Welcome to your new President-Elect and Executive Committee members (2023)
Your new President-Elect and two Executive Committee members were elected by an online vote earlier this year and they officially take office at the Annual General Meeting on 16 May 2023.
Wiebke Arlt, President-Elect
Wiebke Arlt is the Director of the Medical Research Council London Institute of Medical Sciences (MRC LMS) as well as Professor of Transdisciplinary Medicine at Imperial College, London, UK. She previously worked at the University of Birmingham, UK, as MRC Senior Clinical Fellow and William Withering Chair of Medicine, and as founding Director (2015-2022) of the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research (IMSR). Wiebke leads a multi-disciplinary research group investigating steroid metabolism and action in health and disease. As a clinician, she cares for patients with adrenal and reproductive disorders, and established clinical endocrine services of excellence recognised at the European level (ENSAT, ENDO-ERN).
Wiebke grew up in Cologne, Germany, where she studied Medicine, Philosophy and Psychology and undertook an academic MD degree in Endocrinology. From 1990-1993, she trained in Neurology and Psychiatry and qualified as psychoanalytical psychotherapist. From 1994-1998, she undertook clinical and academic training in Endocrinology & Diabetes and Internal Medicine at the University of Würzburg. With a DFG Postdoctoral Fellowship, she trained in Molecular Endocrinology at the University of California at San Francisco (1998-2001). In 2001, she was awarded a DFG Heisenberg Senior Fellowship, which took her to Birmingham, which she subsequently decided to make her home.
In her election statement, Wiebke said:
I am an endocrine clinician scientist, combining laboratory-based and clinical experimental research to discover novel disease mechanisms, diagnostic tests and therapies benefiting patients with endocrine and metabolic disorders. I have lived and worked in Germany, the US and the UK and hold dual nationality (German & British). Over the past 20 years, I have trained 42 fellows from 20 countries across the globe, including multiple Marie-Curie Fellows. I am a member of the European Society of Endocrinology since its creation (2006) and have served on its Executive Committee, ESE-EYES, International Liaison, Nominations, Publications, and Science Committees. I was the Chair of the European Congress of Endocrinology 2015 and serve as Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Endocrinology, achieving its highest impact factor ever (2021) as well as Editorial Board gender parity (2022). I believe that international and interdisciplinary collaborations are key for the future of endocrine research and care, requiring clinicians and scientists of all backgrounds to come together, a key goal for my ESE Presidency. I will further enhance ESE’s support for career development, equity and inclusion, as I believe that the diversity of the next generation of endocrinologists, including and beyond gender and nationality, will define our success.
Eleanor Davies, Chair of the ESE Science Committee
I am Professor of Molecular Endocrinology in the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health at the University of Glasgow. I graduated from the University of Glasgow with a BSc (Hons) Biochemistry and then from the University of Edinburgh with a PhD. After a post-doctoral position in Newcastle and a 3-year fellowship in INSERM U36 Paris, I returned to Glasgow. Currently, I lead a translational research group investigating the role of aldosterone in cardiovascular disease, in particular hypertension and stroke. My studies integrate molecular biology, cell biology and human clinical studies and they have been funded by grants from the EU, MRC, BHF and CSO. Currently, we are investigating the utility of circulating OMIC biomarkers including miRNAs in the diagnosis of Endocrine Hypertension (ENSAT-HT). In addition, I am director of our Cardiovascular Sciences MSc programme and our British Heart Foundation PhD training programme. I am a reviewer for multiple national and international funding organisations and journals and for the last 5 years I have also chaired the Scottish Government’s CSO Translational Science grants committee.
In her election statement, Eleanor said:
I have extensive experience within the Endocrine community through my research and through my involvement in a number of learned societies including SFE, ESE and The Endocrine Society. I have served on the SFE Science, nominations, publications and programme organising committees. From 2018-21, I was general secretary of the SFE and during that time, with other members of council helped navigate the Society through the difficulties of the pandemic, I introduced a number of new awards schemes aimed at ECRs and teachers, helped develop a leadership programme, introduced an innovative video series, developed a new exchange scheme and led a strategy group aimed at attracting and retaining our basic scientists. If elected to the ESE committee, I would welcome the opportunity to contribute to shaping the future direction of the Society and ensuring that it is in a strong position to best serve its membership and other stakeholders. I would like to develop new ways to promote Endocrinology as a discipline, attract new scientists, clinicians and allied professionals into the subject, support their career development and encourage research collaboration. Key to this, is ensuring that we continue to highlight endocrinology and the work we do through our education systems and through public engagement.
Sebastian Neggers, Chair of the ESE Rare Disease Committee
Since 2007, he is a consultant in Medicine and Endocrinology at the Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam (Netherlands), where he also completed his Doctoral thesis titled “New insights into the medical treatment of acromegaly” in 2011. Research: long-term effects of treatment of childhood cancer on endocrine and metabolic parameters in adulthood. Secondly, treatment of pituitary diseases in particular; the medical treatment of acromegaly, familial pituitary disease and pituitary tumours. The third area of interest is metabolic disease, like diabetes and obesity, focusing on acylated and non-acylated ghrelin.
He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, including multiple book chapters and presented his research at numerous conferences, including the ECE, ENDO, American Society of Hematology and SIOP. He is currently a board member of Dutch Childhood Oncology Group late effects. Dr Neggers is an editor for the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and was an associate editor for Neuroendocrinology (2016-2020) and Journal of Neuroendocrinology (from 2020). In 2019, he was the Programme Organising Committee (POC) chair for the European Congress of Endocrinology 2019. He is a member of numerous societies, including the European Society of Endocrinology, the Endocrine Society, the Dutch Society for Endocrinology, the Pituitary Society, GRS and the European Neuroendocrine Association.
In 2009, Dr Neggers won the ESE Young Investigators Award.
In his election statement, Sebastian said:
The mission of the European Society of Endocrinology is to shape the future of endocrinology to improve science, knowledge and health across Europe and beyond. In the last 15 years I have been able to enjoy these opportunities created by the ESE, at congresses, courses and in the ESE network. This was a rich and very enjoyable experience. Now the time has come to help a new generation to have a similar or maybe even better experience.
As a senior consultant in endocrinology and head of the pituitary centre Rotterdam at the Erasmus MC, I have been involved in research, patient care and education. In research, I had the opportunity to collaborated with many international colleagues on pituitary diseases and late endocrine effects after childhood cancer. This has resulted in guideline developments for pituitary diseases, growth hormone treatment and late effects.
As a member of the Examination board of the Erasmus Medical faculty in Rotterdam, I developed a new master's program for Medicine; “Erasmus arts 2020”. I organised the 25th ESE Postgraduate training course in Rotterdam. Since 2010, I am the chair of an annual Postgraduate clinical endocrinology course for Dutch and Belgian fellows and endocrinologists. Furthermore, I had the privilege to organise the 19th ECE in Lyon, France, as clinical program chair.
Now I would be honoured to have the opportunity to serve the ESE as an Executive Committee member and in this way contribute to promoting and involving young scientists and endocrinologists by stimulating research and developing education. I strongly believe that we must share knowledge and create enthusiasm in young students to get them hooked to this wonderful field of research and patient care
Antoan Šojat, EYES representative to the Executive Committee (Ex-officio)
Antoan Šojat is a M.D and a PhD candidate working in the Clinic for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases in the University Clinical Centre of Serbia. His clinical and research work focuses on adrenal and reproductive endocrinology. He is also interested and involved in academic mobility and career development programs. Anotan is the Co-Chair of the ESE Young Endocrinologists and Scientists (EYES) Committee and will join the Executive Committee as an Ex-Officio member (2022-2024).
A full list of the ESE Executive Committee is here.