Metabesity 2019 is excited to welcome the following confirmed speakers.
Speakers confirmed as of 11 October 2019. Information on this page is subject to change.
Nir Barzilai, MD
Director of Institute for Aging Research, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA Dr. Nir Barzilai is a chaired Professor of Medicine and Genetics and Director of the Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Biology of Aging, the biggest center in the world to study the biology of aging. He is the recipient of an NIH Merit Award aiming to extend the healthy life span in rodents by biological interventions... Read Dr. Barzilai's Full Biography |
Kate Batz
Managing Partner of Longevity.Capital, USA Kate Batz is Managing Partner of Longevity.Capital, a specialized investment fund focused on the longevity industry. She is also Director of Strategy and Business Development at Deep Knowledge Ventures Group, comprising of Deep Knowledge Ventures, Aging Analytics Agency, and Deep Knowledge Analytics. Read Ms. Batz' Full Biography |
Zsolt Bosnyak, MD, PhD
Global Medical Head of the Insulins Franchise and Diabetes Solution, Sanofi, France Dr. Zsolt Bosnyak is the Global Medical Head of the Insulins Franchise and Diabetes Solution at Sanofi’s headquarters in Paris. He has more than 20 years of diabetes clinical, research, and pharmaceutical experience. Dr. Bosnyak’s responsibilities at Sanofi include leadership on Sanofi’s global medical strategies... Read Dr. Bosnyak's Full Biography |
John Buse, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Director of Diabetes Care Center of University of North Carolina, USA Dr. John Buse is the Verne S. Caviness Distinguished Professor, Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Director of the Diabetes Center, Director of the NC Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, and Executive Associate Dean for Clinical Research at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine in Chapel Hill... Read Dr. Buse's Full Biography |
William Cefalu, MD
Director of the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolic Diseases, NIDDK/NIH, USA Dr. William Cefalu is the Director of the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases (DEM) at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Prior to joining the NIH in August 2019, Dr. Cefalu served as Chief Scientific, Medical & Mission Officer... Read Dr. Cefalu's Full Biography |
John Chan, PhD
CEO of AVIVE, USA Dr. John Chan is the CEO of the Apelin Project, which encompasses multiple apelin programs to address critically unmet needs in healthcare. Prior to founding the Apelin Project, Dr. Chan was the founder and CEO of Aspira Scientific, a service provider that commercializes cutting-edge life science and chemistry technologies. Read Dr. Chan's Full Biography |
Joe Cook, Jr.
Executive Chairman and President of NuSirt Biopharma; former Chairman and CEO of Amylin, USA Joe Cook currently serves as Executive Chairman and President of NuSirt Biopharma, a biopharma company focused on developing products that combine the company’s patented technologies with currently marketed and well-defined pharmaceutical products, with a focus on obesity and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis... Read Mr. Cook's Full Biography |
Kenneth Cooper, MD, MPH
Founder of The Cooper Institute, USA Dr. Kenneth Cooper, preventive medicine pioneer and “father of aerobics,” introduced the concept of exercising in pursuit of good health when he launched the world-wide phenomenon, Aerobics, in 1968—his first of 19 books on health and fitness. His latest book, Start Strong, Finish Strong, is a collaboration with his son... Read Dr. Cooper's Full Biography |
Ralph DeFronzo, MD
Professor of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, USA Dr. Ralph DeFronzo is the Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Diabetes Division at the University of Texas Health Science Center and the Deputy Director of the Texas Diabetes Institute, San Antonio, Texas. Read Dr. DeFronzo's Full Biography |
Laura Deming
Founder and Managing Partner of The Longevity Fund, USA Laura Deming is a venture capitalist and anti-aging pioneer. Her work focuses on life extension and using biological research to reduce or reverse the effects of aging. After homeschooling in New Zealand, Laura moved to San Francisco at just twelve years old to join Cynthia Kenyon’s lab at the University of California... Read Ms. Deming's Full Biography |
Alexander Fleming, MD – Co-Chair
Founder and Executive Chairman, Kinexum; CMO, Tolerion, USA Dr. Alexander Fleming is Founder and Executive Chairman of Kinexum. He is also Chief Medical Officer of Tolerion, a biotechnology company developing disease-modifying treatments for type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases. At the US Food and Drug Administration from 1986 to 1998... Read Dr. Fleming's Full Biography |
Gary Gibbons, MD
Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the NIH, USA Dr. Gary Gibbons MD is Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he oversees the third largest institute at the NIH, with an annual budget of approximately $3 billion and a staff of nearly 2,100 federal employees, contractors, and volunteers... Read Dr. Gibbons's Full Biography |
Vadim Gladyshev, PhD
Professor of Medicine and Director, Center for Redox Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA Dr. Vadim Gladyshev is a Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Associate Member at the Broad Institute. He seeks to understand the nature of aging and define principles of lifespan control. Dr. Gladyshev's lab applies high-throughput and computational approaches... Read Dr. Gladyshev's Full Biography |
Stephen Gough, MD, FRCP
Senior Vice President and Global Chief Medical Officer, Novo Nordisk A/S, Denmark Dr. Stephen Gough joined Novo Nordisk A/S, as Senior Principal Clinical Scientist in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2015 in the Chief Medical Office, to provide advice and clinical guidance on the development of new molecules and drugs, from early concept through phase III and beyond, for the treatment of diabetes and obesity... Read Dr. Gough's Full Biography |
Leonard Guarente, PhD
Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging Research at MIT; Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Elysium Health, USA Dr. Guarente directs research and product development at Elysium Health. He is the Novartis Professor of Biology at MIT. Since 1982 he has led the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging Research at MIT, where his research has focused on the genetic and molecular basis of aging—first in model organisms and now in animals and humans... Read Dr. Guarente's Full Biography |
Karl Guggenmos, MBA, AAC
WACS Global Master Chef, USA Mr. Karl Guggenmos is the owner of Culinary Solutions International, a consulting company based in Cranston, RI. He is a World Association of Chefs’ Societies (WACS) Global Master Chef and dean emeritus of Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI. He is also on the Advisory Board to the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine... Read Chef Guggenmos' Full Biography |
Brian Harvey, MD, PhD
EVP of Global Liver Institute, USA Dr. Brian Harvey is a physician and biochemist with academic research, clinical practice, US FDA regulatory, bio-pharmaceutical industry, and non-profit experience. He is currently the Executive Vice President, Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, at the non-profit Global Liver Institute based in Washington, DC... Read Dr. Harvey's Full Biography |
Richard Hodes, MD
Director, National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA Dr. Richard Hodes is the Director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Hodes, a leading researcher in the field of immunology, was named to head the NIA in 1993. Under Dr. Hodes’ stewardship, the NIA budget has grown to $3 billion, reflecting increased public interest... Read Dr. Hodes' Full Biography |
Professor Philip Home
University of Newcastle, UK Professor Philip Home trained in medicine at Oxford University and Guy's Hospital, coming under the influence of Harry Keen, and thus gravitating into diabetes research. Continuing this research career in Newcastle upon Tyne, initially under the guidance of George Alberti, he has published over 460 papers, books and reviews... Read Professor Home's Full Biography |
Matt Kaeberlein, PhD
Director of the Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute, University of Washington, USA Dr. Matt Kaeberlein is a Professor of Pathology, Adjunct Professor of Genome Sciences, and Adjunct Professor of Oral Health Sciences at the University of Washington. His research interests are focused on basic mechanisms of aging in order to facilitate translational interventions that promote healthspan and improve quality of life... Read Dr. Kaeberlein's Full Biography |
Sree Kant
Head of Business Development, Life Biosciences, USA Sree Kant leads business development at Life Biosciences and is focused on new scientific investments and strategic partnerships. Sree comes to Life Biosciences with 18 years of varied healthcare and pharmaceutical industry experience. Previously, he was head of early partnering strategy for Pfizer, working across different... Read Mr. Kant's Full Biography |
Brian Kennedy, PhD
Director of the Centre for Healthy Ageing at the National University Health System, Singapore Dr. Brian Kennedy is internationally recognized for his research in the basic biology of aging and as a visionary committed to translating research discoveries into new ways of delaying, detecting, and preventing human aging and associated diseases... Read Dr. Kennedy's Full Biography |
Nora Khaldi, PhD
Founder and CSO of Nuritas, Ireland Dr. Nora Khaldi is the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Nuritas, a company helping to solve some of the greatest challenges in biology and medicine. Dr. Khaldi is disrupting the status quo of drug discovery by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to extract peptides from food-based material... Read Dr. Khaldi's Full Biography |
Eric Kihlstrom
Strategic Director of Aging Analytics Agency and Secretariat for the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Longevity, UK Eric Kihlstrom is a Partner of Longevity.Capital, a specialized hybrid investment fund for the longevity industry. Eric is also Strategic Director of Aging Analytics Agency and of Head of Industry Collaboration at Longevity International, the Secretariat for the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Longevity... Read Mr. Kihlstrom's Full Biography |
Brian Leyland-Jones, MB, BS, PhD, FRACP, FRCPC
Chief Medical Officer and Scientific Advisory Board Member for the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR), USA Dr. Brian Leyland-Jones is the Chief Medical Officer and Scientific Advisory Board Member for the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR). He also serves as the CMO of OTraces and the N OF 1 Mission, and CSO of The Darwin Foundation, collectively devoted to the implementation of prevention and cure... Read Dr. Leyland-Jones' Full Biography |
Jennifer Ligibel, MD
Director, Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, USA Dr. Jennifer Ligibel is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Ligibel’s research focuses on the impact of lifestyle interventions on cancer-related outcomes in women with breast cancer... Read Dr. Ligibel’s Full Biography |
Joan Mannick, MD
Co-Founder and CMO of resTORbio, USA Dr. Joan Mannick is CMO of resTORbio, a clinical stage biotechnology company that is a spin-out of Novartis and developing medicines that target the biology of aging to treat or prevent aging-related diseases. Prior to joining resTORbio, Dr. Mannick was an Executive Director in the New Indications Discovery Unit... Read Dr. Mannick's Full Bio |
Susan Mayne, PhD
Director of FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, USA Susan Mayne, PhD, is the Director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this position, Dr. Mayne leads the Center’s development and implementation of programs and policies related to the composition, quality, safety, and labeling of foods, food and... Read Dr. Mayne's Full Biography |
Jamie Metzl
Author of Hacking Darwin: Genetic Revolution and the Future of Humanity, USA Jamie Metzl is a technology futurist and geopolitical expert, novelist, entrepreneur, media commentator, and Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council. In February 2019, he was appointed to the World Health Organization expert advisory committee on developing global standards for the governance and oversight... Read Mr. Metzl's Full Biography |
James Peyer, PhD
Founder and Managing Partner, Kronos BioVentures, USA James Peyer, PhD, is the Founder and Managing Partner of Kronos BioVentures, a biotechnology fund investing in breakthrough therapeutics that affect fundamental mechanisms of the natural degeneration we call aging. He created Kronos to explore the potential of our newfound knowledge of what makes us age... Read Dr. Peyer's Full Biography |
Dennis Purcell
Founder and Senior Advisor, Aisling Capital, USA Dennis Purcell is the Founder of Aisling Capital LLC and currently serves as a Senior Advisor. Previously, he served as the Senior Managing Partner. Prior to Aisling Capital, Mr. Purcell served as Managing Director of the Life Sciences Investment Banking Group at Chase H&Q (formerly Hambrecht & Quist, “H&Q”) for over... Read Mr. Purcell's Full Biography |
Lucy Rose
Founder and President of The Cost of Loneliness Project; Former Director, Division of Drug Advertising and Marketing, CDER, FDA, USA Ms. Lucy Rose is founder and president of The Cost of Loneliness Project and founder and CEO of Lucy Rose and Associates (LRA), LLC, a global consulting firm. Ms. Rose’s combination of education and experience in for-profit, non-profit, government, and patient care settings, coupled with her extensive experience as a trainer... Read Ms. Rose's Full Biography |
Ed Saltzman
Executive Chairman, Cello Health BioConsulting, USA Mr. Ed Saltzman is Executive Chairman of Cello Health BioConsulting (CHBC), previously Defined Health, after having led the sale of Defined Health to Cello Health in 2017. CHBC is a leading strategic business development advisory firm that serves senior executives in pharma, biotech, and investment sectors in the US, Europe... Read Mr. Saltzman's Full Biography |
Vittorio Sebastiano, PhD
Co-Founder of Turn Biotechnologies and Assistant Professor of Stanford University, USA Dr. Vittorio Sebastiano is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Stanford School of Medicine. His lab has established a new technology named ERA (Epigenetic Reprogramming of Aging), which repurposes the conceptual idea of reprogramming, with the goal to promote epigenetic rejuvenation... Read Dr. Sebastiano's Full Biography |
Thomas Seoh
President and CEO, Kinexum, USA Thomas Seoh is President and CEO of Kinexum, a strategic advisory firm that provides regulatory, clinical, CMC and other translational guidance for life science product development. He is an entrepreneur/executive who has held senior leadership positions in public and private pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies... Read Mr. Seoh's Full Biography |
Bimal Shah, MD
Chief Medical Officer of Livongo Health, USA Dr. Bimal Shah is responsible for Livongo’s strategic clinical product vision, clinical content, and clinical research and analytics. Dr. Shah previously served as the company’s Senior Vice President for Clinical and Strategic Partnerships, where he provided clinical guidance and launched Livongo’s first cardiovascular product offering... Read Dr. Shah's Full Biography |
David Sinclair, PhD
Co-Director of Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging, Harvard Medical School, USA Dr. David Sinclair is a tenured Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, co-Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School, and Conjoint Professor at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He is best known for his work on genes and small molecules that delay aging... Read Dr. Sinclair's Full Biography |
Jay Skyler, MD, MACP
Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Psychology at the University of Miami, USA Dr. Jay Skyler is currently Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Psychology in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at the University of Miami. He is also Deputy Director for Clinical Research and Academic Programs at the Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami... Read Dr. Skyler's Full Biography |
Charles Stacey, MD
President & CEO of Cerecin, USA Dr. Charles Stacey is President and CEO of Cerecin, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing innovative therapeutics for brain health and neurological diseases. Prior to joining Cerecin, Dr. Stacey was with Inventages, the Nestlé-backed healthcare venture capital group, with $1.5B under management... Read Dr. Stacey's Full Biography |
Lawrence Steinman, MD — Co-Chair
Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Pediatrics and Genetics, Stanford, USA Dr. Lawrence Steinman is Professor of Neurology, Neurological Sciences and Pediatrics at Stanford University and was Chair of the Stanford Program in Immunology from 2001 to 2011. His research focuses on what provokes relapses and remissions in multiple sclerosis (MS), as well as antigen-specific therapy in type 1 diabetes... Read Dr. Steinman's Full Biography |
Pietro Antonio Tataranni, MD
Deputy Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Life Sciences for PepsiCo R&D, USA Dr. Pietro Antonio Tataranni is the Deputy Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Life Sciences for PepsiCo R&D. Dr. Tataranni joined PepsiCo in September 2018 and is responsible for leading the development and execution of a nutrition and bio-sciences strategy in support of the company’s portfolio transformation... Read Dr. Tataranni's Full Biography |
Karen Tracy
Vice President, Strategic Alliances and Integrated Communications, The Gerontological Society of America (GSA), USA Ms. Karen Tracy is GSA’s vice president of strategic alliances and integrated communications. She is a forward-thinking healthcare association executive who is skilled in translating vision, strategies, and objectives into firm revenues, improved performance, and increased organizational visibility... Read Ms. Tracy's Full Biography |
Kris Verburgh, MD
Researcher at the Free University Brussels, Belgium, and Venture Partner of Longevity Vision Fund Dr. Kris Verburgh is an expert on the future of medicine and biotechnology, with a focus on aging and longevity. He examines how new technologies will disrupt medicine, health(care), and our lifespan, which trends and paradigm shifts in the medical field are happening, and what impact the fourth industrial revolution... Read Dr. Verburgh's Full Biography |
Ryan Walsh
Vice President for Client Services at Real Endpoints, USA Ryan Walsh is Vice President for Client Services at Real Endpoints, a strategic consultancy wholly focused on market access and reimbursement. In this capacity, Ryan is responsible for marketing and promotional activities, product and service quality, and, most importantly, client development and support. Ryan focuses... Read Mr. Walsh's Full Biography |
Michael West, PhD
Founder and CEO of AgeX Therapeutics, USA Dr. Michael West has focused his academic and business career on the application of developmental biology to age-related degenerative disease. He is founder and Chief Executive Officer of AgeX Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the emerging field of interventional gerontology.. Read Dr. West's Full Biography |
Janet Woodcock, MD
Director of FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, USA Janet Woodcock is Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 2015, Dr. Woodcock also assumed the role of Acting Director of CDER’s newly formed Office of Pharmaceutical Quality (OPQ). Dr. Woodcock first joined CDER in 1994... Read Dr. Woodcock's Full Biography |
Michael Zemel, PhD
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of NuSirt Biopharma, USA Dr. Michael Zemel is founder and CSO of NuSirt Biopharma, where he leads research programs focused on energy-sensing and development of therapeutics for diseases of aging and over-nutrition. Previously, he was Professor of Nutrition and of Medicine at the University of Tennessee from 1990-2012... Read Dr. Zemel's Full Biography |
Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD
CEO of InSilico Medicine, USA Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov is the founder and CEO of InSilico Medicine, a global leader in the next-generation artificial intelligence technologies for drug discovery, biomarker development, and aging research. At InSilico, he pioneered the applications of generative adversarial networks and reinforcement learning techniques... Read Dr. Zhavoronkov's Full Biography |