Leif Edvard Aarø, Ph.D

Leif Edvard Aarø, Ph.D., is senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Department of Health Promotion, located in Bergen. He was professor of social psychology at the University of Bergen 1987-2014. In the early 1980’s, Aarø contributed to the establishment of the WHO collaborative study on Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC). Aarø established the Research Centre for Health Promotion at the University of Bergen in 1988 and was the first director of the Centre. He also contributed to establishing the Health Promotion Research Programme of the Norwegian Research Council. Most of his career he has carried out studies on health-related behaviour, large scale surveys among adolescents and evaluation of interventions. His present research is focussed on methodological challenges in surveys on distress and quality of life. Aarø has coordinated EU-funded studies on HIV/AIDS prevention among adolescents in South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. He has also had a long-term collaboration with professor Witold Zatonski, Warsaw/Calisia.

Alicja Basiak-Rasała, PhD

Alicja Basiak-Rasała, PhD, works as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Division of Population Studies and Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases at the Wrocław Medical University. She is engaged as a researcher in several population studies conducted in the Department, including the Polish cohort of the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological Study (PURE) and Population Cohort study of Wroclaw Citizens (PICTURE). Her work, both scientific and didactic, focuses on epidemiology and prevention of noncommunicable diseases, nutrition and public health.

Prof. Alan Brandt

Allan M. Brandt is the Amalie Moses Kass Professor of the History of Medicine and Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University, where he holds a joint appointment between the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Medical School. Brandt served as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences from 2008 to 2012. He earned his undergraduate degree at Brandeis University and a Ph.D. in American History from Columbia University. His work focuses on social and ethical aspects of health, disease, medical practices, and global health in the twentieth century. Brandt is the author of No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States since 1880 (paperback, 1987; 35th Anniversary Edition, 2020); and co-editor of Morality and Health (1997). He has written on the social history of epidemic disease; the history of public health and health policy; and the history of human experimentation among other topics. His book on the social and cultural history of cigarette smoking in the U.S., The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America, was published by Basic Books in 2007 (paperback, 2009). It received the Bancroft Prize from Columbia University in 2008 and the Welch Medal from the American Association for the History of Medicine in 2011, among other awards. Brandt has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2015 he was awarded the Everett Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award by the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In 2019-20, Brandt was a recipient of fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. He recently served as the interim chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Brandt is currently writing about the history and ethics of stigma and its impact on patients and health outcomes.

Prof. Krzysztof Chlebus

Associate Professor at the 1st Department and Clinic of Cardiology at the Medical University of Gdańsk. He completed postgraduate studies in “Management in Healthcare Facilities” at the University of Gdańsk, as well as prestigious Executive MBA studies (Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, and Warsaw School of Economics – SGH). From 2012 to 2014, he served as Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Health in the government of Donald Tusk. He was a Tempus scholarship holder at the ThoraxCentre in Rotterdam and a Polish-American Foundation for Medical Education fellow at Loyola University in Chicago. During the 2007-2009 term, he was a member of the Main Board and Secretary of the Polish Cardiac Society (PTK). Since 2014, he has been a member of the PTK Committee for Cooperation with Government Administration and the Polish Parliament, and since 2021, he has been a board member of the PTK Prevention and Epidemiology Section, currently serving as Chair-Elect of this Section. He is the National Coordinator of the National Health Program Project “Clinical and Genetic Diagnostics of Patients at High Risk of Familial Hypercholesterolemia, including Cascade Screening of their Relatives.” He is also a member of the Program Council of the Ministry of Health’s KORDIAN Project “Prevention of Arterial Atherosclerosis and Heart Diseases for Residents of the Northern Macroregion.” From 2010 to 2012, he was a judge at the District Medical Court at the Regional Chamber of Physicians in Gdańsk. Since 2008, he has been a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). He is the President of the Medical Innovation Center Ltd. and the Rector’s Plenipotentiary for Innovation and Knowledge Transfer at the Medical University of Gdańsk. He serves on the Steering Committee of the Familial Hypercholesterolemia Studies Collaboration (FHSC) of the European Atherosclerosis Society and is also part of the Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia International Clinical Collaborators. He is the creator of an original model of care for patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), which includes the coordination of diagnostics and therapy, as well as comprehensive medical services for the patient and their family. He is the Coordinator of the National Center for Familial Hypercholesterolemia in Gdańsk and the creator and coordinator of the National Registry of Familial Hypercholesterolemia, which records new diagnoses of FH in probands and their family members.

Prof. Joanna Dzionek-Kozłowska

She holds a PhD in economics and is the head of the Department of Economic History at the University of Łódź. From 2012 to 2021, she served as the editor-in-chief of the journal Annales. Ethics in Economic Life. Her scientific work focuses on the history and philosophy of economics, as well as the impact of economic education on students’ attitudes. Her current research interests include the potential use of experimental economics tools to analyze social realities.

Allen Gallagher, PhD

Dr. Allen Gallagher is a research fellow within the Tobacco Control Research Group within the University of Bath. While his initial research focus was investigating the illicit tobacco trade and the relationship that major transnational tobacco companies have with it, in recent years he has expanded his research focus to explore tobacco industry influence over tobacco control policy, more broadly. Dr. Gallagher has presented his work to both the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg as well as at various high-profile tobacco control conferences, including the European and World Conferences on Tobacco or Health. His work has been mentioned in UK Parliamentary debates and has been cited in numerous policy documents including by the World Health Organization, Pan American Health Organization, and the United Nations, among others.

Clare Gilham

Clare Gilham is an assistant professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Clare is a statistical epidemiologist who has worked in the field of human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer screening for 25 years. She is the PI for the long-term follow-up of the ARTISTIC trial cohort which recruited around 25,000 women in 2002, collecting further samples for HPV testing from 10,000 women in 2018-22. She is also PI of the Catch-up Screen Project, which started in January 2024, which will evaluate the impact of offering an at-home urine HPV test to women now aged 65-79 who left the cervical screening programme before the introduction of primary HPV testing.

Prof. Thomas Glynn

Thomas Glynn, PhD is currently on the faculty at the Stanford University School of Medicine. His career, which includes tenures at the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, U.S. National Cancer Institute, and the American Cancer Society, has focused on cancer prevention and control, both in the U.S. and internationally, with a particular interest in eliminating the harms from tobacco use.

Dr hab. n. o zdrowiu Mariola Głowacka

She completed her studies in nursing and obtained her PhD in 2002. She is currently a professor at the Mazovian Academy in Płock and at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. She serves as the chair of the National Accreditation Council for Nursing and Midwifery Schools, is a member of the National Council of Nurses and Midwives (NRPiP), and is part of its Presidium. She also chairs the Education Committee and the Legal and Legislation Committee of the NRPiP. Her professional and academic areas of interest include geriatrics and geriatric nursing, the quality of undergraduate and postgraduate nursing education, nursing autonomy and professional competencies, international and European nursing, and the use of simulation in nursing education at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She is affiliated with the Mazovian Academy in Płock, where she holds the position of Vice-Rector for Collegium Medicum. Additionally, she is a lecturer at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, specifically at Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz.

Prof. Łukasz Gruszczyński

Professor at Kozminski University and head of the Department of International Law and European Union Law. His research focuses on international economic law and international public health law. He earned his PhD from the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence and completed his habilitation at the Institute of Legal Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). He is the recipient of six National Science Centre (NCN) grants. His scholarly achievements include three monographs published by Oxford University Press and numerous articles in leading international academic journals. Professor Gruszczyński serves as the editor-in-chief of the Polish Yearbook of International Law, an English-language annual journal. He currently holds the position of Chair of the High Council of the EUI.

Anna Harton, PhD

Ph.D., Assistant professor at the Department of Dietetics at the Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, member of the Polish Society of Dietetics. Author of about 100 scientific articles. Author, co-author and consultant of educational programs and popular articles in the field of human nutrition and dietetics. Scientific interests: dietary prevention and dietotherapy of diet-dependent diseases.

Aleksandra Herbeć, PhD

Aleksandra Herbeć, PhD holds PhD in Health Psychology, Behavioural Science and Digital health from University College London (2019). She specialises in mixed methods research, public health, tobacco control and smoking cessation, digital interventions, and behavioural change among healthcare professionals, patients and the general public. Since 2020 she has been co-leading on the Health Behaviours during the Covid-19 (HEBECO) pandemic epidemiological study in the UK. Aleksandra currently heads the Secretariat for the Independent Review on Equity in Medical Devices at the Medical Technologies Directorate at the Department of Health and Social Care in the UK and is a Research Fellow at Calisia University – Kalisz, Poland. Since 2009 she has been affiliated with the Health Promotion Foundation in Poland.

Prof. Piotr Jankowski

Piotr Jankowski, MD, PhD, professor at the Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education in Warsaw, head of the Department of Geriatric Cardiology and Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion CMKP, until 2020 professor at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Poland), cardiologist. Secretary (2017-2019) and member of the Board (from 2011 to 2015) of the Polish Cardiac Society, chairman of the Health Promotion Committee of the Polish Cardiac Society (2011-2017 and from 2021). Author of over 450 scientific contributions, co-author of a number of scientific and clinical statements and guidelines. Laureate of numerous scientific awards. President of the Board of the “Zdrowie Publiczne” Foundation.

Prabhat Jha, OC, MD, DPhil, FCAHS, FRSC

Professor Prabhat Jha is a University Professor at the University of Toronto, Endowed Professor in Global Health and Epidemiology and Canada Research Chair at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and the founding Director of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael’s Hospital. Professor Jha is the lead investigator of the Million Death Study in India, which quantifies the causes of premature mortality in over 3 million homes from 1998 to current. His publications on tobacco control have enabled a global treaty now signed by over 180 countries. He founded the Statistical Alliance for Vital Events, which focuses on reliable measurement of premature mortality worldwide. Earlier, Professor Jha served in senior roles at the World Health Organization and the World Bank. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2012. Professor Jha holds an M.D. from the University of Manitoba and a D.Phil. from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

Prof. Ewa Pruszyńska-Oszmałek

Ewa Pruszyńska-Oszmałek is a Polish scientist specializing in animal physiology, biochemistry, and endocrinology. Her research focuses on the regulation of appetite, metabolism, and hormonal mechanisms that influence digestive processes and energy metabolism in human and animals. She has a particular interest in the effects of bioactive compounds, such as probiotics, peptides, and other metabolic factors, on bodily functions, especially in the context of weight regulation, digestion, and energy homeostasis of peripheral tissues like fat tissue, liver, muscle etc. The research is conducted both in healthy organisms and pathophysiological conditions, such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 1 and 2 diabetes. Pruszyńska-Oszmałek has authored or co-authored over 130 scientific publications in index journals, exploring the interplay between metabolism and the hormonal system, as well as mechanisms affecting the health of livestock animals. Her research also delves into the molecular analysis of gene and protein expression related to lipid metabolism and the impact of environmental factors on animal physiology. She is affiliated with the Poznan University of Life Sciences, where she combines her research work with teaching responsibilities, sharing her expertise in physiology and molecular biology with students.

Dr hab. Paweł A. Kołodziejski

I graduated from the Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland. In 2018, I obtained my PhD degree in biological sciences and in 2022, a habilitated doctorate in agricultural sciences at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science at my alma mater. Currently employed as an assistant professor at the Department of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Biostructure of the University of Life Sciences in Poznań, serving as the Head of the Department. Between 2014- 2015 I completed a long-term research internship at the Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology and the Interdisciplinary Centre of Metabolism: Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Charité-University Medicine in Berlin. My research focuses on hormonal regulation of metabolism and endocrine function of peripheral tissues related to carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, with particular emphasis on adipose tissue, pancreas, liver and muscles. The research is conducted both in healthy organisms and pathophysiological conditions, such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 1 and 2 diabetes. I am the author and co-author of over 100 articles published in journals from the JCR list. I am and was the principal investigator of research projects financed by the NCN (Preludium, Opus), NCBiR (Nutritech), Poznań University of Life Sciences, supervisor of two Preludium projects and contractor in several projects financed from national and European sources (e.g. 7th Framework Programme). I am a laureate of scholarships from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, ESF Scholarship and awards of the Rector of the Poznań University of Life Sciences granted for my scientific activity.

Kamil Kuć

A specialist in clinical oncology, he is the head of the Oncology Department with a Day Chemotherapy Unit at the Provincial Hospital of St. Father Pio in Przemyśl. He also serves as the Coordinator of Medyk Oncology at CM Medyk in Rzeszów. He is the initiator and executor of numerous educational and preventive projects for cancer patients. As a principal investigator, he has led numerous clinical trials in the field of oncology. He was a recipient of the Minister of Health’s scholarship for students with significant achievements. In 2023, he was awarded the title of “Doctor of the Decade” for his dedication to cancer patients by the Alivia Foundation.

Kinga Janik-Koncewicz, PhD

Kinga Janik-Koncewicz, PhD, is a researcher at the Institute – European Observatory of Health Inequalities, Calisia University, Kalisz, Poland. Her main interest is monitoring consumption of tobacco and alcohol and epidemiology of tobacco- and alcohol-related health burden in Poland. She’s a Lead Assistant Editor at the Journal of Health Inequalities.

Prof. Carlo La Vecchia

Dr. La Vecchia received his Medical Degree from the University of Milan and a Master of Science degree in Clinical Medicine (Epidemiology) from Oxford University. He is recognized as a leading authority in cancer aetiology and epidemiology. Presently, he is Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the School of Medicine at the University of Milan. Dr. La Vecchia serves as an editor for numerous clinical and epidemiologic journals. He is among the most renowned and productive epidemiologists with over 2450 peer-reviewed papers in the literature (PubMed) and is among the most highly cited medical researchers (2003, 2017-2023), according to ISIHighlyCited.com, Clarivate Analytics, the developer and publisher of the Science Citation Index. He has supervised over 40 PhD theses. Dr. La Vecchia is a temporary advisor at the World Health Organization in Geneva, and a registered journalist in Milan. He was Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health between 1996 and 2001, Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Lausanne, CH (2000-2014), Senior Research Fellow at the International Agency for Research on Cancer IARC/WHO (2006-2008), Head of the Department of Epidemiology at the Mario Negri Institute, Milan (2007-2014), and Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt Medical Center Nashville, TN, USA (2002-2018). Dr. La Vecchia’s main fields of interest include cancer epidemiology and the risk related to diet, tobacco, hormone use and occupational or environmental exposure to toxic substances; and analysis of temporal trends and geographical distribution of mortality from cancer, cardiovascular diseases, perinatal and other selected conditions.

Prof. Martin McKee

Martin McKee is Professor of European Public Health and Medical Director at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He has collaborated with Witold for many years and was Mateusz’s co-supervisor. He is also President of the British Medical Association and Past President of the European Public Health Association

Prof. dr hab. n. med. Hanna Krauss

Director of the Institute of Preventive Research and Director of the Doctoral School at Kalisz University. A specialist in pediatric diseases, she is also the Chair of the Poznań Branch of the Polish Physiological Society and a member of the Society’s Main Board. She has co-authored over 450 scientific publications and conference materials and is the scientific editor of academic textbooks. Her main scientific research focuses on the regulation of energy metabolism in both physiological and pathological conditions, as well as the impact of microbiota and selected hormones on children’s development.

Jarosław Neneman, PhD

Jarosław Neneman (PhD) is an assistant professor at Faculty of Economics and Sociology at University of Lodz, earlier at Lazarski University in Warsaw. In years 2004 – 2005, 2006 and 2014-2015 Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Finance responsible for tax policy and legislation. In years 2010-2014 voluntary counselor to the Polish President dealing with local governments. Since 2011 Chairman of the Council of the Center of Tax Documentation and Studies Foundation in Lodz. While not working for the Ministry of Finance, he teaches Microeconomics, Public Finance, Managerial Economics, Introduction to Game Theory and Tax Policy, alongside writing reports on tax issues and textbooks on applied economics for students.

Krzysztof Nowiński

A criminal law attorney. Since 2011, he has been representing clients in criminal cases on both the defense and prosecution sides. He has extensive experience in representing clients in cases related to corruption, bond issuance, money transfers, mismanagement, acting to the detriment of businesses, fraud, embezzlement, as well as failure to perform or exceeding corporate duties. For the past two years, he has been involved in enforcing laws prohibiting alcohol advertising, participating in numerous legal proceedings against individuals who violated criminal provisions of the Act on Sobriety Education and Alcoholism Prevention. He is a member of the team at the Safe Poland for All Foundation, which promotes awareness of the harmful effects of alcohol and undertakes initiatives to change existing regulations. He is also a board member of the Małgorzata Braunek Foundation “Bądź,” which provides support to oncology patients.

Prof. Richard Peto

Sir Richard Peto, FRS Emeritus Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, University of Oxford, UK. Richard Peto has collaborated for decades with major epidemiological studies in China, India, the Americas and Europe, with close attention to the details of how epidemiological evidence and trial evidence should be interpreted. This has substantially increased the estimated importance of major avoidable causes of cancer and of vascular disease such as tobacco, blood pressure, blood lipids, adiposity, and diabetes.

Prof. Jacek Piątek

He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the Poznań University of Medical Sciences in 1985. From 1985 to 2018, he worked in the Department of Physiology at the same university. Between 2011 and 2013, he was a visiting professor at the Institute of Rural Health in Lublin. Since 2018, he has been a professor at Kalisz University, where he serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. In recent years, his research interests have focused on gut microbiota, probiotics, and synbiotics. He is the author of several books and numerous articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Mark Parascandola, PhD

Mark Parascandola, Ph.D., M.P.H., is Director of the Research and Training Branch in the Center for Global Health at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). He received his Doctorate in Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University and his Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. He has authored over 75 published articles on global cancer prevention, implementation science, tobacco control, and epidemiologic research methodology. Dr. Parascandola has served as an Embassy Science Fellow and expert advisor on tobacco control, air pollution and health at the U.S. Embassies in Beijing, China, and Warsaw, Poland.

Henning Sommermeyer, Visiting Prof., PhD

From 1982 to 1987, Henning received his academic training at the University of Hanover and the Medical School Hanover in Germany finishing it with a degree in biochemistry. He specialized in immunology with his doctor thesis covering research about early signal transduction processes during the activation of T-cells. From 1990 to 2010 Henning held several leadership roles with major international pharmaceutical companies in Germany, Portugal, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Since 2011 he is heading a company providing consultancy service for the pharmaceutical industry and state institutions. Henning restarted his scientific research activities in 2017 through a cooperation with Prof. Jacek Piątek. In 2019, both founded the Microbiota Research Group of the University of Kalisz. Their research is focusing on characterizing the therapeutic effects of probiotic bacteria and covers preclinical as well as clinical research. The work has resulted in a number of scientific publications and so far two scientific books. Most recent research focused on clinical trial research with newborns suffering from infantile colic and patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

dr n. med. i n. o zdr. Szymon Suwała

A graduate of the Faculty of Medicine at the Medical University of Łódź, he is a specialist in endocrinology and diabetology, currently working at the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology at the Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, part of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. His current scientific and professional focus lies in the interdisciplinary aspects of endocrine diseases (including thyroid disorders), metabolic dysfunction and liver structure abnormalities, the bidirectional relationship between obesity and type 2 diabetes (diabesity), and the application of artificial intelligence in medical education.

Prof. Katarzyna Zatońska

Katarzyna Zatonska is a professor at the Wroclaw Medical University, specializing in population health and the prevention of noncommunicable diseases. During her career, she has completed specializations in internal medicine, diabetology and public health. Prof. Zatonska has directed a number of important research projects, both national and international, focusing on the epidemiology of chronic diseases, obesity and the metabolic syndrome. Her most important achievements include leading the Polish cohort participating in the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological Study (PURE) and the PICTURE study. In her clinical work, she specializes in the management of patients with diabetes and metabolic disorders. Her main areas of scientific and didactic interest include population health, epidemiology, public health, and health promotion

Prof. Witold Zatoński

Witold Zatoński, MD, Professor of medical sciences, honorary doctor of the University of Aberdeen in United Kingdom. Between 1966 and 1979 he worked as an internist (post-doctoral degree) and as a biochemist at the Medical Academy in Wrocław, Poland. Then, until 2016 he was the director in the Division of Epidemiology and Prevention at the Maria Skłodowska Curie Memorial Cancer Centre and Institute of Oncology in Warsaw. Professor Zatoński is the founder and president of the Health Promotion Foundation

Mitch Zeller

Mitch Zeller, J.D., retired from federal service in April 2022. He was the director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products from March 2013 through April 2022. As Center Director, Zeller led FDA’s efforts to use the tools of product regulation to reduce disease and death from tobacco use and bring previously unavailable information about its dangers to light. He created a comprehensive regulatory program encompassing application review, innovative regulatory policy, compliance and enforcement, public education, and regulatory science research. Zeller, a graduate of Dartmouth College and the American University Washington College of Law, worked on FDA issues from 1982 until his retirement in 2022. He began his career as a public interest attorney in 1982 at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). In 1988, Zeller left CSPI to become counsel to the Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee of the House of Representatives Government Operations Committee where he conducted oversight of enforcement of federal health and safety laws. In 1993, Zeller joined the staff of then-FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler, M.D. What began as a two-week assignment by Kessler in 1994 to examine the practices of the tobacco industry led to his serving as associate commissioner and director of FDA’s first Office of Tobacco Programs. Instrumental in crafting the agency’s 1996 tobacco regulations, Zeller also represented FDA before Congress, federal and state agencies. Zeller also served as an official U.S. delegate to the World Health Organization (WHO) Working Group for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Hala Alaouie, Ph.D

Gianfranco Alicandro, Ph.D