Doug Melton is the Xander University Professor at Harvard, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Co-Chair of the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. He is a Scientific Founder of Semma Therapeutics and was a Founder of Gilead Sciences and Curis

Doug is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a recipient the Lounsberry Medal from the National Academy of Sciences and the Joslin Medal. In recognition of his stem cell research and advocacy, he was chosen as the Scientific American Policy Leader of the Year in 2007 and has twice been named as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People.

Doug received a B.S. in biology from the University of Illinois and attended Cambridge University as a Marshall Scholar, where he earned a B.A. in History and Philosophy of Science. He earned a Ph.D., under Sir John Gurdon, in Molecular Biology at Trinity College, Cambridge University and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.

Chantal Mathieu is Professor of Medicine at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. She serves as the Chair of Endocrinology at the University Hospital Gasthuisberg Leuven, Senior Vice President of EASD, and Chair of Postgraduate Education at EASD.

Chantal’s clinical areas of interest include the organization of diabetes care. She is involved in several clinical trials in type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Her research is focused on the prevention of T1D, effects of vitamin D on the immune system and diabetes, and functioning of the insulin-producing beta cell. Chantal has authored or co-authored more than 350 peer-reviewed publications in international journals. In 2013, she received the prestigious InBev-Baillet Latour Prize for Clinical Research for her pioneering research on the pathogenesis of T1D. Presently, she coordinates the INNODIA project on prevention and intervention in T1D in Europe.

Chantal received her M.D. and Ph.D. at the University of Leuven, where she subsequently completed training in internal medicine and endocrinology.