The Latest Evidence in Preserving Muscle Health in Acute & Chronic Diseases

Nicolaas Deutz, MD, PhD

Professor, Ponder Endowed Chair
Editor-in-Chief, Clinical Nutrition
Director, Center for Translational Research in Aging & Longevity
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX, USA

Dr Nicolaas Deutz, MD, PhD, currently serves as Director for the Center for Translational Research in Aging and Longevity (CTRAL). For more than 30 years, his research background and expertise have focused on nutrition, metabolism, and physiology studies involving stable isotope methodologies in humans and animals. Dr Deutz has extensive experience with isotopic calculations, validation, and data interpretation. The stable isotope approaches are used in several studies to unravel the metabolic changes in patients with chronic diseases (i.e., chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, cystic fibrosis, chronic heart failure, obstructive sleep apnea, mild cognitive impairment and dementia, autism spectrum disorder). This research led to new insights into protein and amino acid kinetics in subjects with chronic disease. It resulted in specific recommendations for nutritional supplements to reduce muscle wasting. Recently, he started studying the anabolic effects of specialized nutritional supplements in different chronic diseases and models of disease. Using translational approaches is a logical extension of the body of his research in the field of protein and amino acids metabolism. Dr Deutz obtained his MD and PhD at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Carla Prado, PhD, RD

Director, Human Nutrition Research Unit
Associate Professor/CAIP Chair
Nutrition, Food & Health
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, CA

Dr Carla Prado is an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta and a Registered Dietitian. She holds a Campus Alberta Innovates Chair in Nutrition, Food and Health and is the Director of the Human Nutrition Research Unit, a state-of-the-art research and training facility. Dr Prado was recently recognized as one of the most influential young Canadian leaders, receiving Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award.

Carla is an expert in body composition assessment. Her research program focuses on the identification and treatment of abnormalities in body composition (especially low muscle mass), with a special interest in cancer. The focus of her current research program is to develop targeted nutrition interventions for the prevention and treatment of low muscle mass in cancer. She shares her expertise as an Associate Editor of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle.

Dr Prado received her PhD from the University of Alberta, Canada, and has completed further training at the Cross Cancer Institute (Canada), the National Institutes of Health (USA), and Newcastle University (UK).

Emanuele Cereda, MD, PhD

Physician & Research Scientist
Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo
Pavia, Italy

Dr Cereda graduated as an MD in 2002 and was awarded a specialization degree in Clinical Nutrition in 2006 and a PhD in “Clinical and Experimental Nutrition” in 2009. Since 2010, he has worked as a physician and research scientist at the Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics Unit of the Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico “San Matteo” (Pavia, Italy). As the lead investigator in many clinical trials, his research activities are substantiated by a large number of publications, mainly dealing with disease-related malnutrition and related complications in hospitals and institutions, sarcopenia, oncology, wound healing, and neurodegenerative diseases (primarily Parkinson’s disease). He is Associate Editor of Clinical Nutrition and a member of the Scientific Committee of the ESPEN.