Confirmed Speakers
Industrialized Food: From Science to Public Policy — A Global Perspective
Prof. Vincenzo Fogliano
Wageningen University · President, EFFoST · Netherlands
550+ publications, 25,000+ citations. Fogliano chairs the Food Quality & Design group at Wageningen University and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Functional Foods. Before moving to Wageningen in 2013, he spent 20 years as Professor of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry at the University of Naples. Internationally recognized for his work on the Maillard reaction and the chemistry of food processing, he has authored more than 530 publications cited over 23,000 times, with an h-index above 70, and is President of EFFoST. Professor of Food Quality & Design group at Wageningen University, President of EFFoST R&D director of Arterra Bioscience, Vincenzo is a food scientist. After 20 years of career at the University of Naples from 2013 he is Professor of Food Quality & Design at Wageningen University. He published too many papers covering many aspects of Food science. The focus of Vincenzo’s research is on the design of innovative healthy foods to tackle two main issues: feeding the planet and counteracting obesity.
Márcia Terra
NutriInsight, ANAD, SBAN, AND · Brazil
Nutrition and food consultant & science communicator. With over 30 years in food regulatory affairs and food additive and sweetener science, Terra worked representing ABIAD on the Anvisa working group that shaped Brazil's first regulatory framework for diet and light foods; milestone legislation for foods for special purposes in Brazil. She has served on the ANAD Advisory Board for 30 years and is currently Secretary-General of SBAN in Brazil. She speaks worldwide, combating food and nutrition myths, and has testified before the Brazilian Senate and Chamber of Deputies in defense of food additives as well as industrialized foods.
Prof. David S. Ludwig
Harvard Medical School / Boston Children's Hospital · USA
David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD, is an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children's Hospital, Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and Professor of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where he co-directs the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center. For more than 25 years, Dr. Ludwig has studied the effects of dietary composition on metabolism, body weight, and risk for chronic disease, with a special focus on low-carbohydrate and ketogenic diets. He has made seminal contributions to development of the carbohydrate-insulin model, an alternative perspective on the cause and treatment of obesity. Described by Time magazine as an 'obesity warrior' for his advocacy on food policy, Dr. Ludwig has fought for fundamental policy changes to improve the food environment. He has authored more than 250 scientific articles and presently serves as an editor at The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Dr. Ludwig is author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Always Hungry? Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose Weight Permanently.
Prof. Richard (Rick) Mattes
Purdue University — Distinguished Professor of Nutrition Science · USA
Richard D. Mattes, MPH, PhD, RD is a Distinguished Professor of Nutrition Science at Purdue University and Head of the Ingestive Behavior Research Center. His research focuses on the areas of taste function, hunger and satiety, food preferences, regulation of food intake in humans and human cephalic phase responses. He has authored over 320 publications. Dr. Mattes earned an undergraduate degree in biology and a Masters degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan as well as a doctorate degree in Human Nutrition from Cornell University. He conducted post-doctoral studies at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Monell Chemical Senses Center.
Dr. Andrew Mente
Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University · Canada
A Principal Investigator at the Population Health Research Institute and Associate Professor at McMaster University, Mente holds a doctorate in Epidemiology from the University of Toronto and has published roughly 200 papers, including in the Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine. He co-leads the nutrition arm of the PURE study, the largest prospective dietary epidemiology project ever assembled.
Dr. Pietro Paganini
President, Competere · Adjunct Professor, Temple University · Policy Strategist · Italy
Pietro Paganini is President of Competere and Adjunct Professor at Temple University. He holds a doctorate in Communication and Complex Organizations and works on public policy, innovation, health, and socioeconomic change. He is the author of i-Food: Escaping Food Ideology and co-author, with Prof. Michele Carruba, of Obesity: A Guide to Reclaiming Balance, Health, and Freedom of Choice.
Prof. Rodrigo Chamorro
University of Chile · Chile
Professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile. He holds a degree in Nutrition and Dietetics, an M.Sc. in Nutritional Sciences, and a Ph.D. in Nutrition and Food from the University of Chile. He completed his postdoctoral training at the Center of Brain, Behavior, and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, Germany. His main research focuses on the timing of meals, regulation of food intake, and obesity; sleep and metabolic regulation in humans, and the role of dairy and omega-3 fatty acids in human nutrition.
Prof. Lorenzo Maria Donini
Sapienza University of Rome · Italy
Former Full Professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Rome "Sapienza," carrying out his teaching and scientific activity in the Food Science Section of the Department of Experimental Medicine. He has published 317 scientific articles in peer-reviewed international scientific journals (H-index 59; citations 19,921; average citations per published work: 62.8; Source: Scopus, 08.09.2026). Since 2019 he has been in Stanford University's World's Top 2% Scientists ranking. His research activity has concerned in particular the evaluation of nutritional status, feeding and eating disorders, malnutrition (undernutrition), obesity and sarcopenic obesity, catering services, front-of-pack nutritional labels, and the Mediterranean diet. He has obtained various research grants from both international and Italian institutions, and he coordinates the activities of working groups for scientific societies (Italian and European) and governmental and non-governmental institutions.
Prof. Ciarán Forde
Wageningen University · Netherlands
Conducted the RCT that showed the sustained influence of meal texture and eating rate on daily energy intake for UPF diets matched for nutrient content. The trial further explored the impact of diets high in UPFs on metabolic and microbiome markers of health and will share new data that challenges many of the underlying assumptions about the effects of UPFs on health. Prof. Forde holds the Chair in Sensory Science and Eating Behaviour at Wageningen University, where his research examines how the sensory properties of food, texture, structure, and oral processing shape calorie selection, eating rate, and energy intake across the lifespan. He has held research positions in the UK, Australia, Switzerland, and Singapore before taking the Chair in Wageningen. He has published >200 scientific articles on sensory perception, eating behaviour and food intake regulation.
Prof. Faidon Magkos
University of Copenhagen · Denmark
Faidon Magkos is Professor in Obesity and Metabolism at the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, in the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. He holds a BSc in Human Nutrition, an MSc in Diet and Exercise, and a PhD in Human Metabolism. He has studied at Harokopio University (Greece); Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, USA); and Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA). He has published 257 papers with an average impact factor 8.0 and his h-index is 58 (more than 16,500 citations). His research revolves around the effects of diet and exercise on body weight homeostasis and metabolic function, the cardiometabolic complications of excess fat accumulation, and how these can be rectified by weight loss.
Prof. Thomas Henle
TU Dresden · Germany
Chair of Food Chemistry at Technische Universität Dresden since 1998, Henle studied Food Chemistry and completed his PhD and habilitation at Technische Universität München. He declined professorship offers from the University of Münster (2001) and ETH Zürich (2007), served as editor-in-chief of the journal European Food Research and Technology from 2005 to 2024, and was President of the German Society of Food Chemistry from 2005 to 2010. He has authored roughly 300 peer-reviewed papers and supervised some 500 master's and 30 PhD theses.
Prof. Dr. Hannelore Daniel
TU Munich (emerita) · Germany
Professor emerita of Physiology of Human Nutrition at TU Munich, Daniel spent her career studying nutrient transport and metabolism, leading the EU's Food4Me personalized nutrition project and co-founding the European Nutrigenomics Organisation, with professional postings in the UK and the US.
Dr. Susana Socolovsky
Independent regulatory consultant · Argentina
President-Elect of the Latin American and Caribbean Association of Food Science and Technology (ALACCTA), President of Pentachem Consulting Group in Buenos Aires, and Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST), Socolovsky is a Certified Food Scientist with four decades of experience in regulatory affairs. She has lectured on food regulation and safety across more than twenty countries in the Americas and Europe.
James Kennedy
University of Cambridge graduate; science communicator · Australia
Author of Fighting Chemophobia and a University of Cambridge graduate, Kennedy is the creator of the iconic 'All-Natural Banana' poster series, using visual science communication to challenge the naturalistic fallacy in public perceptions of food chemistry.
Dr. André Briend
Co-inventor of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) · Adjunct Professor, University of Tampere, Finland / Affiliated Professor, University of Copenhagen · France (based)
Dr André Briend, is a former scientist of the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (France). He has a long experience in research in child nutrition in developing countries. In the late 90’s, he played a key role in the development of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) which led to a revolution in the management of severe acute malnutrition. Dr Briend joined WHO in 2004 at the department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development. He retired from WHO in 2009 and is now Adjunct Professor at the University of Tampere, Department for International Health, Finland, and Affiliated Professor, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He received the 2025 John Driks Canada Gairdner Golbal Health Award.
Scott Montgomery
Director, Food Fortification Initiative (FFI); Emory University (Rollins School of Public Health) · USA
Montgomery has led the Food Fortification Initiative (FFI) since 2011. He spent 30 years at Cargill, from 1980 to 2010, rising through its wheat, maize, and citrus milling operations worldwide before retiring as Vice President, Global Procurement Leader. FFI, based at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health, is the only global organization focused exclusively on fortifying wheat, maize, and rice flour, with work in over 30 countries. Globally, 86 countries have legislation mandating the fortification of at least one industrially milled cereal grain.
Prof. Ryk Lues
President, SAAFoST; Director, CAFSaB; Central University of Technology South Africa · South Africa
Ryk Lues is Director of the Centre for Applied Food Sustainability and Biotechnology and holds the CUT-W&RSETA Food Safety Culture Leadership Chair. He has a Masters in Microbiology and a PhD in Food Science from University of the Free State, and his specializations include social-behavioural aspects impacting organizational food safety culture in the food continuum, as well as food safety assurance in vulnerable and previously disadvantaged contexts. He collaborates with, and advises several production, processing, wholesale and retail, and hospitality industries locally and internationally. He has lectured and moderated several modules in the food safety including the Food Toxicology and Masters in Food Safety programmes at Michigan State University in the USA, and serves on several higher education, regulatory and legal advisory teams as assessor, advisor and expert witness. Ryk is NRF rated and currently holds the position of President of the South African Association of Food Science and –Technology.
Nigel Sunley
Food Science Consultant, Sunley Consulting; Former IUFoST Governing Council Member · South Africa
Sunley spent 32 years in the food industry, mainly in R&D, before founding Sunley Consulting in 2007. A past president of SAAFoST and a member of the IUFoST Governing Council from 2010 to 2014, he was elected to the International Academy of Food Science and Technology and much of his consulting work deals with the interface between commercial food science, nutrition and related regulatory issues.
Dr. Martin W. Bloem, MD, PhD
Affiliate Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Former Chief of Nutrition, UN World Food Programme · USA
Martin W. Bloem, MD, PhD, is a physician and nutrition scientist with over four decades of experience connecting nutrition science to policy, programs, and food-systems change, currently serving as Affiliate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He built his career at large-scale institutions, notably the UN World Food Programme, where he served as Chief of Nutrition and Global Coordinator to UNAIDS, and earlier at Helen Keller International as Regional Director for Asia-Pacific. From 2017 to 2022 he directed the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, deepening his focus on the links between diets, climate, and food systems, and he has held long-standing academic appointments at Johns Hopkins and Tufts. He currently advises Nestlé's Scientific Advisory Board and Creating Shared Value Council, the Kerry Health and Nutrition Institute, and the venture capital firm PeakBridge, among other roles, and his current work centers on precision nutrition, metabolic health, healthy ageing, and food-systems transformation. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and edited major nutrition texts.
Dr. Klaus Kraemer
Senior Scientific Advisor, Sight and Life Foundation; Adjunct Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health · Switzerland / USA
Dr. Klaus Kraemer's career in nutrition began in R&D at BASF in 1995, and over more than 35 years across the private and non-profit sectors he has built an internationally recognized profile in public health nutrition. He spent 20 years as Managing Director and President of the Sight and Life Foundation in Basel, Switzerland, playing a leading role in advancing global nutrition through research, policy, and program innovation. He also serves as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, USA. Now retired from institutional leadership, Dr. Kraemer continues to work as an independent public health nutrition expert, advising organizations and initiatives focused on micronutrients, food systems, and maternal and child nutrition, and remains actively engaged in professional societies dedicated to improving nutrition for vulnerable populations worldwide. He has co-edited 13 books and authored more than 180 peer-reviewed scientific publications, in addition to numerous book chapters, reports, and other influential works. Through his research, advisory work, and advocacy, he continues to promote evidence-based solutions to hidden hunger and other global nutrition challenges.
Dr. David Mela
Independent nutrition scientist; Former SACN member (2005–2025); Former Senior Scientist, Unilever R&D · Netherlands
An independent nutrition scientist, Mela served on the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) from 2005 to 2025. His academic research career in the US and UK was followed by a senior scientist role at Unilever R&D in The Netherlands.
Lori B. Leskin
Senior Partner and Co-Chair, Consumer Products Practice Group, Arnold & Porter · USA
Leskin is Co-Chair of the Consumer Products Practice Group at Arnold & Porter, with over 30 years of experience representing consumer product and pharmaceutical companies in mass and class action litigation nationwide. She has been named a “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers and a Class Action/Mass Tort Litigation Trailblazer by The National Law Journal.
Anthony Warner
Author / science communicator ("The Angry Chef") · United Kingdom
Known internationally as The Angry Chef, Warner is a British biochemist, chef, food scientist, and author whose books, including The Angry Chef: Bad Science and the Truth About Healthy Eating, have reached audiences that peer-reviewed journals never will. He spent 25 years in professional kitchens, including a decade as Head Innovation Chef at Premier Foods, and now consults on plant-based and healthier food product development.
Dr. Holger York Toschka
Former Senior Director R&D Foods, Unilever; Author, New Food Product Development, 4th ed. · Germany
Former Senior Director of R&D Foods at Unilever, Toschka led food research and development across more than 20 countries over a 30-year career, and authored New Food Product Development, now in its 4th edition (CRC Press, 2025).
