Speaker information

Host – Dr Bijal Patel, Imperial College London

Dr Bijal Patel is a clinical research fellow undertaking her PhD at Imperial College London. Her passion lies in improving the care of patients with reproductive endocrine disorders. During her BSc at St George’s University of London, she investigated the changes in adipose tissue aromatase expression during pregnancy and successfully published her findings in ‘Fertility and Sterility’. As a specialist registrar in Diabetes and Endocrinology, she was awarded the ‘Imperial Health Charity Fellowship’ and had the opportunity to work with Professor Dhillo’s team at Imperial College London, where she evaluated the use of kisspeptin as a biomarker of pregnancy complications and studied Kisspeptin’s effects on sexual desire disorders. Having been recently awarded the MRC clinical training fellowship, she is currently conducting research into improving the diagnosis of women presenting with menstrual disturbance.

Dr Sofia Llahana, City, University of London

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sllahana

As an NIHR Post-doctoral Clinical Academic, Consultant Nurse, and Tech Innovation Fellow, Dr Sofia Llahana's expertise spans nursing, behavioural science, and user experience (UX) research, enriched by a broad experience across clinical, academic, and commercial fields. She pioneered the UK's first Consultant Nurse role in Endocrinology, blending clinical expertise, innovation, leadership, and a substantial record of impactful research and grants to enhance patient-centred care.

Internationally acclaimed, she founded and chaired the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE) Nurse Committee and was awarded the 2021 ESE Special Recognition Award for her significant contribution to endocrinology nursing in Europe, making her the first endocrine nurse worldwide to have received this prestigious award. In 2019, she was also named by the ESE one of the five most influential women in Endocrinology in Europe, further distinguished by the 2022 Nikki Kieffer Endocrine Nurse Medal from the Society for Endocrinology, an accolade featured in their bicentennial Milestones in Endocrinology. Her editorial leadership of “Advanced Practice in Endocrinology Nursing”, a textbook instrumental to global training curriculums for endocrine nurses with over 140K downloads, underscores my impact in the field. She maintains active affiliations with numerous professional and patient advocacy organisations worldwide. 

Professor Lora Heisler, University of Aberdeen

Professor Lora Heisler is Chair in Human Nutrition and Director of Research of the Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen, Scotland.  Professor Heisler began her independent research group at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center & Harvard Medical School and then relocated to the University of Cambridge, UK where she was a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow. Her group moved to the Rowett Institute in 2013.  Professor Heisler’s career contributions to obesity and diabetes research were acknowledged by Outstanding Scientific Achievements Awards from both the Obesity Society and American Diabetes Association, and she is frequently invited to deliver Keynote addresses at scientific conferences.  In 2016, she was elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh.  Professor Heisler’s research focuses on the brain circuits underlying appetite, physical activity, body weight and glucose homeostasis in an effort to identify new targets amenable for obesity and type 2 diabetes treatment.  Twitter: @LoraHeisler 

Dr Shivani Misra FRCP, PhD

Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow & Senior Clinical Lecturer in Diabetes at Imperial College London

Honorary Consultant Physician in Metabolic Medicine at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Dr Misra is a clinician scientist leading a portfolio of studies investigating early-onset type 2 diabetes, defined as a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in childhood or early-adulthood (<40 years), with a specific interest in the presentation across ethnic groups.

In 2021, she was awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Career Development Fellowship for 5 years to study the genetics and epidemiology of early-onset type 2 diabetes in different ethnic groups and is co-investigator on an NIHR programme grant that studies the optimal treatment of early-onset type 2 diabetes in adults with the presentation.

Dr Misra is co-chair of the NIDDK working group on heterogeneity of type 2 diabetes & is lead clinical advisor to the English National Diabetes Audit of early-onset type 2 diabetes.

Professor Niamh Martin, Imperial College London

Niamh Martin is a Professor of Endocrinology at Imperial College London and a consultant at Charing Cross Hospital, London. Her clinical and research interests include pituitary disease, and she is Chair of the Imperial Pituitary Multidisciplinary Service. Niamh is the Chair of the Society for Endocrinology Public Engagement Committee and is part of the You and Your Hormones editorial board.