Francesca Annan, BSc (Hons), MSc, RD, SP

I qualified as a dietitian in Cardiff in 1990, and currently work at University College Hospital London, where I co-lead the diabetes service for children and young people (0-19years). I am also part of the London region clinical leadership team for CYP diabetes. I received a British Dietetic Assoication Fellowship in 2018 . I have an MSc in Sport & Exercise Nutrition and completed my PG Cert in non-medical prescribing in 2019. I am a member of of the International Society for Paediatric and Adolesecent Diabetes (ISPAD), and have been on both advisory council and Science School for health care professionals faculty. I am the lead author of the 2022 ISPAD nutrition guideline chapter writing group.

My interest in exercise and diabetes stemmed from my own experiences as a competitive athlete (100m and 200m). I run a weekly exercise and diabetes management clinic for young people to offer support and guidance in both diabetes management and sports nutrition.

Nidia Rodriguez-Sanchez, PhD

Nidia Rodriguez-Sanchez, PhD has spent her career in the field of sports nutrition and physiology. She earned her BSc in Dietetics / Clinical Nutrition and later pursued postgraduate studies in Anthropometry and Nutrition applied to Sports, which gave her a better understanding of the unique nutritional needs of athletes and physically active individuals.

Dr Rodriguez-Sanchez has worked as a sports dietitian for a Mexican professional football team and as a nutrition advisor for the Gatorade Sports Science Institute Mexico. She also holds an IOC Diploma in Sports Nutrition, and she is an ISAK Level 3 Instructor.

Dr Rodriguez-Sanchez holds a PhD in Hydration Physiology and has completed post-doctoral research in the field. Part of her research was the development of the beverage hydration index.

Currently, she is a Physiology and Nutrition Lecturer at the University of Stirling, where she also serves as the MSc Sport Nutrition Programme Director.

In addition, Nidia is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), a Graduate member of the Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register (SENr), and a member of the Physiological Society (PhySoc). She is also the Academic Director of the Mexican Sports Nutrition Federation. She also delivers consultancy in sports nutrition and body composition in different professional football clubs.

Dr. Oliver Witard

Dr. Oliver Witard is a Senior Lecturer in Exercise Metabolism and Nutrition in the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine. His multi-disciplinary research spans two research groups within King’s: (i) Muscle: Form and Function in the Centre for Human & Applied Physiological Sciences, and (ii) Diet and Cardiometabolic Health in the Department of Nutrition. He is also a Deputy Programme Director for the undergraduate programme in Sport and Exercise Medical Sciences.

He has a BSc (First class, Hons) in Sport and Exercise Science, MSc in Exercise Physiology and PhD entitled ‘Response of Muscle Protein Turnover to Exercise and Nutrition’ supervised by Professors Kevin Tipton and Asker Jeukendrup at The University of Birmingham. His post-doctoral work (University of Birmingham) was funded by GlaxoSmithKline and investigated ‘The Maximal Effective Dose of Whey Protein for Stimulating Muscle Protein Synthesis in Young Men’. He was a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at The University of Stirling before joining King’s in 2019.

Dr. Witard is a board member of The Nutrition Society and an elected member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland. He helped to develop the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) consensus statement 2019 on Nutrition for Athletes. In 2011, he was the recipient of the Young Investigator of the Year (First prize) at the European College of Sports Sciences (ECSS) and was nominated for the Rank Prize in Sport Nutrition.

Prof. Stuart Gray

Stuart graduated from the University of Glasgow with a BSc in Physiology and Sports Science and subsequently completed a PhD in Exercise Physiology from the University of Strathclyde. After post-doctoral positions at Strathclyde and Loughborough Stuart was appointed to Lectureship at the University of Aberdeen. In 2015 he took up a position in the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic at the University of Glasgow where he is now Professor of Muscle and Metabolic Health. He has wide ranging research interests which have been funded by industry, research councils (MRC and BBSRC) and charities (e.g. BHF, Dunhill Medical Trust and Versus Arthritis) with over 150 publications. Current research focusses on nutritional strategies to counteract the age-related decline in muscle mass and function and to improve exercise performance in athletic populations, with a particular interest in omega-3 fatty acids. He is also interested in optimising muscle strengthening exercise interventions for a broad range of populations. He is also director of the MSc in Sport and Exercise Science and Medicine at the University of Glasgow.