[CONFERENCE] SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES IN NUTRITION AND PEDIATRIC GROWTH: A FOCUS ON MALNUTRITION

Robert Murray, MD, is an academic professor of Pediatrics in the College of Medicine at The Ohio State University. He spent more than 25 years in the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Dr Murray’s primary areas of focus include biomedical nutrition and pediatric manifestations of malnutrition. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles, including most recently “A First Step Toward Eliminating Malnutrition: A Proposal for Universal Screening” in Pediatric Practice in Nutrition and Dietary Supplements. He has contributed to numerous books and public education projects, as well as to projects involving pediatric wasting, stunting, and obesity. Dr. Murray has served as a member of the National Dairy Council Nutrition Advisory Committee, a member of the Children’s Hunger Alliance Governing Board, the vice-chair of the board of Action for Healthy Kids, and a collaborator with Abbott Nutrition International on nutrition education for pediatric practitioners.

Dr. Murray has received several awards. Most recently, he was a 2016 finalist for the Pathway to Populations Health Award for Columbus CEO Magazine. He was a recipient of the 2015 Child Advocate of the Year Award for Ohio Voices for Children. In 2008, he received a Special Achievement Award for obesity initiatives and Chairperson of the Year Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Within the AAP, Dr Murray is currently their representative to the National Dairy Council Health Advisory Committee. He is the former chair of the AAP Council on School Health and is a past-president of the Ohio Chapter of the AAP.

Rafael Salto, PhD is full professor and department head for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Granada in Granada, Spain. There, he is also the coordinator for the PhD program in Pharmacy.

Dr. Salto also leads the Genetic and Biochemical Regulation of Metabolism research group. Their group has a strong background in molecular biology techniques including protein engineering, expression of wild-type and mutated proteins, and the silencing of eukaryotic organisms in novel ways to address biologicals issues (including the molecular basis of the nutrients regulatory functions, cell signaling, oral antidiabetic agents, the development of systems for the in vivo detection of metabolites and ions, and the development of eukaryotic transfection and drug delivery agents driven by specific cell receptor).

He has published 72 peer-reviewed articles and has been the principal investigator for more than 10 research projects. He has contributed to several book chapters. He is highly innovative and is the recipient of 8 patents.

He is a former board member of the Spanish Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Society. Dr Salto has also organized two of their scientific meetings (2000, 2014).

Brian Johnstone, PhD, FIOR, FORS is a professor in the departments of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Cell and Developmental Biology, and Molecular and Medical Genetics at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. There, he is also director of Research for Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation. He is also a staff scientist and director of the CXM Assay Laboratory at Shriners Research Center and affiliate faculty at the Translational Medicine Institute of Colorado State University.

Prof. Johnstone completed his predoctoral research in England and postdoctoral studies in the United States. His main research area is skeletal tissue regeneration, and he has worked on articular cartilage, spine, meniscus and temporomandibular disc. He developed and patented the system for the chondrogenic induction of stem cells. He has published 88 peer-reviewed articles (>13,000 citations, h-index of 48, i10-index of 73), with grants from numerous sources including the NIH, Arthritis Foundation, and Shriners Hospitals. In addition, he has written several reviews and book chapters and served as editor for book sections.

He is a Past-President of the Orthopaedic Research Society and has served/serves on numerous grant review panels of national and international organizations and journal editorial boards. He currently serves as the Senior Advisor to the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation; the Translational Medicine Institute at Colorado State University; the AO Research Institute, Switzerland; and the Technological University of the Shannon, Ireland. He is also the Mercator Fellow for the German Research Foundation multicenter program in osteoarthritis.

Prof. Johnstone has received numerous national and international honors and awards, including being elected into the inaugural class of Fellows of International Orthopaedic Research (FIOR), and that of the Orthopaedic Research Society Fellows (FORS). He is now chair of the FIOR College. In 2017 he was given the Marshall R. Urist Award for his contributions to tissue regeneration research.

Ruairi Robertson, PhD is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Microenvironment and Immunity Unit in the Institut Pasteur and an Honorary Lecturer in the Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London. His research examines the influence of the gut microbiota on the immune, metabolic and endocrine pathways that determine normal child growth and development.

Dr. Robertson’s research uses both preclinical models and clinical cohorts. He is currently using preclinical models to examine the influence of the gut microbiome on the training of intestinal immunity in early life and the subsequent susceptibility to infection. Concurrently, he is conducting several large randomized clinical trials in Zimbabwe and Zambia investigating the influence of the maternal and infant gut microbiomes on child growth in the context of child malnutrition. These studies are aiming to identify novel microbiome biomarkers and predictors of child undernutrition in addition to novel nutritional and pharmaceutical therapies targeting the gut microbiome in child undernutrition.

Dr. Robertson was previously awarded a Fulbright Scholarship from 2015 to 2016 to Harvard University Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital and has since been awarded two further prestigious early-career research fellowships (Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship, Wellcome Trust; Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship, European Commission) to conduct his research. In 2019, he was the Runner-Up for the British Nutrition Foundation Early-Career Researcher Award. He has published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles and is highly involved in public scientific discourse for children and adults as well, including a TEDx Talk and as a regular scientific expert in media.

Joel T. Cramer, PhD is the senior associate dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs in the College of Health Professions and Sciences at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Cramer is also a professor in the Division of Kinesiology at UCF. He completed his PhD in exercise physiology and nutrition at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. His research program in exercise physiology and nutrition studies the form and function of human skeletal muscle. Specifically, his laboratory uses in vivo human subject research models to study the applied physiology, metabolic, and neuromuscular mechanisms that explain changes in muscle strength, size, and function during periods of growth and development, aging and sarcopenia, resistance training, stretching, fatigue, recovery, and dietary supplementation. He uses evidence-based information on skeletal muscle to address contemporary problems, discover innovative methodologies, and translate findings to practitioners and consumers.

Dr. Cramer has published prolifically, having produced 231 peer-reviewed articles and several book chapters. In 2020, he received a Certificate of Recognition for Contributions to Students from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Teaching Council. He is a previous recipient of the William J. Kraemer Outstanding Sport Scientist of the Year Award and a Nutritional Research Award from the NSCA National Conference.