PROGRAM-KEYNOTES

Keynote 1

Peggy Cawthon

San Francisco (USA)

Maintaining mobility in old age

Dr. Cawthon is currently Senior Scientist at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute and Associate Adjunct Professor at UCSF. Dr. Cawthon’s current research interests include maintenance of mobility in old age; sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss); frailty; the decline of physical function with age; and osteoporosis, particularly in older men.
She has lead the recent Sarcopenia Definitions and Outcomes Consortium effort to develop an updated, evidenced based definition of sarcopenia. She has also lead the first large scale study of the D3Cr-dilution based assessment of muscle mass, a project that established that strong associations exist between low D3Cr muscle mass and weakness, poor physical performance, fractures, mortality and disability in older men.

Keynote 2

Bruno Vellas

Toulouse (France)

Implementing frailty anf icope into clinical practice : The Toulouse Gerontopole Experience

Bruno Vellas is the chair of the Gérontopôle & Department of Geriatric Internal Medicine at the Toulouse University Hospital and is member of INSERM UMR 1027. He studied medicine in Toulouse and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1987 and a PhD in Pysiopathology in 1990.
He had a doctoral training in nutrition and aging at the University of New Mexico, USA, Clinical Nutrition Lab, School of Medicine from 1987 to 1988. His main interests are: development of aging and geriatric clinical research and care. His research and care has been supported by several European, national and international research grants.
He is the founder of the Gérontopôle to develop innovation and research for older adults. He is the author and co-author of more than 800 publications in peer review journals since 1987, Index H: 75. He serves as editor, editorial committee member and reviewer of several major journals. He is adjunct professor at the Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA and is member of the scientific advisory board of several major scientific institutions in France, EU, Japan and the US. Since 2016, he is titular member of the French National Academy of Medicine, Officier de la Légion d’Honneur, and was recipient of the Palmes Académiques in 2016. He is the past president of the IAGG (International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics) a NGO with a seat at the United Nations, and the founder of the EADC (European Alzheimer’s Disease Consortium), the CTAD (Clinical Trial in Alzheimer’s Disease conference) and the ICFSR (International Conference for Frailty and Sarcopenia Research). He is the chair of the WHO Collaborating Center for Frailty, Clinical Research and Geriatric Training since September 2017. Lastly, Bruno Vellas is Principal Investigator of the INSPIRE program in the field of Gerosciences.

Keynote 3

Roger Fielding

Tufts, Boston (USA)

Nutrition, Gerosciences and age related diseases

Roger A. Fielding, Ph.D. is Associate Director of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and serves as Director and Senior Scientist of the Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, and Sarcopenia (NEPS) Laboratory. He is also Professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and the Associate Director of the Boston Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center. Dr. Fielding is an internationally known researcher who studies the underlying mechanisms contributing to the age-associated decline in skeletal muscle mass, the resultant impact on function, and the potential role of exercise, nutrition, physical activity and other therapies on attenuating this process.
He has published over 200 peer-reviewed paper (H-index 69). Dr. Fielding has a strong record of extramural funding including support from the NIH, USDA, foundations and industry. He is an associate editor of the Journals of Gerontology Medical Sciences, and Calcified Tissues International and Musculoskeletal Research.
He has also served as a reviewer on numerous NIH study sections and was elected to the NIH/CSR College of Reviewers. In 2015, he received the Olof Johnell Science Award from the International Osteoporosis Foundation.

Keynote 4

Luigi Ferrucci

NIA, Baltimore (USA)

Aging biomarkers and Geroscience discovery were we are and were we must go

Dr. Luigi Ferrucci is a geriatrician and an epidemiologist who conducts research on the biological and phenotypical pathways leading to progressive physical and cognitive decline in older persons. He has made major contributions in the design of many epidemiological studies conducted in the U.S. and in Europe, including the European Longitudinal Study on Aging, the AKEA study of Centenarians in Sardinia, the Women's Health and Aging Study and more recently the GESTALT study. He was also the Principal Investigator of the InCHIANTI study, a longitudinal study conducted in the Chianti Geographical area (Tuscany, Italy) looking at risk factors for mobility disability in older persons. Dr. Ferrucci received a Medical Degree and Board Certification in 1980, Board Certification in Geriatrics in 1982 and Ph.D. in Biology and Pathophysiology of Aging in 1998 at the University of Florence, Italy.
For many years, he was an Associate Professor of Biology, Human Physiology and Statistics at the University of Florence. Between 1985 and 2002 he was the Director of the Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology at the Italian National Institute of Aging. In September 2002, he became the Chief of the Longitudinal Studies Section at NIA and redesigned the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging to create an interface between the rising field of Geroscience and study of age-related changes of phenotypes, as well as physical and cognitive function. He is a member of the Association of American Physicians and has received numerous awards including the “Enrico Greppi” award, the IPSEN Longevity award and the “Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia”.
Dr. Ferrucci collaborates extensively with many researchers in the US and Europe, has published more than 1400 peer-reviewed manuscripts on aging and age-related diseases and is considered as the most productive Italian Scientist in the area of medical science. Dr. Ferrucci is currently the Scientific Director of NIA, since May 2011.