EprObes News
WEBINAR
Join us for OBEClust Webinar: Strengthening Understanding of Obesity as a Chronic Disease
Date: Feb 05, 2026
Time: 13:00 am CEST
Calling researchers, clinicians, public health professionals, nutritionists, behavioural scientists, policymakers, data specialists, digital health researchers, patient advocates and nutrition associations!
We are excited to invite you to the second free webinar of The European Cluster of Obesity Research Projects (OBEClust), titled “Strengthening Understanding of Obesity as a Chronic Disease”.
In this session you will enhance understanding of obesity as a chronic, relapsing, multifactorial disease requiring evidence-based, respectful communication across research, policy and practice. The webinar will explore how improved knowledge and framing can reduce stigma, strengthen research relevance, and support system-level responses.
Prof. Dr. Serap Erdine (Moderation)
Emeritus Professor , Istanbul University , Cerrahpaşa School Of Medicine,Cardiology Department. President Turkish Society of Hypertension and Atherosclerosis. Former Vice-President of the European Society of Hypertension, Consortium Member and Chair of Communication and Innovation Board of eprObes EU Project.
Ken Clare, Patient representative, ECPO
Ken Clare is Executive Director at United Kingdom Coalition for People Living with Obesity and co-founder of the Obesity Voices Hub, at Leeds Beckett University. He has a lifetime lived experience with obesity. He has a background in general and mental health nursing. He has founded and worked in several patient advocacy groups. His current work at LBU focuses on public involvement in obesity research.
As a passionate advocate, Ken ensures people living with obesity are central to research, commissioning, and service delivery. He co-founded WLSInfo charity, Obesity Empowerment Network (OEN), Global Obesity Patient Alliance (GOPA), and is a past chair the EASO‑ECPO within the European Coalition for People Living with Obesity.
Prof Jan Eriksson, MD PhD
Full Professor and Chair in Clinical Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medical Sciences, and Senior Consultant in Endocrinology and Diabetes at Uppsala University and Uppsala University Hospital.
Dr. Jan Eriksson, MD, PhD, is a Full Professor and specialist in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology, serving as Chair of Clinical Diabetes Research at Uppsala University Hospital. He previously held senior R&D leadership roles in the pharmaceutical industry, focusing on translational science and early clinical development. With extensive academic and clinical experience, he has led several research groups and contributed significantly to the fields of diabetes, endocrinology, and metabolic research.
He is currently involved in the PAS GRAS project.
Presentation title: Obesity – a chronic health issue needing chronic attention
Prof. Fernando Fernandez Aranda
Full Professor (School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Barcelona, Spain), Specialist in Clinical Psychology, has been the Director of the Eating Disorders (ED) Unit at the Clinical Psychology Department (University Hospital Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain) and Director of the Long-lasting ED Unit /Hosp. Sagrat Cor-HUB) in Martorell, former Scientific Director of Research Institute IDIBELL, Deputy Director of CIBERobn (Excellence Spanish Research Network for Obesity and Nutrition), co-Head of Research Group CIBERobn and co-Head of Group Psychoneurobiology of Eating and Addictive Behaviours (IDIBELL).
He is currently involved in the eprObes project.
Dr. Bianca Fuchs-Neuhold, BSc MSc
University of Applied Sciences FH JOANNEUM
Public health scientist and head of the interdisciplinary Health Perception Laboratory for sensory and health, at FH JOANNEUM, University of Applied Sciences in Austria.
She is currently involved in the Shift2Health project.
Dr. Umberto Restelli
Dr. Restelli is a collaborator of i2Grow, an Italian company committed to empowering Europe’s most promising startups and innovative enterprises. i2Grow supports ventures at every stage, from bootstrapping and seed funding to scaling, helping them develop sustainable, high-impact solutions that tackle today’s challenges . He holds a PhD in Integrated Business Management and has 20 years of experience in health technology assessment and health economics.
i2Grow is a partner in the BIO-STREAMS project, contributing to the advancement of digital health innovation through the development of digital strategies informed by health economic models to support policymakers.
Presentation title: BIO-STREAMS health economics estimator tool for obesity prevention programmes
Prof. Rocco Barazzoni
Rocco Barazzoni is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at Trieste University Hospital, where he also serves as Director of the Postgraduate School of Sports Medicine and a consultant in Internal Medicine. His career includes prestigious international experience, having been an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Research Fellow at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.
Prof Barazzoni is a leading authority in obesity and metabolism, has served as President of the Italian Obesity Society (SIO) from 2023 to 2025 and is currently Co-Chair of the ESPEN Special Interest Group on Obesity. He previously held the esteemed role of Chairman of the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) from 2018 to 2024.
His research expertise lies in nutritional and hormonal regulation of energy metabolism, focusing on obesity, metabolic disorders, and malnutrition in both clinical and experimental settings.
