Speakers

Dr. Lluís Serra Majem

Professor Dr. Lluís Serra-Majem is a Doctor of Medicine, Nutrition and specialist in Preventive Medicine and Public Health. At the beginning of his professional career, he worked as a physician-epidemiologist in several leadership positions in the Catalan health administration and then completed a Master’s degree and Doctorate in Nutrition and Public Health in Sherbrooke (Canada). In 1988, he took the post of Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, where he created and directed the Community Nutrition Research Centre, University of Barcelona Science Park. Since 1995, he has held the UNESCO Chair for Research, Planning and Development of Local Health Systems and is the Director of the Nutrition Research Group and Director of the Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences at the Department of Clinical Sciences at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Author of more than 800 scientific publications, with 70 books and more than 400 indexed scientific articles, in the last 25 years he has participated and directed numerous national and European projects. He is also Group Coordinator of the Center for Biomedical Research in Network (CIBER) of Obesity and Nutrition Pathophysiology of the Carlos III Health Institute, integrating the PREDIMED study “Prevention with the Mediterranean Diet” and the current PREDIMED PLUS “Effect of a diet Mediterranean hypocaloric and promotion of physical activity in primary cardiovascular prevention. Its scientific and academic trajectory places him as one of the scientists with the highest productivity and exterior projection in the Canary Islands. He also exercises national and international leadership in the field of nutrition and public health, the Mediterranean diet, prevention of childhood obesity and hydration.

Dr. Maria Kapsokefalou

Maria Kapsokefalou is an Associate Professor in Human Nutrition at the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece.  She is also the Deputy Rector on Student Affairs, Academic Collaborations and Outreach at the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece. Maria Kapsokefalou is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Hellenic Food Safety Authority of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, the Hellenic Pasteur Institute and the National Committee on Nutrition Policy of the Ministry of Health. Her research activities aim to the promotion of Public Health though better nutrition.

She investigates health benefits of bioactive compounds and novel and functional foods, linking Nutritional Sciences and Food Science.  She evaluates dietary intake in the general adult population and in children, pregnant women and older adults.  In particular, she has conducted studies on food, beverage and water intake in various population groups and on the socioeconomic factors that may affect food intake. She also studies food aid models and food policy measures that aim to alleviate food insecurity in vulnerable populations, such as school lunches, food packages, food banks etc. Her scientific interests include outreach programs on the sustainable development of the agrofood sector in Greece. Maria Kapsokefalou is the mother of three daughters.

Dr. Carmen Pérez Rodrigo

Dr. Carmen Pérez-Rodrigo is President of the Spanish Society of Community Nutrition -Sociedad Española de Nutrición Comunitaria (SENC). MD, Specialist in Preventive Medicine and Public Health, postgraduate diploma in Nutrition, specialized postgraduate training in public health nutrition, nutrition epidemiology, community nutrition and nutrition education. Advanced degree in Communication sciences- journalism. For more than 25 years has coordinated nutrition surveys at the local, regional and national level and has been involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of community nutrition programs at local, national and international level, particularlyschool based programs. Has been involved in European research projects such as Eurreca, Eurobese (Ethics and the obesity and overweight epidemic: image, culture, technologies and interventions), Pro Children (Promoting and sustaining health through increased vegetable and fruit consumption among European schoolchildren) or Eurodiet, among other. Contributed to the development of a framework for WHO DPAS implementation, monitoring and evaluation; Advisor to the Council of Europe task force on School-Meals and contributor to the development of the European Network of Health Promoting Schools ‘Healthy Eating for Young People In Europe. A school-based nutrition education guide’. Vice-president of the European Academy of Nutritional Sciences (EANS) (2004-2009); Member of the Executive Committee of the lnternational Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) (2007- 2013) and board member for Public Health Nutrition at Sociedad Española de Nutrición Básica y Aplicada (SENBA) (2003-2007). Editor of Revista Española de Nutrición Comunitaria-Spanish Journal of Communiy Nutrition (RENC) (2006-2012). Member of the Editorial Board of Public Health Nutrition (2002-2014) and Health Education.

Dr. Mariela Nissensohn

Mariela Nissensohn was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She obtained a degree in Nutrition at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina in 1998. She studied a Master in Clinical Nutrition at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and obtained her PhD. in Public Health (Epidemiology, Planning and Nutrition) at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 2012. She is a Member of the Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Member of the CIBER OBN, Biomedical Research Networking Center for Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition, Carlos III Health Institute.

She has been Associate Professor of Nutrition at the Universidad Autónoma del Carmen, Campeche, Mexico during 2007 – 2008. She has extensive experience in the field of Clinical Nutrition, especially in the areas of diabetes and obesity. She has participated in national and international projects as EURRECA (EURopean micronutrient Recommendations Aligned), as well as in several projects of the European Hydration Institute. She has coordinated the project Relation between moderate consumption of beer, nutritional quality of the diet and type of eating habits. She has participated in several lines of research both in the field of Clinical Nutrition and Nutritional Epidemiology: micronutrients in general and in particular the Zinc in infants, omega 3 fatty acids in relation to their biomarkers, hypertension in relation with the Mediterranean Diet, different aspects of hydration in the framework of ANIBES Study (Anthropometry, Ingestion and Energy Balance in Spain) and Predimed Plus, etc. She is author and co-author of many nutrition articles published in several international scientific journals and has made several book chapters.

Dr. José Jaime Sadhwani Alonso

Director of Sustainability and Risk Prevention at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, for ten years. Industrial Engineer and Professor of the University in the area of Environmental Technologies. He has participated in 26 projects and collaboration agreements. Most of them focus on the research line of the water treatment sector and in particular on the desalination of water. Most research projects have contributed and consolidated knowledge, experience and innovation.

His publications have been made in two specialized magazines of the sector: Desalination and Desalination and Water Treatment. His research work has meant a real progress of knowledge, such as the direct application to the desalination of water by reverse osmosis, since it has contributed in giving technical, control and operation criteria to make the installations able to function efficiently

Dr. Marcela González de Gross

Full Professor for Sport Nutrition and Exercise Physiology. Department of Health and Human Performance. Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences-INEF. Technical University of Madrid. Spain. Member of the editorial committee of “Nutrición Hospitalaria”

Member of the Kuratorium and Scientific Advisory Board of the “Institute for Research on Child Nutrition” (“Forschungsinstitut für Kinderernährung” FKE) in Dortmund (Germany). Head of the Research group ImFINE (Improvement (of health) by fitness, nutrition and exercise) of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Member of Center for Biomedical Research Network pathophysiology of obesity and nutrition (CIBERobn)

Dr. Sergio Cunha Velho

Higher Technical Advisor Superior Health, Department of Nutrition – Pediatric Hospital of Coimbra, Portugal since January 1980. Coordinator of the Degree in Nutrition Sciences of the Higher Institute of Health Sciences Egas Moniz (ISCSEM) – Monte da Caparica, 2005-2103. Regent of the Course on Nutrition and Human Nutrition I, of said Degree 2006 – 201. Invited Professor of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Coimbra. Responsible for the Internship of the Degree in Nutrition Sciences of ISCSEM, from 2009- 2014. Trainee Counselor of the Specialty of the Superior Technicians of Health, Branch Nutrition. Trainee Counselor of the Degree in Nutrition Sciences. Advisor of Internships to the Order of Nutritionists

Nutritionist of Sporting Clube de Braga, senior team, from 2005 to 2015. Member of the General Council of the Order of Nutritionists. 2012 to 2015. Effective member of the Council for the Coordination of Stages of Higher Health Technicians Nutrition Branch, since its creation in 1995. Trainer of the National Association of Pharmacies. Editorial board member of the journal “Saúde Infantil” Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sarah Beirão / António da Costa Carvalho Foundation in Tábua,  Portugal since 2009

Dr. Angel Gil Hernández

Prof. Angel Gil Hernández holds a degree (1973) and a PhD in Biological Sciences (1978) from the University of Granada, Granada, Spain. Professor of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Granada, Granada, Spain, since 1996. Director of Excellence Research Group of the Andalusian Regional Government BioNit CTS-461 Nutritional Biochemistry: Therapeutic implications, since 1996. Visiting Professor of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA) of the University of Chile, Santiago de Chile, since 1989. President of the Ibero-American Nutrition Foundation (FINUT) since 2011.

Researcher: Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, Biomedical Research Center of the University of Granada. Biosanitary Institute of Granada (ibs GRANADA). Center for Biomedical Research in the Network of the Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN), Carlos III Health Institute, Madrid. Scientific Publications: 572 publications of which 22 books, 132 Book chapters and 418 scientific articles indexed from 1981 to 2016. He has published 18 patents all of them exploited or in exploitation by companies of alimentation or nutrition.

Dr. María José Soto Méndez

After studying nutrition at the School of Nutrition, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University Rafael Landívar, Guatemala, María José Soto-Méndez started her career at CeSSIAM, Guatemala, as a research fellow in 2007. Because of her scientific performance the Hildegard Grunow Foundation (HGF) accepted to promote her future education. In 2009 she participated successfully in the V Latin American Leadership Program in Nutrition, a one-week leadership workshop in Chile. She completed her MSc in Human Nutrition at the University of Granada, Spain, and started her doctorate in 2012 with the mentoring of Drs. Angel Gil, Noel W. Solomons and Klaus Schuemann in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II of the same university; her dissertation fieldwork was carried out in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. She has attended several international meeting to present the results of her dissertation: the Latin American Nutrition Society Congress, Experimental Biology, the International Congress of Nutrition in Granada, Spain and the International Hydration Congress on its 1^st and 2^nd editions. In the first one, held Madrid, Maria José was awarded for the best poster and best oral presentation and, on the second one, the best oral presentation in the specific topic. She presented her dissertation in October 2015, and he obtained the Cum-Laude mention; her dissertation produced 10 papers, six of them already published in journals as the AJCN and PLoS One.  Starting December 2015 she was appointed Scientific Coordinator of the Iberoamerican Nutrition Foundation (FINUT) located in Granada, Spain.

Dr. María José Alonso Moya

She studied Agronomic  Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Madrid and she has Master of Sciences in Organic Agriculture from the University of Wagenigen (The Netherlands). She has developed her professional career both at the private and the public sector. Within the public sector, she has been agri-environment consultant from 2003 until 2006 where she became Civil Servant  where she has been Senior Officer at the Spanish Cadastre within The Spanish Ministry of Finance. Afterwards, she has worked in different positions within the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment s such as Senior officer of the Spanish Inventory Unit. She is currently the Technical Advisor on Food Security, Agriculture and Soils at the Spanish Climate Change Office within the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment, coordinating at a national and international level all issues related to food security, soils, water and agriculture in both mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

Dr. Adriana Ortiz Andrellucchi

PhD in Public Health Nutrition from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Degree in Pharmacy from the University Juan Agustín Maza, Mendoza, Argentina. Master in International Cooperation for Development by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Master in Public Health Nutrition by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Researcher of the Nutrition Group of the Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Member of the Latin American Group of Community Nutrition.

RESEARCH LINES: – Nutritional, cognitive and social assessment of children assisted in the prevention center of child malnutrition in Mendoza, Argentina. -Effect of the Mediterranean diet on the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease “PREDIMED”. – Nutritional intervention study with milk enriched with aloe vera in patients with gastroesophageal reflux. -Evaluation of the immunomodulation during the puerperium with the intake of milk fermented with Lactobacillus casei. -European Project Aligned (EURRECA), Sixth Framework Program Priority 5 Food Quality and Safety. – Study of hydration habits, diet and health in pregnant women of the Canary Islands. She is participant and invited speaker at scientific meetings, conferences, and symposia. She is the author of publications in national and international journals and book chapters. She currently lives in the Canary Islands, Spain.

Dr. José López Calbet

Professor Dr. José López Calbet is a Doctor of Medicine, specialist in Sports Medicine by the University of Montpellier and specialist in Rheumatology. Professor of Exercise Physiology at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, with more than 20 years of experience.

Principal Researcher and Co-researcher in more than 30 national and international research projects. Research lines: Muscular signaling; Transport of oxygen; Physical activity and health; sports training.

Dr. Tommaso Bochicchio Riccardelli

Professor of Nephrology, La Salle University, Mexico, D.F.

Professor Dr. Tommaso Bochicchio Riccardelli is a Doctor of Medicine, Specialist in Internal Medicine and Nephrology. Director of Nephrology, Mexican Transplant Institute, Cuernavaca Morelos, Director of FMC Clinics, Morelos, Mexico