25^th International Conference on Diabetes, Nutrition, Obesity and Eating Disorders March 19-20, 2026 Paris, France

Current academic titles: Emeritus prof. of applied physiol. (since 1991), Teachers College, Columbia U. Emeritus prof. of pediatrics & physiology (since 2005), Medical College of Georgia. Selected former positions: Asst. prof. of physical educ., City U of NY (Hunter College); Co-director of Center for Health Promotion, Columbia U; Co-director of Georgia Center for the Study of Obesity & Related Disorders; Adjunct prof. of nutrition, UNC- Chapel Hill. Research grants: More than $15 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health. Book: The high energy factor. Random House, 1983. Selected Recent Invited Presentations Stem cell differentiation into fat & lean cells: implications for prevention of child obesity: U of GA; U of Southern Calif.; National Inst. of Child Health & Development; U of Bremen, Germany; U of Groningen, Netherlands; Internat. Society of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity, Ghent, Belgium; Ohio U. How can youths develop lean & healthy bodies? A new perspective. Duke U; Case-Western Reserve U; Slippery Rock U; UMass.-Boston. How parents, schools & communities can help youths develop healthy bodies: some surprising implications of recent research. Ohio U; Minneapolis. Volunteer teaching: Frontiers in medicine Osher Life-Long Learning Inst. at Duke U.

Physical activity, body composition and health.

Cristiana Pop is currently a full Professor at Bucharest Economic Studies University. She has her expertise in “Teaching physical education in higher education and training athletics mainly for university contests”. Her main research interests are in “Education quality and social issues related with health, physical activity, eating behaviors and wellbeing”. She has authored “The role of physical activity in promoting well-being (2015), Athletics for Students (2013)” and other few books promoting physical activity and a healthy lifestyle. She is member of Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, member of Romanian Athletic Federation (women commission) and has research collaboration with Romanian Academy Anthropological Institute Research Center. She is serving as Senior Editor and Editorial Board Member of several reviews in education, health and sport sciences domain.

Eating behaviors and wellbeing, Healthy lifestyle.

Sunil Mathur, Ph.D., M.Phil., M.Sc., MBA, is a Professor at the Georgia Regents University. Dr. Mathur is the author of the book “Statistical Bioinformatics using R”, published by Academic Press, USA in 2010. Dr. Mathur is an academic editor of PLOS ONE, Special Issue Editor and Editorial Member of Journal of Translational Medicine & Epidemiology, Editorial Board Member of Global Journal of Medicine and Public Health, Editorial Board Member of Austin Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology, Associate Editor of International Journal of Statistics and Systems, and Global Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics and reviewer for several international journals. Dr. Mathur is a reviewer of grant applications for the Department of Defense and NIH. Dr. Mathur’s research interests are in both biostatistical applications and methodological development of biostatistics. His research interests include childhood obesity, cancer research, public health, nonparametric statistics, likelihood procedures, genomics, biostatistics, and epidemiology. Dr. Mathur is working in the area of pediatric obesity, the number of children who are overweight and obese is increasing rapidly world-wide, and the World Health Organization has declared obesity as one of the largest epidemics of modern times. In order to combat the epidemic of childhood obesity, there is a pressing need to understand the association among different factors (genetic and non-genetic) and childhood obesity. Dr. Mathur is working to establish the association of several factors and obesity among children and examine the moderating role of birth weight, race, and maternal smoking status during pregnancy.

Childhood obesity Cancer Research Public health Nonparametric statistics Likelihood procedures Genomics Biostatistics Epidemiology.

Joycelyn A.M. Peterson, (Dr.Joy) is a registered dietitian, presently professor and chair of Nutrition and Dietetics, Department and Dietetic Internship Director at Oakwood University, Huntsville, Alabama and was associate professor, chair of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at University of the Southern Caribbean (USC), Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies for over 5years. Her professional experience includes nutrition consultant, nutrition educator, public health speaker and in-service trainer for hospital staff and community agencies, program planner for international and state-wide public health nutrition initiatives, teaching and conducting research at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Grant writer receiving over $ 2 million from private funding. She is founder/director of the Vegetarian Institute of Nutrition and Culinary Arts (nonprofit) and Dimensions in Food and Nutrition, Inc. (for profit). She is a contributing writer for newspapers and health magazines and has also published three books and many articles. Dr. Peterson completed Nutrition and Dietetics degrees at New York Institute of Dietetics (A.S.), Oakwood University, B.S., Loma Linda University (M.P.H., Dr. P.H.), and Johns Hopkins University (post-master’s studies in international nutrition). Joy recently had her dissertation for her doctoral thesis published in the Annuals of Nutrition Metabolism, August, 2011. She continues to conduct nutrition, health, and vegetarian cooking seminars internationally. Her long-term goal is to provide dietetic and nutrition research and leadership training where ever God leads.

Vegetarian nutrition consultant, public health speaker, and program planner for international and state-wide public health nutrition initiatives, conducting research at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

"Prof. Lucia Pacific Pediatrics Assistant Professor of Sapienza University of Rome; Currently Professor holds the position of Executive Level I and Head of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Hepatology in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Neurology, Azienda Policlinico Umberto I, Rome. Her research interest are: Pediatric Hepatology (cholestasis, jaundice, metabolic diseases of the liver); Fatty liver in children; Nutrition; Markers of inflammation and cardiometabolic risk in children with visceral obesity; Pediatric Gastrointestinal infections Lucia Pacifico graduated in Medicine and Surgery (1977) at the University ""Sapienza"" of Rome with honors, specializing in Pediatrics (with honors), with specialization in Neonatology with honors at the ""Sapienza"" University of Rome. Her later obtained a degree in Medicine and Surgery recognized in the United States (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates - 1979; Visa Qualifyng Examination- 1980). Her holds the License to a doctor surgeon recognized in the United States (Board of Medical Examiners - 1982)."

Pediatrics, Infectious Diseases, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Nutrition.