Prof. Dr. Michael F. Holick is an esteemed American endocrinologist renowned for his pioneering research on vitamin D. Holick's significant contributions include identifying calcidiol, the major circulating form of vitamin D, and calcitriol, its active form. His groundbreaking work has laid the foundation for diagnostic tests and treatments for vitamin D-related disorders.
Prof. Dr. Holick's academic journey began with a Ph.D. in biochemistry and a medical degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, followed by a residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is currently a professor of medicine, physiology, and biophysics at Boston University Medical Center, where he directs the Bone Health Care Clinic and the Heliotherapy, Light, and Skin Research Center. His clinical work focuses on metabolic bone diseases, including osteoporosis, osteomalacia, and various pediatric bone disorders.
A prolific researcher, Holick has published over 400 papers on the biochemistry, physiology, and photobiology of vitamin D. He has significantly raised awareness about vitamin D deficiency and its links to diseases such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, and cardiovascular diseases. His work has been featured in prominent publications like The New York Times, Forbes, and Scientific American.
Holick has received numerous accolades, including the NIH Merit Award, the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research's Fuller Albright Award, and the Linus Pauling Prize in Human Nutrition, recognizing his invaluable contributions to the field of vitamin D research.

Dr Mahmoud Ghannoum received MSc in Medicinal Chemistry and PhD in Microbial Physiology from University of Technology in England, and an MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case. Presently he is a tenured Professor and Director of the Integrated Microbiome Core and Center for Medical Mycology, Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center (UH) where he established a multidisciplinary Center of Excellence that combines basic and translational research investigating medically important fungi from the test tube to the bedside. More recently he pioneered the studies on the fungal communities residing in our body and coined the term ‘Mycobiome”. He is also a fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America and past President of the Medical Mycological Society of the Americas (MMSA). In 2016, Dr Ghannoum received the Rohda Benham Award presented for his continuous outstanding and meritorious contributions to medical mycology from the Medical Mycological Society of the Americas and he also received the Freedom to Discover Award from Bristol-Myers Squibb for his work on microbial biofilms. In 2017, he was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. Beside his academic career Dr. Ghannoum is an entrepreneur-scientist who launched a number of companies focusing on the treatment of biofilm infections as well as microbial dysbiosis as it relates to gut health.

Prof. Dr. Anika Wagner is a distinguished scholar specializing on the interplay between nutrition and immune function, with a particular focus on the role of plant bioactives in chemoprevention, inflammation, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and ageing. She is Professor of Nutrition and Immune System at Justus Liebig University Giessen in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, which is part of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Nutritional Sciences and Environmental Management. Dr. Wagner is also affiliated with the Center of Sustainable Food Systems which focuses on, among other things, understanding and current strategies to improve global nutritional health. Her expertise includes developing advanced test systems using Drosophila melanogaster and cell cultures to study health parameters associated with immune function, type 2 diabetes, obesity and nutritional imbalances.

Gene Bruno is Professor Emeritus of Nutraceutical Science with Huntington University of Health Sciences. Likewise, he previously taught complementary and alternative medicine at the University of Southern California, School of Pharmacy for second year PharmD students. Currently, he serves as Chief Scientific Officer of Nutraland USA, Inc. With undergraduate and graduate degrees in nutrition, a graduate diploma and master’s degree in herbal medicine, as well as being a 45-year veteran of the dietary supplement industry, Gene is universally recognized as one of the industry’s leading experts in nutraceutical science. He is a multiple award-winning formulator and has developed natural products across a range of categories for dozens of dietary supplement companies. Gene has educated and trained natural product retailers and health care professionals about the responsible use of evidence-based dietary supplements. He has written hundreds of articles on nutrition, herbal medicine, nutraceuticals and integrative health issues for trade, consumer and peer-reviewed publications, as well as authoring books and textbook chapters. Gene also hosts two podcast series, The Bioactive Nexus Podcast, and The Vitamin Professor Podcast, exploring nutraceutical related topics and other issues relevant to the dietary supplement industry.

Dr. GAN Renyou received his medical bachelor degree from Sun Yat-Sen University (SYSU), China, and Ph.D. degree from the University of Hong Kong (HKU), HK, China. He was previously an Assistant Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China, a Chief Scientist at the Institute of Urban Agriculture (IUA), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), China, a Principal Scientist at Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Food Science & Technology, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore. He will join the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Science, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), HK, as an Assistant Professor and Presidential Young Scholar soon. His research mainly focuses on plant-based foods, probiotics, gut microbiome and human nutrition/health, and related work has generated more than 200 SCIE-indexed publications, including more than 130 papers as the first/corresponding author and more than 20 ESI highly cited papers. He has also filed more than 30 Chinese patents, with 20 of them awarded. According to Google Scholar, his publications have been cited more than 19,000 times, with an H-index of 70. He serves as the editorial board member of several food and nutrition-related international journals, including Current Research in Biotechnology (Executive Editor), Fermentation (Section Editor-in-Chief), Frontiers in Nutrition (Section Associate Editor), International Journal of Food Science and Technology (Honorary Associate Editor), Nutrients/Antioxidants/Foods/npj Science of Food/iMeta/Discover Food (Editorial Board members). He has been selected as the Clarivate “Highly Cited Researcher” (Agricultural Sciences) in recent three years (2021-2023) and the Stanford University “World Top 2% Scientists” (Food Science/Nutrition & Dietetics) in recent two years (2022-2023).

Dr. Jeyan Arthur Moses completed his B.Tech. and M.Tech. from Karunya University, Coimbatore. For his outstanding academic performance in both degrees, he was awarded the Gold Medal and received the Best Outgoing Student Award and Food Processing Award. He completed his Ph.D. from NIFTEM-Thanjavur. His research work focused on the simulation and validation of three-dimensional airflow pressure patterns in grain beds, which he carried out at the Canadian Wheat Board Centre for Grain Storage Research, University of Manitoba, Canada.
Dr. Moses has received International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) Young Scientist Award, National Academy of Sciences India (NASI) Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award, Association of Food Scientists & Technologists India (AFSTI) Young Scientist Award, Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) - UK Seligman APV Bursary, Dr. V. Subrahmanyan Best Scientist Award, iCFP Young Scientist Award (Bangkok), Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB) Early Career Research Award, TN State Council for Science and Technology Travel Grant for Young Scientists and Grant for Dissemination of Innovative Technology, AFSTI Dr. K.R. Bhattacharya Memorial Travel Grant and SERB-ITS Grant.
Dr. Moses has handled multiple grant-in-aid and industry sponsored research projects in various capacities and serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for selected reputed journals. His research focuses on 3D printing of foods, nutraceutical delivery systems, food nanotechnology, and computational modeling of food processing systems, and he has authored over 300 publications and was ranked among the top 2% scientists globally by Elsevier - Stanford University rankings.

Michael Lindinger is President of the Nutraceutical Alliance in Canada and a long-time muscle and exercise physiologist (University of Guelph from 1987 to 2012). Since 1999 he has examined the effects of nutraceutical ingredients and products on animal and cellular physiology and pathophysiology. Beginning in 2012 he worked in a leadership role in the Nutraceutical Alliance, helping clients design effective and safe products for commercialization for human and animal health. Regulatory expertise includes the Europe, North America and Australia. The topic of nutritive antioxidants continues to be of great interest. First, because of the importance of antioxidants in regulating physiological and pathophysiological processes. Second, because of the wide prevalence of important antioxidant molecules derived from plant and animal sources that are currently used in nutraceutical supplements.

Manfred Eggersdorfer holds the chair for Healthy Ageing at the University Medical Center Groningen (NL) and teaches nutrition for medical students. His scientific work focuses on the role of essential nutrients for health, vitality, and well-being, especially on the impact of inadequate intake and status of micronutrients over the life cycle with a focus on long term health and healthy ageing. Currently he acts as Board member of the Gesellschaft für Angewandte Vitaminforschung e.V in Germany. He is an Honorary Member of The Oxygen Club of California, and affiliate of various other organizations. He is author of numerous publications in the fields of vitamins, carotenoids, omega-3-polyunsaturated fatty acids for infants, adults, elderly, and risk groups and on innovation in nutritional ingredients.

Dr. Sinéad Ryan completed her PhD in the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, University College Cork, Ireland. Later she completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in University College Dublin, Ireland where she moved to a new discipline – research area of drug delivery. Her research focused on the oral delivery of novel mucoadhesive polymeric peptide conjugates. She later joined The Irish Drug Delivery Research Network as Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow where she gained expertise in overcoming barriers for efficient delivery of peptides for oral, injectable, and intra-articular delivery for osteoarthritis. Currently, her research area is multidisciplinary, involving the design and assessment of formulations for peptide and food derived peptide (nutraceutical) oral delivery. Her current position is Assistant Professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine in University College Dublin.