Dr. George Boskou

e-mail: gboskou@hua.gr

George Boskou is born in Thessaloniki and studied Chemistry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He obtained a postgraduate diploma in Food Science and Nutrition from and a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences from Ghent University in Belgium. Since 2002 he is academic personnel in the Department Nutrition and Dietetics at Harokopio University of Athens. Currently he is Assistant Professor in the discipline of Food Service Management. He is a registered food safety auditor by IRCA and registered professional trainer by the national food control authority (EFET) and the national organisation of employment (OAED). He is founding member of the Interdisciplinary Association of Food Hygiene Assurance (DEDYT). He is also member of the Food Division of the Association of Greek Chemist, affiliate member of the European Federation of Food Science & Technology (EFFoST) and honorary member of the Chef’s Club of Northern Greece. He has been member of several steering and scientific committees of national and international organisations. He has participated in several scientific and training programmes as scientific coordinator. He has been working as external consultant and auditor for food safety management systems. He has published his research work in more that 50 papers and more than 100 conferences. He has also written chapters in international scientific books and three books in Greek. He holds the rights of ten patterns and standards. His published work merits about 1200 citations worldwide. His main research interests are food safety and quality, food service management, gastronomy and nutrition.

Vito Roberto Capone

e-mail: capone@iamb.it

Vito Roberto Capone is a principal administrator at Secretariat General of the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) in Paris from 2000 to 2008 and at CIHEAM-Bari since 2008, where he is also head of Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Rural Development department. He received his BSc in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Bologna (Italy). He has coordinated a large number of research and cooperation projects in the field of the sustainability of the Mediterranean Diet, sustainable food consumption, food security, food loss and waste, typical and traditional food products. He was the National Coordinator of Mediterranean Diet application to the UNESCO in 2007-2008. He is a member of the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE). He worked on the coordination and management of the National Liaison Committee between the Italian Government and the Organizations of the United Nations for food and agriculture. He worked as an adviser on international affairs in the Mediterranean area at the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies. He was a Coordinator and Researcher at the “Laboratory of the Mediterranean agro-food” (NOMISMA Spa, Bologna). He was a scientific coordinator of the advanced specialisation course in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development at CIHEAM-Bari. Furthermore, he is a co-organizer of numerous workshops, training courses and several international conferences and he is member of editorial boards of different scientific journals. He has published more than 60 articles in different scientific journals with impact factor, books and workshop proceedings.

George Dedoussis

George Dedoussis is a Professor of Human Biology at the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition of Harokopio University in Athens. He received his BSc in Biology from the University of Patras, his master's degree from the University of Technology «Compiegne» in France, and his PhD from the Medical School of Athens. He worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center of Thalassemia and as a researcher on a Fulbright scholarship at the Medical Faculty of the 'Harvard University' (Boston, USA). He has been a visiting professor for many years at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Nancy, France. As a Principal Investigator he has coordinated a large number of research projects mainly in the field of Molecular Genetics of cardiometabolic phenotypes and their interaction with dietary intake. He has supervised five PhD students that have been completed, while supervising five doctoral students whose dissertations are in progress. He has published more than 200 papers in journals with high impact factor and his research work has been recognized by others (number of citations > 10000). He is teaching Biology of the Cell and Molecular Genetics. He is the Institutional Coordinator of the Erasmus program and since 2012 is a member of the University Council.

Andriana C. Kaliora

Nutritionist-Dietician, PhD, Assistant Professor in Foods and Human Nutrition
Email: akaliora@hua.gr; andrianakaliora@gmail.com

Andriana Kaliora is an Assistant Professor in Foods and Human Nutrition in Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Science and Education, Harokopio University. She obtained her PhD in Dietetics and Nutritional Science from Harokopio University in Athens Greece in 2003. Within her PhD thesis she investigated bioactive antioxidants derived from natural products, from extracts obtained from resins, gums, herbs, as well as known constituents of the above-mentioned materials, on their potential to inhibit LDL oxidation. Currently, her research interests include identification of bioactive phytochemicals derived from natural products and food, cell culture assays and animal models to examine the antioxidative and antiinflammatory properties of food components, absorption and bioavailability of food micro constituents in humans, clinical trial design on the efficacy of food components in biomarkers associated with chronic diseases, clinical trial design on the effectiveness of traditional Mediterranean foods and products with potential functional ingredients, and nutrition in populations. Her published work includes 40 Articles in peer reviewed International Journals, 7 Book Chapters, 40 contributions in National and International Congresses and 1109 Citations (h index: 15).

Nick Kalogeropoulos

Chemist PhD, Associate Professor in Food & Environmental Chemistry
Email: nickal@hua.gr

Nick Kalogeropoulos is a chemistry graduate of the University of Athens, Greece. He obtained an MSc on oceanography from the same University, and a PhD on chemistry at the University of Ioannina, Greece. He has been a research associate at the Radioanalytical Laboratory of the National Centre for Scientific Research ‘Demokritos’ and at the Experimental Fish Nutrition Laboratory of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, both in Athens, Greece.

He is currently an Associate Professor of Food and Environmental Chemistry at the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, Harokopio University. His research is focused on nutritional evaluation of typical Mediterranean food items, biological activities of aromatic plants’ infusions, bioavailability of dietary polyphenols, virgin olive oil, functional foods formulation and evaluation, toxic substances in foods, organic residues in archaeomaterials, and volatiles in food items. He is a reviewer in 69 international journals and member of the Editorial Board of 4 international journals. His published work includes 75 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 12 book chapters, over 110 contributions in national and international congresses, and more than 1300 citations (Scopus 2016, h index: 19).

Yannis Manios, M.Med.Sc., M.Phil, Ph.D

Dr. Yannis Manios is an Associate Professor of “Nutritional Assessment, Counselling and Health Promotion” at the Department of Nutrition & Dietetics, School of Health Sciences & Education, Harokopio University.

His Postgraduate studies in Human Nutrition (M.Med.Sc. & M.Phil) at Sheffield University, UK & PhD in Preventive Medicine and Nutrition Clinic, Medical School at the University of Crete, primarily focused on children’s promotion of optimum nourishment, growth and development and the prevention of obesity and cardiometabolic risk factors.

Over the last 20 years his research interests have been expanded to include assessment of dietary habits, physical activity levels and their determinants, as well as their association with obesity and obesity related health indices in large national and multinational cohorts. Recording and understanding the determinants of those behaviors have guided the development and implementation of community based, web based interventions and randomized clinical trials aiming to prevent or treat obesity and obesity related risk factors in children, adults and elderly.

Since 2000 he is actively involved as a Principal Investigator in many National and European research programs either funded by the private sector, public sector or EU such as FP5: PHYTOHEALTH, FP6: HELENA, FP7: ENERGY, HabEat, Full4Health, Food4Me, ODIN while currently is the coordinator for the ToyBox-study and the Feel4Diabetes Study (FP7).

He has coauthored more than 320 scientific papers published in international scientific journals with more than 5000 citations. He has received seven awards for his scientific work by national and international organizations. He is editor and author of seven academic manuscripts and book chapters, reviewer for the European Union, national research organisations and for more than 25 international scientific journals.

Professor Demosthenes B. Panagiotakos

School of Health Science & Education, Harokopio University in Athens, Greece

Demosthenes Panagiotakos is Professor in Biostatistics, Research Methods and Nutrition Epidemiology. Since 2013, is Dean of the School of Health Science & Education at Harokopio University in Athens, Greece. Dr Panagiotakos is also a visiting Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Athens and at the Agricultural University of Athens. He has supervised 12 PhD and 60 MSc theses. He is the Principal Investigator of 7 large–scale epidemiological studies. His research interests include CVD epidemiology, risk modelling and analysis, medical research methodology, meta-analysis, as well as nutritional epidemiology and methodology. He has published 3 books, over 570 scientific papers in peer-reviewed international journals, as well as 50 papers in national journals and Conference proceedings and has more than 13.000 citations of his work (h-index of 54). He has received 3 Young Investigators’ National and International Awards and 3 Scholarships (2 National, 1 EU) and many Awards from various Scientific Societies. He has served as an evaluator for 17 National and International Organizations, as well as reviewer in 48 international journals; he is an Executive Board member in 3 Scientific Societies. He is Editorial Board member / Associate Editor in 17 international journals. He has invited to give more than 220 lectures in 16 countries around the world. Dr Panagiotakos is currently Board Member of the Scientific Council of the Hellenic Food Authority and ex-Board Member of the National Council of Public Health.

Constantine Tsigos, MD, PhD

Prof. Constantine Tsigos graduated from Athens Medical School in 1982 with suma cum laude. He trained in Endocrinology and Diabetes at the Victoria University of Manchester, UK, from where he also obtained his PhD in 1991. He subsequently worked at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in the US as Senior Staff Fellow, before returning to Athens, Greece in 1996 to take up the position of Head of Research at the newly founded Hellenic National Diabetes Center, which he held for 10 years. In 2004 he was elected Professor of Nutrition and Metabolism at the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics of Harokopio University, Athens, Greece.

He was the Chairman of the 14^th European Congress on Obesity in Athens in 2005, and has been Chairman of the Obesity Management Task Force of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) since 2005. He has been Visiting Professor at the University of Belgrade Medical School and at the Cerrahpasa Medical School of Istanbul University, as well as chairman and member of numerous Scientific Committees and reviewer for many International Medical Journals and the European Commission. He has published more that 100 original research articles and reviews in international journals and books, with more than 8000 citations to his work.