 2013–2014, and the Austrian Diabetic Association, where he is a Council Member since 2005 and the President from 2016–2017. Since 2001 he is the Austrian representative in the General Council of IASO where he is also involved in the Education Management Task Force and from 2005 was Regional Vice President for Middle Europe and then from 2009 he was the Secretary of EASO, from 2012 he was President-Elect and since 2015 he is President of EASO, he also has been a long standing and member of the Obesity Management Task Force (OMTF) and running a EASO-COM.

Constantine Tsigos (Greece)

Prof. Constantine Tsigos graduated from Faculty of Medicine University of Athens, Greece. He focused his interest mainly on endocrinology, diabetes mellitus, obesity and human nutrition and metabolism. During the period 1987–1991 he worked in board certification in Endocrinology, Diabetes mellitus and Metabolism in UK and Greece. In 1991 he worked as senior research fellow and attending physician in the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. In the period from 1996 to 2005 he was a director of Division of Basic Research in Hellenic National Diabetes Centre in Athens. At the present time he acts as visiting Professor, University of Belgrade Medical School, Serbia, consultant Endocrinologist, YGEIA General Hospital, Athens, Greece, Professor of Human Nutrition and Metabolism, School of Health Sciences and Education, Harokopio University of Athens, Greece and Visiting Professor, Cerrahpasa Medical School, Istanbul University. His international responsibilities included the Obesity Management Task Force of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (vice-chairman 2000–2005, chairman 2006–2011), he is a founding fellow and member the Steering Committee and Registration Committee of SCOPE (Specialist Certification of Obesity Professional Education) program of the International Obesity Task Force, member of the Editorial Board of the Journals Obesity and Metabolism and Hormones, Chairman of the 14th European Congress of Obesity, Athens in 2005. Prof. Tsigos research interest has focused over the years on 4 principal axes: diabetes/obesity: pathogenesis and management, stress system and metabolic complications, G-protein-coupled receptors and Hormone resistance syndromes, effects of inflammatory cytokines on the endocrine axes and metabolism (inflammation and metabolic complications). He has published more than 100 papers in national and international journals with more than 8 000 citations. Prof. Tsigos is co-author of the Guidelines on Obesity Management in Europe. He has more than 100 invited lectures at international meetings and more than 150 invited lectures at national meetings. He was a chairman of international and national scientific sessions and presented many oral and poster presentations on international and national congresses.

Jozef Ukropec (Slovak Republic)

Jozef Ukropec, D.Sc., is scientist, with an expertise in molecular biology and medical pathophysiology. He gained scientific experience at several excellent scientific institutions abroad (Institute for Nutrition Research, University of Oslo, Norway (1999); Pennington Biomedical Research Center LSU, USA (2002–2005), German Diabetes Center, Germany (2007). His scientific work in the field of obesity and metabolic disease is internationally recognized. He is an author and co-author of 68 in extenso scientific papers, 5 book chapters and 20 popular-scientific reports/reviews published in Slovakia. Innovativeness, importance and international recognition of his scientific work could also be documented by invited lectures given at Boston University, Institute of Physiology AVCR Prague, ETH Zurich, GES Congress, Leipzig, Spanish DS Congress, Malaga, EASD & FID, Budapest; German DS meeting, Stuttgart, EASD, Vienna. Dr. Ukropec served as a Principal investigator of research grants supported by the EFSD & IIR grant by Pfizer and has been principal investigator or co-investigator of many domestic research grants. He was co-investigator of the 7th FP EC project entitled “Lipid Droplets as Dynamic Organelles of Fat Deposition and Release: Translational research towards human disease”. Dr. Ukropec has trained 8 bachelor, 7 master students and 3 doctoral students and most of them continue scientific work in his laboratory or at prestigious universities abroad. From 2011 he serves as a research council president of the Institute of Experimental Endocrinology Slovak Academy of Sciences and since 2016 he is a scientific secretary of the Biomedical Research Center Slovak Academy of Sciences.

Christian Wolfrum (Switzerland)

Prof. Christian Wolfrum, PhD is professor for Translational Nutritional Research at the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology ETH Zürich, Switzerland. For his excellent scientific work in the field of integrative molecular physiology and for his efforts to translate results of biomedical research into clinical practice he received many prestigious awards including Max Rösler Award (2014), Venture Kick Award (with ETH spin-off Glycemicon, 2013) and The Spark Award (2012). In 2008 he received prestigious ERC starting grant. Prof. Wolfrum is an author/co-author of more than 75 peer reviewed in extenso publications and 14 book chapters and reviews.

Mariusz Wylezol (Poland)

Mariusz Wylezol MD PhD is a general and bariatric surgeon and a European SCOPE Fellow. He started his bariatric surgery experience during his preregistration year in 1990 at the Department of Surgery in Zabrze, Poland (Head of the Department: Professor Marian Pardela) – this was the only Surgical Department in Poland where bariatric surgery was performed on a regular basis during the 80s and 90s. At the end of the 90s, he introduced laparoscopic bariatric surgery to Poland (adjustable gastric banding and gastric bypass). He has been a member of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity (IFSO) since 1999. He served as IFSO European Chapter Representative to the IFSO Executive Board from 2010 to 2012. Currently, he is the President of the Metabolic and Bariatric Chapter of the Polish Association for the Study of Obesity (since 2013). From 2008 to 2013, he was the President of the Metabolic and Bariatric Chapter of the Association of Polish Surgeons. He is a member of the Coalition Against Obesity, which was founded in 2016 to introduce changes to the health care system in Poland, in accordance with the epidemiological situation and Evidence Based Medicine. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Obesity Surgery Journal. He was the Head of the Department of Surgery at the Military Institute of Aviation Medicine in Warsaw, Poland, from 2008 to 2017. He is an honorary member of the Association of Bariatric Patients in Poland “Maximus”.

Volkan Yumuk (Turkey)

Prof. Volkan Demirhan Yumuk graduated from Hacettepe University Medical School in Ankara and served as a general practitioner in a central Anatolian village for two years. He completed his internal medicine residency in a state teaching hospital in Istanbul in 1992, and started to work in the Division of Diabetes and Metabolism at Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty. In 1994 he went through a six month research fellowship program in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at University of Michigan School of Medicine, studying pancreatic islet isolation techniques in rats. In 1997 he completed the clinical endocrinology fellowship program in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at University of Alabama School of Medicine. He became an associate professor in 1998 and a full professor of medicine in 2006. He is currently a faculty member in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty.

Volkan Yumuk's research area is obesity and his major clinical interest is prevention and management of obesity and type 2 diabetes. He has published many papers in national and international journals, and authored chapters in books in the field of endocrinology. He is a founding member and current president of the Turkish Association for the Study of Obesity; he is a member of the executive committee for the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) and is currently chairing the Obesity Management Task Force of EASO. He has chaired the 18th European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul in 2011. He became a fellow of American College of Physicians in 2001 and a fellow of American College of Endocrinology in 2006. He is been elected as a SCOPE (Specialist Certification of Obesity Professional Education) European Fellow in 2007. He is a reviewer for Obesity, International Journal of Obesity, Obesity Reviews, Obesity Facts, Maturitas, Hormones and Turkish Archives of Cardiology.