Graham A. Colditz is the Associate Director of Prevention and Control at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine.  Since fall 2006, he has overseen research, education, and community outreach in cancer prevention sponsored by the Center and leads the Program to Eliminate Cancer Disparities.

Dr. Colditz was born in Australia and received his B.Sc. and medical degree from the University of Queensland, Australia, and his M.P.H. and Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard University School of Public Health. In 1990 he was elected a Fellow in the Australian Faculty of Public Health Medicine, Royal Australasian College of Physicians.  

For 25 years Dr. Colditz was at Harvard University where he served in a number of positions.  From 1996-2006 he was principal investigator on the Nurses’ Health Study, a longitudinal study established in 1976, of 121,701 nurses, investigating risk factors for major chronic diseases in women. He established and was principal investigator on the Growing Up Today Study relating diet and lifestyle of 16,883 adolescents ages 9 to 14 at entry to their growth and health outcomes.  In 1998, he was promoted to full professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.  Dr. Colditz was also associate director of Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School from 2005-2006 just prior to coming to Washington University. He was director of the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention at HSPH and within the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center he was deputy associate director for shared resources and leader of the Cancer Epidemiology Program.

With longstanding interest in the causes and prevention of chronic disease, particularly among women, Dr. Colditz has evaluated numerous lifestyle factors including postmenopausal hormone therapy and breast cancer risk, and has developed statistical models to more accurately predict cancer risk.  Other areas of his expertise include tobacco and obesity in relation to cancer and other chronic diseases.  He has devoted much effort to the application of scientific advances in cancer prevention to broader population programs working with the American Cancer Society and the Massachusetts Cancer Control Program. He also developed the website, www.yourdiseaserisk.wustl.edu, to communicate tailored prevention messages to the public.

Dr. Colditz served as editor-in-chief of the journal Cancer Causes and Control from 1998 to 2006. In 2004, Dr. Colditz was awarded the American Cancer Society-Cissy Hornung Clinical Research Professorship.  In October 2006 on the basis of professional achievement and his commitment to public health, he was elected to membership of the Institute of Medicine, an independent body that advises the U.S. government on many issues affecting public health.

Dr Stefan Anker is professor of applied cachexia research in the Charité Campus Virchow-Klinikum in Berlin, Germany. He also has an academic appointment at the Department of Clinical Cardiology at the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI), Imperial College School of Medicine in London.

In 1993, Dr Anker studied medicine and obtained his MD from Charité Medical School in Berlin. Later in 1998, he earned a PhD at Imperial College London, for his thesis ‘Studies of cachexia complicating chronic heart failure’. As part of his training, Dr Anker was a cardiology research fellow and a senior research fellow and team leader at NHLI. He also is a Professor of Medicine (Guest Professorship) at the University of Sydney.

The recipient of numerous clinical research awards and grants, Dr Anker is also an exceptional writer with more than 200 original papers, reviews, letters and editorials to his acclaim. His published work addresses issues in pathophysiology and treatment of chronic heart failure. He has also worked for 30 different scientific journals

Dr Anker will present on survival in chronic disease especially in CVD, Oncology and COPD, the negative effect of inflammatory processes in chronic disease and the apparent protective effect of obesity in such diseases.

Associate Professor Peter Davies is currently the Director of Research at the School of Medicine, University of Queensland and Director the Children's Nutrition Research Centre (CNRC) Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Queensland, Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane. Peter has published over 250 articles and papers in the field of growth, energy metabolism and body composition in both health and disease in infants and children over a number of years. He is a past recipient of the British Nutrition Society medal for scientific excellence and has been nominated for the Commonwealth Health Minister's Award for Excellence in Health & Medical Research. Peter also National Chair of Nutrition Australia.

Dr Amanda Lee is currently Manager of Nutrition and Physical Activity within the Health Promotion Unit Queensland Health. She holds a PhD in Medicine, a Bachelor of Science in nutrition, a post-graduate Diploma of Dietetics and a Graduate Certificate in Business Management. Dr Lee has held positions on several national public health and nutrition committees, including the National Health and Medical Research Council Dietary Guidelines Working Groups and is the current Chair of the National Nutrition Network. She is also a member of several state committees including the Queensland Premier's Eat Well Be Active taskforce. Over the last seven years Dr Lee has led the development of a strategic approach to the nutrition, physical activity and chronic disease prevention agenda within Queensland Health. Dr Lee has worked for over 25 years in public and Indigenous health, in academia, and as a nutrition consultant in Australia and Japan.

Steve Simpson did his undergraduate degree at the University of Queensland, majoring in Entomology, before undertaking his PhD at the University of London as a University of Queensland Travelling Scholar. He then moved to the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, before moving to the Zoology Department at Oxford. He began a project to explore nutrient balancing in insects - a project which has continued ever since and which has resulted in a set of nutritional models that are currently being applied to other animals, including humans. In 1986 Steve was appointed University Lecturer in Zoology and Curator of Entomology in the University Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford, then in 1998 to Professor of the Hope Entomological Collections, University of Oxford. During the early 1990s he established a research programme on swarming in locusts, which continues to this day. Steve has been Guest Professor in Insect Behaviour at the University of Basel (1990), Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Arizona (1999), Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Study, Berlin (2002-3) and is currently (2005-) an ARC Federation Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Sydney, a Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford, and Senior Research Fellow at Jesus College, Oxford. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2007.

Professor Capra is a Fellow and Life Member of the DAA and has been recognised for her contribution to dietetics by being appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2003. She is President of the International Confederation of Dietetic Associations, (2004-2008), was President of DAA (1997-2001, 2003-2005) and is currently Professor of Nutrition at the University of Queensland after holding positions at the University of Newcastle, and QUT over the last 20 years, following 15 years in hospital based practice.

Her interests lie in dietetics education and practice, food and nutrition policy and service provision and quality, with over 150 published works in these fields. Current projects include working on the international standardised language in dietetics, the work and education of dietitians internationally and the development and adoption of an international code of ethics and standards in addition to locally based projects on practice development.

Lynne was appointed to the newly established Chair in Nutrition and Dietetics (Research ) within QUT's Institute Health and Biomedical Innovation in Aug 2006. Lynne gained her Grad Dip Nut & Diet in 1978 from Flinders University. She spent the first 10 years of her career as a clinical paediatric dietitian, including 5 years as Chief Dietitian at the Adelaide Children's Hospital. In 1988 Lynne was appointed to an academic post in the School of Medicine at Flinders University and completed her PhD in 1995. She was Assistant Dean Health Professional Programs, Head Department Nutrition and Dietetics and co-ordinator of the nutrition and dietetic education programs. She has 53 peer reviewed publications, over 60 published abstracts from presentations in Australia and overseas and has achieved $2M grant funding. She has just been awarded a NH&MRC Primary Health Care Grant for a project entitled' Positive feeding practices and food preferences in very young children: an innovative approach to obesity prevention'. Lynne has been an active member of the Dietitians Association Australia (DAA) since graduation and is currently on DSAAC and Associate Editor for Nutrition and Dietetics. In 2004 she received the then highest DAA award for outstanding contribution to dietetics based on criteria including professional competence and leadership.