Professor and Head of Paediatrics University of Chieti, Italy

Francesco Chiarelli is Professor and Head of Paediatrics at the Department of Paediatrics, University of Chieti in Chieti, Italy. He is also Head of Research Labs for Experimental Medicine in Pediatrics and Child Health. He received his undergraduate education at the University of Siena, Italy. His research interests include the molecular and cellular biology of diabetic macroangiopathy; insulin resistance in children; early detection of diabetic microangiopathy in children; obesity and type 2 diabetes in children, growth and puberty disorders.

Professor Chiarelli is on the Editorial Board of Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, Pediatric Diabetes, Hormone Research, Diabetes, Nutrition and Metabolism. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE), the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) (Member of the Advisory Council 1990-1993, Chair of Scientific Committee 2001-2004), the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the International Pediatric Association (IPA), the Italian Society for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology (ISPED)(Member of the Advisory Council 1990-1996).

Professor Chiarelli as ESPE Secretary General (2004-2011) and ESPE President (2008-2009 and 2012-2013). He was President of the Italian Society for Paediatric Research (ISPR)(2012-2015) and Member of the WHO Task Force for Childhood Diabetes. He is currently a Consultant of the European Commission and of the WHO for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) in Children.

Head of the Clinical Research Unit in Pediatric Diabetology, Diabetes Research Institute, Milan, Italy

Riccardo Bonfanti is head of the Clinical Research Unit in Pediatric Diabetology, Diabetes Research Institute, Milan, Italy, and since 2017 is the head of the Functional Unit of Pediatric Diabetology and Metabolism Disorders, Maternal Infantile Department in San Raffaele Hospital, Milan.

Dr Bonfanti studied Medicine until 1989 at the University of Milan and was a diabetes research fellow and honorary clinical assistant at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, UK from 1990–93. He specialises in paediatrics and neonatology, and in 2008 studied at the University of Parma and Verona for his Second Level University Masters in Pediatric Diabetology and Food Metabolism Disorders. He obtained his National Scientific Qualification for the role of professor of pediatrics in 2014.

He is a member of the Italian Society of Pediatrics, the Italian Society of Endocrinology and Pediatric Diabetology, the Association of Diabetologists, the European Study of Diabetes, and the International Society of Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes. He is also a reviewer for the journals Diabetes Care, Pediatric Diabetes and Acta Diabetologica.

Director of the Pediatric Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders Unit, Regional Center for Pediatric Diabetes, University City Hospital of Verona, Verona, Italy

Claudio Maffeis is professor of paediatrics at the Department of Surgical Sciences, Dentistry, Gynecology and Pediatrics, University of Verona, Italy. He is director of the Pediatric Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders Operative Complex Unit and director of the Regional Center for Pediatric Diabetes, University Hospital of Verona, Italy.

His research activity focuses extensively on childhood obesity and diabetes, in particular on the energy and macronutrient metabolism and the metabolic consequences of obesity and diabetes. He is an author of more than 200 articles published in peer-reviewed journals and has authored chapters in books. In 1987, 1992 and 1995, he received national and international awards for his research. He is associate editor of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

He is a member of the ISPAD and the president elect of the Italian Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology.

Consultant at the Department of Paediatrics, University of Chieti, Italy

Cosimo Giannini is consultant at the Department of Paediatrics and researcher at the Labs for the Study of Diabetic Angiopathy, University of Chieti, Italy. He received his medical degree in 2002 from the University of Chieti, followed by a residency in 2008. His research was on diabetes and obesity for his PhD course also at the University of Chieti and his postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Yale University, CT, USA from 2011–2013.

Cosimo Giannini’s research interests are obesity and type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, and beta-cell defects in obese children and adolescents, molecular and cellular biology of diabetic macroangiopathy, and early detection of diabetic microangiopathy in children.

He has published papers in leading scientific journals including Diabetes, Diabetes Care, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Clinical Endocrinology, Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Antioxidants & Redox Signaling, Journal of Pediatrics, Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, Hepatology, and European Journal of Endocrinology.

He has extensive experience in clinical trials on different therapeutic areas according to GCP. He has presented the results of his main research in several international and national meetings. He also obtained a national award from the Italian Society of Pediatrics, Premio Pionieri della Pediatria, Bologna in 2013, and international awards from the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE Young Investigator Award 2013).
Cosimo Giannini holds membership in several professional organisations, including the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE), the Italian Society of Pediatrics (SIP), and the Italian Society for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology (ISPED).