Daniela Cîrnațu, MD, PhD, Western University “Vasile Goldiş”, Arad (Romania)
She graduated from UMF Victor Babeș in Timișoara (1999). She is a primary health care physician from 2011, doctor of medicine (2012) with a doctoral thesis in the field of medicine – the topic “Research on the food safety of the use of genetically modified organisms in the feed of broilers”, at the University of West Vasile Goldiș in Arad, specialization in food safety at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest in 2008. Currently, she is the head of the Hygiene discipline at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of West Vasile Goldiș in Arad. Dr. Cîrnațu is also the resident coordinator for the “Hygiene” specialization in the Arad University Center. Since 2020, she has been a primary care physician at the National Institute of Public Health – Timișoara Regional Public Health Center. After 18 years of professional experience in the field of public health and food safety (of which 7 years in the Arad Veterinary Sanitary and Food Safety Directorate, and 8 years in the Arad Public Health Directorate) she is particularly focused on food supplements and foods with added vitamins and minerals. Dr. Cîrnațu is currently a member of the Hygiene Consultative Commission of the Ministry of Health and the secretary of the Hygiene Commission of the Romanian College of Physicians.
Mihai Covaşă, PhD. Professor of Physyology, College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, Western University of Health Sciences (Pomona, California). Dean of The School of Medicine and Biological Sciences, Ștefan cel Mare University (Suceava, Romania). Vicepresident of The Society for Nutritional Sciences (Romania)
Specialist in Nutrition and Gastrointestinal Physiology and doctor in Physiology and Nutrition, he completed his master’s and doctorate courses at the University of Leeds in the UK.
Dr. Mihai Covaşă attended postdoctoral courses in neuroscience at Washington State University, USA. He worked as a professor and researcher at Washington State University and Pennsylvania State University. He was Director of Research at the Division of Human Nutrition, Institute of Microbiology Micalis, INRA, Paris and Head of the Laboratory of Metagenomics and Physiology. He was PhD supervisor and taught at Sorbonne University and AgroParisTech Paris, France.
He is the author of more than 100 scientific papers in high-impact international journals, more than 150 conference presentations, grant reviewer for research funding agencies in several countries, and editor and reviewer for numerous scientific journals.
He founded the metagenomics laboratory within the Ștefan cel Mare University in Suceava, and his research activity is mainly based on the role of the brain-digestive system-intestinal microbiota axis in eating behavior with implications in obesity and diabetes. He coordinated many research projects, including the role of the intestinal microbiota in the control of type 2 diabetes and the identification of circulating strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Romania.
Currently, he is a professor and dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Biological Sciences, from the “Ștefan cel Mare” University in Suceava, as well as a professor of physiology at the Faculty of Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California.
Dr. Covaşă is the Vicepresident of The Society for Nutritional Sciences (Romania).
Mihai Niculescu, MD, PhD, Advanced Nutrigenomics (U.S.A.). President of The Society for Nutritional Sciences (Romania)
Dr. Mihai Niculescu is an expert in nutrigenetics and nutritional epigenetics. Between 2008 and 2015, having his own laboratory at the Nutrition Research Institute (UNC Chapel Hill), his scientific activity focused on the relationship between nutrients and the genetic and epigenetic terrain, as well as the impact that nutrition has on epigenetic inheritance (epigenetic transgenerational inheritance). In 2015 Dr. Niculescu founded the company Advanced Nutrigenomics. In 2016, he became director of the NUTRIGEN project within UMF Timișoara, financed with 2 million euros from the European Union, through the Romanian government.
His current research activity is focused on the role of genetic variations in nutrition, within the Romanian population, and in the implementation of precision nutrition.
He is the current president of The Society for Nutritional Sciences (Romania).
Nicoleta Tupiță, MS, RD, Nestlé (Romania)
She graduated in “Nutrition and Dietetics” at UMF Cluj-Napoca, and obtained her master’s degree in “Sports Nutrition” at the University of Valencia. SHe subsequently followed several specialization courses in sports nutrition and in communication. She believes that nutritional education can save lives and has coordinated several initiatives in the field in Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia. With over 10 years of experience in nutrition, Nicoleta Tupiță is the co-author of three nutrition books. Currently, she is the “Nutrition and Internal Communication” manager within Nestlé Romania, Bulgaria and the Adriatic Countries, where she is responsible for the internal coordination of two school nutrition projects (in partnership with the founding NGOs) that have reached over 400,000 children in Romania. Nicoleta also coordinated the development and launch of NutriPortia and VeggiePortia in 4 countries (Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Croatia), two guidelines for balanced family meals that in Romania alone reached more than 2 million parents through communication campaigns.
George Vrapcea, MS, RD. The “George Emil Palade” University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology in Târgu Mureș (Romania)
George Vrapcea is a licensed dietitian recently appointed in a faculty position at the “George Emil Palade” University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology in Târgu Mureș. He graduated from the “Nutrition and Dietetics” undergraduate program, the “Clinical and Community Nutrition” master’s degree and the “Medico-Pharmaceutical Advanced Scientific Research” master’s degree in Târgu Mureș. He has experience in web development and design, skills that have been the basis for creating an online platform used by dietitians. During the years of study, he presented and published many scientific works in the field of nutrition, obtaining the 1st prize at the International Congress for Students, Young Doctors and Pharmacists “Marisiensis” in 2022 and the 3rd prize in 2023.
Dan Vodnar, MS, PhD. President of the Senate and professor, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca (Romania)
Dan Vodnar has been mostly involved within the fields of fermentation, immobilization of different strains using methods which are able to provide information about strains metabolites into different conditions. The research activity conducted so far resulted in the publication of a total of 161 scientific articles in representative ISI journals in the field, with a Hirsh index of 26 according to the web of science (approx. 2100 citations). More, the project leader received international recognition being awarded in 2014 with “Danubius Young Scientist Award” Vienna, Austria, for his international visibility and scientific achievements. In 2015 Dan Vodnar has been selected as semifinalist at the European Social Innovation Competition (30 semifinalists from 1408 application across Europe). Dan Vodnar is experienced in managing National projects (principal investigator of 4 innovation projects PNII and one Partnership Project PNII) and two academic grants (fermentative bioconversion, microencapsulation), one international project (JPI), scientific manager of the POC project. Dan Vodnar (http://danvodnar.objectis.net/) is the main author of 5 patents awarded with 7 Gold Medals and one bronze Medal at International Exposition of Inventors Proinvent 2013-2016. In 2014 he has been nominated in Top 100 “Romanians peoples”- Foreign Policy România for research activities. In 2015 he was awarded Technology and Innovation Award, by Aspen Institute Romania and also awarded the excellence diploma at “Young Researchers in Science and Technology competition. Professor Vodnar was awarded Gold Medal at the International Exhibition of Invention, Geneva, in 2017. In 2018, professor Dan Vodnar was nominated as one of the “Ten Outstanding Young Persons” from Romania.
More speakers will be announced soon.