Confirmed speakers to date include:
Prof. Nino Binns, NB Consulting & visiting Professor in Nutrition at the Universtiy of Ulster, Neways
Professor Nino Binns is an independent consultant in Nutrition and Food Regulation. She has 25 years of experience with leading food and ingredient companies including McNeil Nutritionals, Coca-Cola, Tate & Lyle and Pfizer Inc.
Nino has a PhD in nutrition from the University of London and is a visiting Professor in nutrition at the Northern Ireland Centre for Food & Health, University of Ulster at Coleraine in Northern Ireland.
Dr. Christophe Ripoll, VP and R&D Director, Naturalpha
Doctor of science from the University Pierre et Marie CURIE (Paris VI), Christophe Ripoll is a specialist in functional foods and nutraceuticals. His main research work at Rutgers University, USA and at Phytomedics was focused on screening and characterization of plant extracts for their anti-inflammatory activity and has helped the development of PMI 005, health ingredient currently in clinical development for its anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritis effects. In an international program funded by the NIH on the recovery of biodiversity in central Asia, he also developed a platform for screening in order to identify drug candidates modulating the expression of genes involved in various inflammatory syndromes.
Moreover, he worked for several years for Vilmorin Clause & co. on plant biotechnology projects.
Dr. Ripoll is currently the Executive Vice-President R&D of NATURALPHA. He coordinates research projects and consultancy in health and nutrition and manages the activities of Consulting and Labs departments.
Dr Igor Pravst Ph. D, Head of Health & Nutrition Claims Support Unit, Nutrition Institute
Dr. Kirsten Brandt, Senior Lecturer, Food Quality and Health Research Group, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University
Originally Dr Brandt was trained in plant biochemistry. Her research focuses on links between agricultural methods, plant chemistry, food quality and health of humans and animals.
In particular she is interested in the multidisciplinary aspects, where information from one subject area can be used to improve the understanding of processes and mechanisms in another area.
Presently an important part of her work is to coordinate efforts to increase the impact and application of Food Science at Newcastle University, linking a range of research groups with specialised expertise in food related areas, such as human nutrition, consumer science, agronomy and economics. The objectives are to enhance the impact and exploitation of the research and training activities in industry and society and to facilitate the creation and success of multidisciplinary research projects.
Until the end of 2003 she worked as senior scientist in the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, where she initiated several multi-disciplinary research programmes in the areas mentioned above.
Stoffer Loman PhD, Senior Consultant Nutrition and Health Sciences & Communication, Nutriclaim
Stoffer is a trained nutritionist from Wageningen University, The Netherlands, and gained a PhD in Medical Sciences/Immunology from the Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam. In 2007, Stoffer founded Nutriclaim, a privately owned consultancy company devoted to support food operators and ingredient manufacturers in the effective application of nutrition and health sciences in areas like health claim applications, new product development and communication.
Over the recent years, Stoffer has developed into a creative specialist health claim consultant having gained in-depth experience with the guidance of and teaming up with company RA/R&D-teams in the health claim process (> 15 projects).
Before founding Nutriclaim, Stoffer worked for the pharmaceutical-grade food supplement company Pharma Nord ApS. As senior scientific communication officer he was responsible for the effective application of science in communications on a wide range of nutrients/ingredients and health benefits targeted at medical professionals, wholesale, retail, patient organizations, as well as consumers. Stoffer is also a senior lecturer in the Dutch course on Nutritional Medicine aimed at medical professionals and provides subject matter training courses in the context of continuing medical education for this target audience.
Dr. Mary Gilsenan, Head of Regulatory Services, Leatherhead Food Research
Mary holds a BSc in Human Nutrition from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland and a PhD from Trinity College Dublin. She spent five years at the Institute of European Food Studies, Dublin and subsequently moved to the food industry (Unilever) where she was based in the Netherlands and the UK. Whilst working in R&D, she set-up and managed human studies to substantiate health claims, and then moved to a communication role with a remit to ensure that all claims and communications relating to a tea brand were legally permitted. Mary joined Leatherhead Food Research in June 2009 as Head of Regulatory Services which consists of twenty multi-lingual regulatory advisors covering some 100 countries. She has published several scientific papers and peer-reviewed several others, and writes regulatory columns in food and drink magazines.
Melanie Ruffell, Independent Consultant, Nutrition and Health Claims
Melanie has a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Nutrition (University of Otago, New Zealand) and an Open University (UK) Certificate of Health Promotion.
Melanie has extensive experience in all aspects of health claims from her role as JHCI (UK) Executive Director, from 2000 – 2007. The Joint Health Claims Initiative (JHCI) was launched December 2000, in the absence of the now implemented European legislation, and was a unique joint venture between consumer organisations, enforcement authorities and industry trade associations in the UK to establish a Code of Practice for health claims on food. Prior to taking up her post with the JHCI, Melanie was employed by University College London working on a UK-wide clinical trial in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.
Melanie is now an independent consultant advising and training interested parties on the new EC Regulation on Nutrition and Health Claims, with a particular focus on the practical application of this legislation and its scientific substantiation requirements. During 2008 Melanie also held a part time role as External Affairs Manager at the Association for the Study of Obesity. Melanie also works 3 days a week as Nutrition Manager at the UK Food and Drink Federation. She is responsible for scientific, technological and regulatory developments as they relate to nutrition policies, diet and public health. This includes such areas as the scientific aspects of nutrition and health claims, nutrient profiling, obesity, the healthy food mark and the addition of nutrients.
Dr. Esther Boelsma, Project Manager for Clinical Studies, TNO
Niklas Larsson, Research Director, Probi AB
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