Michael Roden is chairman/professor of endocrinology and metabolic disorders at Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, head of the Department of Medical Clinics and director of its Division of Endocrinology and Diabetology at University Hospital Düsseldorf, Germany. He is also CEO of the German Diabetes Center (DDZ), the Leibniz Center for Diabetes Research and one speaker of the German Centers of Diabetes Research (DZD). He was trained at University of Vienna, Austria, and Yale University, New Haven, CT. His translational research addresses energy metabolism in obesity, diabetes and comorbidities, with one focus on steatotic liver disease, as well as diabetes subtyping. Roden has made major contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms of nutrient-induced insulin resistance, the role of mitochondria adaptation in MASLD/MASH and to diabetes subtype-specific risk of complications, thereby facilitating precision diabetology. He is author of 700+ peer-reviewed publications (e. g. in Nature, Lancet, Cell Metab…) and highly cited researcher (Clarivate 2022, 2023). He received several awards (e. g. Oskar-Minkowski Prize by EASD, G. B. Morgagni Gold Medal by University of Pisa, Paul-Langerhans Medal by the German Diabetes Association, DDG), holds honorary doctorates of the Universities of Athens and Belgrade and is honorary member of the Hungarian Diabetes Association. Roden was chairman of EFSD, honorary treasurer of EASD and EFSD and president of the Central European and Austrian Diabetes Associations. From 2016-2021, he served as head of the Committee Medicine of the German Council of Science and Humanities, appointed by the President of Germany. Recently, he has been elected as collaborative professor of Kanasawa University, Japan, and member of the Academia Europea and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

Matthew Watt obtained his PhD from the Deakin University in 2002, completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Guelph (Canada), RMIT University and St. Vincent’s Institute, then established a research team in the Department of Physiology at Monash University where he was supported by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) fellowships for over a decade. Matt moved to the University of Melbourne in 2018 where he is currently Professor and Head of the Department of Anatomy and Physiology. Matt’s research vision is to deconvolute complex metabolic and endocrine regulation to facilitate the development of new therapies for obesity-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cancer. His laboratory has worked with many local and international teams to achieve these goals, and they have established and share a comprehensive suite of analytical tools including real-time metabolic assessment in cells, tissues and mice, and lipidomic and proteomic evaluation using advanced mass spectrometry.

Dr Keshvari is a postdoctoral research officer at Mater Research Institute-UQ. Her main research interest is to investigate the role of macrophages in metabolic disorders including acute and chronic liver diseases, obesity and type 2 diabetes. She was awarded her PhD titled “characterisation of two receptors for adiponectin” in 2016 and received the “2016 Dean’s Award for Outstanding Higher Degree by Research Theses”. Her current project is focused on the beneficial effect of macrophage colony stimulating factor on resolving liver fibrosis and promoting liver regeneration and the role of macrophages on metabolic regulation in fat and endocrine system including pancreas.

A/Prof Yanchuan Shi is a medically trained scientist and currently leads the Neuroendocrinology Group at the Garvan Institute. She is Conjoint Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney. Dr Shi earned her PhD in 2006 and completed her postdoc training within the Neuroscience Division at the Garvan Institute. In 2012, she successfully requalified for her Australian medical licence, enabling her to practice medicine in Australia. Her research focuses on neuroendocrine regulation of appetite, adipose tissue thermogenesis and beta cell function, with a special emphasis on the NPY system. Her work also explores the potential impact of non-caloric nutrients on metabolism and investigates inter-organ crosstalk.

Nick is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Medical Sciences and CEO of the biotech firm Endo Axiom that is taking oral nanoformulation of insulin to clinical trials next year.

Associate Professor Drew is an NHMRC L1 Investigator Fellow and prior NHF Future Leader Fellow. He is head of the Molecular Metabolism and Ageing Laboratory at the Baker Heart & Diabetes Institute, where he also leads the Obesity & Lipid Program. He leads a team of >15 researchers that engages in cutting edge technologies including systems genetics and CRISPR, to identify novel therapies and diagnostics for cardiometabolic disease. His lab has secured >$10M in competitive funding, with his work being published in many leading journals including Nature, Cell Metabolism, Science Transl Med, Nature Commun, Nature Metab, Nature CVR and more.