Jean-Francois Arnal (University of Toulouse, France)

Jean-Francois Arnal, MD, PhD is Professor of Medical Physiology University of Toulouse, France, since 2000. He is a Member of the Institut Universitaire de France, and head of a research team at INSERM Unit 1048. Dr. Arnal studied medicine at the University of Toulouse and did his residency in cardiology in Paris (interne des Hopitaux de Paris). He subsequently received a PhD on the role of nitric oxide in hypertension and heart failure from the University of Paris (mentor Dr. J.B. Michel). Jean Francois Arnal is specialist on vascular physiology and pathology and sex hormones. His field of expertise was initially the communications in vascular pathophysiology, in particular the renin-angiotensin system (mentors J.B. Michel, P. Corvol, J. Menard, INSERM Paris), nitric oxide and endothelial NO synthase (DG Harrison, Emory University, Atlanta GA, USA). The past 25 years, Dr. Arnal focussed on estrogens and estrogens receptors (ER). His lab contributed to describe for the first time the respective roles of nuclear and membrane ER alpha thanks to the generation of transgenic mice targeting AF1, AF2 and the membrane actions of ER alpha, in collaboration with the Mouse Clinic in Strasbourg. This topic and collaborative work has been summarized in « Membrane and Nuclear Estrogen Receptor alpha actions: From Tissue Specificity to Medical Implications » in Physiological Reviews 2017, 97 : 1045-1087. Dr. Arnal’s group also proposed that the specificity of action of estetrol, an estrogen synthesized by the fetal liver, was due to the uncoupling of the nuclear and membrane actions of ER alpha. He has published more than 200 original papers or review articles. He was awarded the Grand Price of the Fondation de France in 2016.

Carsten Carlberg (Polish Academy of Sciences, Olsztyn)

Carsten Carlberg is a German biochemist who is member of the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Olsztyn (Poland) and since more than 20 years, full professor at the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Eastern Finland, in Kuopio. During his time as a postdoc at the Central Research Unit of Roche in Basel (Switzerland), Dr. Carlberg was introduced to vitamin D and focused his investigations on the mechanisms of gene regulation by the micronutrient, its metabolites and synthetic analogues. Dr. Carlberg contributed with over 245 original and review articles to the field of vitamin D, in particular to the understanding of transcriptome- and epigenome-wide effects of vitamin D in human immune cells. In March 2022, Prof. Carlberg took over the position of WELCOME2 ERA Chair on Nutrigenomics at the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Polish Academy of Sciences.

Patrick Fénichel (University Côte d’Azur, France)

Patrick Fénichel MD, PhD, is an Emeritus Professor of Reproductive Medicine at the University Côte d’Azur, France. He has been Head of the Department of Endocrinology-Gynaecology and Reproduction of the University Hospital of Nice (CHU Nice), researcher of INSERM U1065/C3M and group leader of team 5 « Environment, reproduction and hormone dependent cancers ». His main interest has been in the field of fetal exposure to endocrine disruptors and deleterious effects on human health. He has characterized the role of both receptors ER beta and GPER in normal and malignant human testicular germinal stem cells with a suppressive effect for ER beta and a promotive one for GPER, which contributes to the hypothesis of a possible pathophysiological role of fetal exposure to estrogenic endocrine disruptors in testicular germinal cell cancer.

Brian Harvey (Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland)

Brian Harvey is an Emeritus Professor of Molecular Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons, in Ireland Dr. Harvey holds primary degrees in mathematics, physics and physiology and a PhD in biophysics from the National University of Ireland. He recently retired as Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons, in Ireland, and is a research professor at the Université de Paris Descartes and the Centre Estudios Cientficos Chile. He was Ireland’s first and longest serving university vice-president for research from 1998 to 2010. His academic roles included Head of Department of Molecular Medicine at RCSI, Director of Research of the DOCTRID Research Institute, coordinator of the EU Marie Curie COFUND in assistive technologies (www.assistid.eu), vice-chair of the EU COST Action ADMIRE and coordinator of the National Biophotonics & Imaging Platform Ireland. His role in promoting Irish biomedical research has been recognized by honours at home and abroad. He was awarded a knighthood (Chevalier) of the French Ordre du Mérite in 2006, by The Président de la République française, and Chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques, in 2016, by the Prime Minister of France, and was the recipient of the International Laureat Prix Servier in 2008. In 2000, Brian was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and in 2007 elected to the Royal Irish Academy. In 2013, he was awarded a Doctor of Science honoris causa from Michigan State University. Dr. Harvey was a member of European Research Council Advanced Awards Panel (2008-2016) and former president of the French National Research Agency ANR scientific evaluation council for physiology and pathophysiology. His research specialty is in molecular endocrinology of steroid hormone actions in inflammation and cancer

Marilena Kampa (University of Crete, Greece)

Marilena Kampa holds a BSc degree (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences (University of Sunderland, UK) and a PhD in Experimental Endocrinology (School of Medicine, University of Crete, Greece). She worked as a Research and Teaching Associate at the University of Crete, School of Medicine (2002-2008) and as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Institute Jules Bordet, University Libre of Brussels, Belgium (2009). Since 2009, she is Professor of Experimental Endocrinology at the Medical School of the University of Crete and since 2019, Director of the Experimental Endocrinology-Clinical Immunology lab (University Hospital, University of Crete). Her academic role also includes Head of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and a member of the Board of Directors at the Medical School of the University of Crete. Her research is devoted on the hormonal (opioids, steroids) and natural agents’ health beneficial effects. During the 25 years of her research career, her interests evolved from the action of neuropeptides to the action of membrane steroid receptors, in breast and prostate cancer. Her work has been awarded the L’Oreal-Unesco Award for young women in science in 2007. She is co-author of 101 peer-reviewed papers (h-index: 32) and co-inventor in 7 international patent applications and has been funded by competitive National and European programs. Her recent work is focused on studying the mechanisms involved in the membrane-initiated steroid action and its significance in cancer. Recently, she identified and characterized OXER1 as a new membrane androgen receptor and currently explores its role in cancer and inflammation and its potential as a therapeutic target.

Carol A. Lange (University of Minnesota, USA)

Carol A. Lange, Ph.D, is the Tickle Family Land Grant Endowed Chair of Breast Cancer Research and Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center (MCC) in Minneapolis, where she serves as Director of the Cancer Biology Training (NIH/NCI T32) Program and Co-Leader of the Cellular Mechanisms of Cancer Program. Her research is focused on steroid hormone receptor action and signal transduction in breast and ovarian cancer. Her lab studies mechanisms of gene regulation by cross talk between growth factor-mediated signaling pathways and steroid hormone receptors, using the human progesterone receptor (PR) as an understudied model receptor that is highly relevant to estrogen receptor positive (ER+) women’s cancer and stem cell biology. Additional research focus is aimed at targeting stress-activated signaling pathways (p38 MAPKs, ERK5, HIFs, cortisol and glucocorticoid receptors (GR)) as inputs to GR-target gene expression. A key phospho-GR target gene discovered in the Lange lab, known as breast tumor kinase (Brk/PTK6), drives advanced breast and ovarian cancer progression (invasion, metastasis, changes in cancer stem cell biology). Dr. Lange has served on numerous NIH and DOD study sections. She is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Endocrinology

Achim Lother (University of Freiburg, Germany)

Achim Lother is an attending physician at the University Heart Center Freiburg and research group leader at the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Freiburg. He is a physician scientist with clinical training and board certification in internal medicine, cardiology, and emergency medicine. He co-leads the program for acute and chronic heart failure and heart transplantation at the University Heart Center Freiburg. As a postdoctoral fellow, he trained in epigenetics and vascular biology. In 2019, he was appointed to the Berta Ottenstein program for advanced clinician scientists of the medical faculty. His lab studies how transcription factors and epigenetics control gene expression and explores their potential as pharmacological targets. He is particularly interested in aldosterone and the mineralocorticoid receptor and explores their molecular function and potential as pharmacological targets in cardiac and non-cardiac diseases. He is the speaker of an international scientific network on ‘Strategies for therapeutic targeting of the Aldosterone-Mineralocorticoid Receptor signaling pathway’ funded by the German Research Foundation.

Zeynep Madak-Erdogan (University of Illinois, USA)

Dr. Madak-Erdogan is an Associate Professor of Nutrition, Health Innovation Professor, and the Director of Women’s Health, Hormones, and Metabolism lab at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign (UIUC). She received her PhD and undertook postdoctoral studies on mechanisms of estrogen receptor action at UIUC, then joined the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at UIUC in 2014. Her lab uses various animal and 3D-reengineered models, as well as advanced statistical and computational analysis, to understand how nutrients, environmental toxicant exposures, and hormones impact metabolic health and hormone-dependent cancer outcomes. She has received several awards including a Pre- and Postdoctoral Research Training Program in Endocrine Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology Fellowships from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a fellowship from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the Women in Endocrinology Young Investigator Award from the Endocrine Society, and the Mary Swartz Rose Young Investigator Award and Bio-Serv Experimental Nutrition Award from the American Society for Nutrition. She is Editor-in-Chief of Journal of the Endocrine Society.

Franck Mauvais-Jarvis (Tulane University, USA)

Dr. Mauvais-Jarvis is Professor of Medicine & Endocrinology at Tulane University School of Medicine, Endocrinologist at the New Orleans VA Medical Center, and Director of the Tulane Center of Excellence in Sex-Based Biology & Medicine. He is a physician-scientist with a clinical training in Internal Medicine & Endocrinology, and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Paris School of Medicine. Dr. Mauvais-Jarvis was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School. He was respectively Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology at Baylor College of Medicine and attending physician at Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston, and Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology & Molecular Medicine at Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago. His research encompasses basic, translational, and clinical research on the influence of biological sex in diabetes and obesity, including membrane and nuclear signaling by estrogen, androgen and progesterone receptors in metabolic homeostasis. Dr. Mauvais-Jarvis is the principal investigator of research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Veterans Health Administration and has received awards from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, the March of Dimes Research Foundation, the French Diabetes Association, as well as Investigator-Initiated Awards from pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer and Boehringer-Ingelheim. Dr. Mauvais-Jarvis is a permanent member of the NIH study section Basic Mechanisms of Diabetes and Metabolism. He was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

Eric Prossnitz (University of New Mexico, USA)

Eric Prossnitz, PhD, is Distinguished Professor and Chief of the Division of Molecular Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine. He co-leads the Cancer Therapeutics Research Program at The University of New Mexico (UNM) Comprehensive Cancer Center and is The Maralyn S. Budke Endowed Chair in Cancer Chemical Biology and Therapeutics at the UNM Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque, USA. Dr. Prossnitz received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the co-Director of the Translational Cancer Biology and Signaling Program in the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center and has leadership positions in the UNM Clinical and Translational Science Center (UNM CTSC), the New Mexico IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (NM-INBRE), and the Mountain West IDeA Clinical and Translational Research – Infrastructure Network (MW CTR-IN). He serves as the Associate Director of the UNM Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (CoBRE) in Autophagy, Inflammation and Metabolism. Dr. Prossnitz has more than 30 years of experience in studying receptor-mediated signaling and ligand-receptor interactions, having been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1994. He has published over 200 articles, mostly in the area of GPCR function and has made several important contributions to the GPCR field and cancer biology, including characterization of the 7-transmembrane G protein-coupled estrogen-binding receptor (GPER/GPR30), along with the discovery of selective activators and inhibitors of this receptor. These ligands, in addition to GPER KO mice, have been essential in unraveling the biology and physiology associated with GPER. Dr. Prossnitz work currently focuses on the roles of GPER in cancer and metabolism.

Gian Paolo Rossi (University Hospital of Padua, Italy)

Dr. Gian Paolo Rossi is Full Professor (Tenure track) of Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine – DIMED – University Hospital of Padua, Italy. He is Director of The High Blood Pressure Unit and Coordinator of the International PhD Program « Arterial Hypertension Vascular Biology » of the University of Padua. He trained at the Dept. Heart & Hypertension Research at the Cleveland Clinic and was visiting Scientist at the German Institute for High Blood Pressure Research, Department of Pharmacology, University of Heidelberg (Germany), the Medical Academy of Gdansk (Poland), the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology of Berlin (Germany) and the Egyptian Society of Hypertension. He received his MD degree from the University of Padua Magna cum laude and is Board Certified in Cardiology and in Endocrinology at the University of Padua, Hypertension Specialist of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH). He is member of The European Society of Hypertension, The American College of Cardiology, The American Heart Association and The International Society of Hypertension. He has served in the Executive Board of the Italian Society of Hypertension, The European Council for Cardiovascular Research (ECCR), of which he was President in 2016-2017, and the International Aldosterone Conference, of which he was Chair in 2016-2017. He also served as Editor-in-Chief of Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine – Hypertension section, and as member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Hypertension, World Journal of Cardiology and The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. He is member of the Editorial Board of Hypertension (AHA journal) and High Blood Pressure and Cardiovascular Prevention and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Cardiology – Hypertension. He served also as International evaluator for the French INSERM (onsite visits for establishing new INSERM units). Known for his leadership and coordination capabilities, he is chair of the working group on Endothelins and Endothelial Factors of the ESH, Primary Aldosteronism of the Italian Society of Hypertension, and PI of the following studies: Genica, PAPY, PAPPHY, Metras, AVIS-1, AVIS-2, I-Padua, MAPA, and EMIRA. He has published over 500 papers in international peer-reviewed Journals and written 31 book chapters, including the chapter on Primary Aldosteronism of the ESH 2019 Manual of Hypertension. His current Hirsch Index=73 (Google Scholar). He was selected for the Harry Goldblatt Award of the AHA, was awarded The Unindustria Treviso 2003 Awards, The 2013 TalalZein Award of the European Society of Hypertension, and The 2013 International Award For Publication Excellence in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism of the Endocrine Society. He ranked as the top clinician scientist worldwide in the field of hyperaldosteronism according to the independent evaluation by Expertscape.

Michael Schumacher (University Paris-Saclay, France)

Michael Schumacher is Senior Director of Research at INSERM, the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research. Since 1998, he is heading an INSERM research unit aimed at developing neuroprotective and neuroregenerative therapies. An area of special interest of his laboratory is the synthesis, metabolism and actions of neurosteroids, and in particular their role in the resistance of the brain to injury and in the regeneration of myelin. The determination of extended steroidomes by gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry has provided important informations concerning steroid metabolites in hormone target tissues and their nuclear and membrane actions. He holds a PhD degree in biological sciences from the University of Liège in Belgium (with Pr. Jacques Balthazart). He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Pr. Bruce McEwen (Rockefeller University, New York), before joining in 1991 the laboratory of Pr. Etienne-Emile Baulieu as an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry. He has also been during 10 years the Dean of Doctoral School « Signaling and Integrated Networks in Biology » (University Paris-Saclay).

Peter Thomas (University of Texas, USA)

Peter Thomas, Ph.D, is a Professor in the Marine Science, and in the Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Departments at the University of Texas at Austin and holds the H.E.B. Endowed Chair in Marine Science. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers over the past 40 years and has received several honors in recognition of his contributions to comparative endocrinology. His research interest is on rapid, nongenomic actions of sex steroids in fish and mammalian models. His laboratory has pioneered the identification of novel receptors on the cell surface that mediate the rapid actions of sex steroid hormones: membrane progesterone membrane receptors (mPRs/PAQRs) in 2003; the membrane estrogen receptor GPR30 (now known as GPER) in 2005, concurrently identified independently by Eric Prossnitz’s research group; and an androgen membrane receptor, ZIP9, in 2014. A current research focus is on the structure, ligand binding, and signaling functions of mPRs. Recent research efforts have been on the functions of mPRs in sperm motility, in the central nervous system in neuroprotection, in peripheral nerve regeneration, and in mediating beneficial progesterone effects in the vascular system. Another ongoing research emphasis is on the signaling and cellular functions of ZIP9 in breast and prostate cancer cell lines and on the phenotype of ZIP9-/- zebrafish.

Martin Wehling (University of Heidelberg, Germany)

Martin Wehling, MD, is full professor of clinical pharmacology at the University of Heidelberg. He is also board certified internist (cardiologist) and has longstanding experiences in basic science (cell physiology, steroid pharmacology, nongenomic steroid actions), clinical trials (translating basic science into human studies) and clinical medicine (invasive cardiology, endocrinology). Together with Tony Norman he initiated the meeting series on Rapid Responses to Steroid Hormones (RRSH meetings) starting in Mannheim, Germany, in 1998. The “Mannheim Classification of Nongenomically Initiated (Rapid) Steroid Action(s)” was inaugurated at this event. In 2004, Wehling was appointed by AstraZeneca as director of discovery (translational) medicine (=translational) medicine. Returning to academia in 2007, he promotes translational medicine by aligning academic and private activities. As another major field of activities, he promotes secondary translation in the area of gerontopharmacology. He has designed the first positive-negative drug labelling approach FORTA and organized the generation of the FORTA list to aid physicians in optimizing drug treatment in older people.