Paola Fioretto is Professor in Medicine at the University of Padova, Italy. She started her research on renal physiology in diabetes and, during her PostDoc Research Fellowship at the University of Minnesota, she devoted her interest to renal structure and ultrastructure in diabetes. Among her contributions to the understanding of diabetic kidney disease, the description of the heterogeneity in the structural lesions underlying renal dysfunction in type 2 diabetes, and of reversal of established diabetic glomerulopathy lesions in patients with type 1 diabetes after pancreas transplantation. Her research interest includes the effects of glucose lowering therapies on the development and progression of diabetic kidney disease. She has received several awards, including the Albert Renold award from the EASD (European Association for the Study of Diabetes), a Career Development Award from JDFI, the Morgagni Joung Investigator Award, the Novartis Joung Investigator, the Italian Society of Diabetology Award, the Golgi Prize from the EASD. She has been Vice President of the EASD (2014-2017), President of the European Diabetic Nephropathy Study Group of the EASD (2005-2007). She has published over 180 papers and 30 book chapters.

ohumil Seifert started his academic career and international activities after 20 years of serving full time as a GP in the community. He is still practising on a half timetable in Prague. He has been teaching family medicine in the university since 2003. He completed his doctoral studies in Preventive Medicine in 2007. In 2009 he was appointed as an associated professor at Charles University and Head of the Department of General Practice. Bohumil Seifert’s main research interest has been in the cancer and cardiometabolic prevention in primary care. He has published several articles in relevant journals, contributed to books and presented data on this topic at international meetings (UEGW, WONCA). Although diabetes is not his research priority he sees patients with type 2 diabetes regularly during follow up and have patients with chronic kidney disease. He participated in the creation of guidelines for general practitioners in the Czech Republic He has been serving since 2002 as the Scientific Secretary of the Czech Society of General Practice and has been the Czech representative in the WONCA World and European Council since 2004. He has been working for many years in different international networks and work groups under WHO and WONCA Europe. He has chaired several international meetings, particularly the WONCA World Conference 2013 and the WONCA Europe conference in 2017. He was awarded by WONCA Fellowship  in October 2018 during World WONCA Conference in Seoul for  a service to WONCA and particularly for his work in WONCA World Conference (WWC) Planning Committee.