P. Toby Coates MD PhD is the Director of Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Professor of Medicine at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He is a translational clinician scientist and transplant nephrologist. After his PhD in transplant immunology at the University of Adelaide, he undertook post-doctoral fellowship at the Thomas E. Starzl Institute 2001-2003 in Pittsburgh before returning to Australia. He was a foundation member of the Australian Islet Consortium in 2006. In 2017 his team undertook Australia’s first paediatric total pancreatectomy and islet auto transplant (TP-IAT) for Hereditary Pancreatitis in Adelaide. As an active clinician interested in beta cell replacement for diabetes he started Australia’s 3rd whole pancreas transplantation program (steroid free) in 2018. His research interests are the experimental transplantation, immunobiology type-1 diabetes, immunogenetics, spatial transcriptomics of the pancreas and generation of pancreatic organoids. He founded Beta Cell Technologies for the development of alternative sites for islet cell transplantation and is a member of the JDRF Encapsulation consortium. He is the principal investigator in the HEPATA study (Hereditary Pancreatitis and Islet Auto Transplantation Trials in Australia). His clinical transplantation and basic research have been continuously funded by JDRF since 2006.

Prof. Fu is currently the Director, Institute of Organ Transplant, Department of Kidney Transplantation at The Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen and faculty at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzen. She is an accomplished kidney and pancreas transplant surgeon, having performed more than 250 SPK. She trained at the Nankai University in Tianjin and then at Johns Hopkins University, where she conducted cutting-edge research in tolerance with Robert Montgomery. She has been a leader in SPK for Type 2 diabetics in China and has published this in western journals. She has also worked to develop desensitization protocols as well as immune monitoring in kidney and pancreas transplants. She is a member of the Pancreatic and Intestinal Studies Group of the Organ Transplantation Branch of the Chinese Medical Association

Shohta Kodama, MD, PhD belongs to Asia Islet and Pancreas Transplantation Association (APITA), JIPA and IPITA. Dr. Kodama manages one of islet center as the board member, the committee chiefs of IPITA and the Japan society for transplantation. Dr. Kodama serves the chief of practitioner committee for islet transplantation in IPITA. Furthermore, the IPITA members have promoted allo-islet transplantation to be covered by the national health insurance in Japan. As the next assignment, auto-islet transplantation is now under multiple center trails to be approved by the national health insurance. Dr. Kodama and IPITA colleagues have pioneered many islet research fields including regenerative medicine, stem cell therapies and islet xenotransplantation since 2000, the islet memorial year

Natasha Rogers is a Senior Staff Specialist at Westmead Hospital, Sydney, Australia, where she is Head of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation and Director of the Clinical Islet Transplant Program. She is also Professor of Nephrology and Transplantation Medicine at the University of Sydney, and a NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellow. Natasha is Co-Director of the Centre for Transplant and Renal Research at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research. She leads the Kidney Injury Group, a research laboratory that spans the breadth of discovery, translational and clinical science in transplantation, focusing on mechanisms driving cellular injury regulated by matrix protein signalling. Her team performed the first machine perfusion-treated kidney transplant in Australia in 2021. Professor Rogers’ research has attracted >$15M in fellowships and grants from the American Heart Association, NHMRC, MRFF, National Heart Foundation and Diabetes Australia. She is currently Chair of the Basic Science Committee of The Transplantation Society, Chair of the national (Australia & NewZealand) Pancreas and Islet Advisory Committee, and Deputy Editor for Transplantation. Natasha is committed to gender equity and supporting early-and-mid career researchers. Her career path is curious given that she originally wanted to be a concert pianist many years ago.

Pablo Daniel Uva, MD graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He completed his clinical fellowship in organ transplantation at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. Dr Uva is the Chief of the Department of Pancreas Transplantation at the Instituto de Trasplantes y Alta Complejidad (ITAC – Nephrology) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a Board Member of the local transplant society (Sociedad Argentina de Trasplantes - SAT) and the President of the regional society, the Latin American Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association (LAPITA). He is an Associate Editor of the journal Transplant International since 2021. His research on pancreas biopsies has produced several peer-reviewed manuscripts and he has participated in the First Pancreas Transplant Consensus (Pisa, 2019) and in the Banff Classification for Pancreas Biopsies (Banff 2022 Report). In addition, Dr Uva has been actively involved in education creating and co-directing the IPITA Curricula on Pancreas and Islet Transplantation.

Dr. Aart van Apeldoorn is a leading researcher and innovator in the field of beta cell replacement strategies for type 1 diabetes. As an Assistant Professor and principal investigator at the MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine at Maastricht University, he has built a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary research program that bridges bioengineering, biomaterials science, and regenerative medicine. His Islet Research group focuses on advancing innovative islet transplantation strategies, with a particular emphasis on extrahepatic islet delivery devices. His contributions to the field are evidenced by over 100 publications, more than 3,200 citations, several patents, and leadership roles in transformative initiatives such as the diabetes moonshot program within the dutch RegMed XB consortium. He has secured major research funding from JDRF, the Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation, and the DON Foundation, underscoring his ability to drive impactful, internationally recognized research. As a key partner in RegMed XB’s type 1 diabetes moonshot program, his group is aiming to advance a proprietary beta cell delivery device to clinical trials. An advocate for collaboration and knowledge exchange, Dr. van Apeldoorn has fostered numerous national and international partnerships and actively engages with the scientific community as a speaker and thought leader and outreach to patients and the general public for type 1 diabetes research

Francois Pattou (58y) is professor of Surgery and head of General and Endocrine Surgery at University of Lille (France). He is also leading a multidisciplinary research team (Inserm U1190 -Translational Research on Diabetes) developing innovative diabetes therapies, namely beta cell replacement in T1D and metabolic surgery in T2D.

The recipient of multiple research grants, FP published more than 300 articles (44,000 citations, Google h-Index 100) and mentored 8 PhD. His main contributions to the field include 1) suggesting the major role of primary graft function for metabolic control and graft survival after islet transplantation (Diabetes Care 2009, PMID-19638525), 2) Leveraging intramuscular autotransplantation for direct imaging of functioning human islets with GLP1r tracer New Engl J Med 2010 PMID-20860517) 3) unveiling the role of SGLT2 in human pancreatic alpha cells (Nature Medicine 2015 PMID-25894829), 4) prospective evaluation 10-y outcome of islet allotransplantation (Diabetes Care 2019, PMID-31615852 ), 5) demonstrating the linear and independent association between primary graft function and long term outcomes of islet transplantation in CITR (Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol 2023, PMID-37105208), 6) demonstrating the impact of islet transplantation on overall survival in kidney transplantation recipients (Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol 2024, PMID-39250921). FP became a member of IPITA in Lyon 1991, and has participated in every meeting since then.

Emily Tubbs is a researcher on pancreatic organoids for type 1 diabetes, in BIOMICS Laboratory at CEA Grenoble, France. She obtained her PhD in 2014 from University Lyon 1 France), on the importance of intracellular mitochondria-associated endoplasmic reticulum membranes in type 2 diabetes. She performed her post-doctoral research at the Clinical Research Center of Malmö (Sweden), on identifying new therapeutics targets and drug repositioning for the treatment of diabetes. Then, she joined the University Grenoble Alpes (France), particularly on the European project BIOCAPAN to develop a bio-artificial pancreas based on the co-encapsulation of pancreatic islets and MSCs. She joined BIOMICS in 2021 as a researcher, on pancreatic islet organoids called Langerhanoids towards personalized medicine for type 1 diabetes.

Professor Steve White is a Consultant Liver and Pancreas Surgeon at the Freeman Hospital and Newcastle University. His surgical training included rotations in Leicester where he has had an intensive training in total pancreatectomy and islet auto-transplantation, working under the supervision of Prof. Ashley Dennison, a world leader in the field.

After his move to Newcastle, Prof. White has been instrumental in developing his new department into one of the leading pancreas and islet of Langerhans transplant centers in the UK. His experience in pancreas transplantation and islet auto- and allo-transplantation, as well as his basic research background in experimental islet transplantation make him a unique candidate for an IPITA councilor position, given his very broad field of expertise.

Prof. White has also been extremely active in advocacy and education work to promote the field of beta-cell replacement at learned society levels, having already served as board member and chair of EPITA, the pancreas/islet section of ESOT.

Wanxing Cui, Director of the Cell Therapy Manufacturing Facility at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, has dedicated 27 years to advancing pancreatic islet transplantation research. His pioneering work spans rodent islets, non-human primate studies, and human clinical trials, resulting in over 70 peer-reviewed publications.

Currently serving on the IPITA Advocacy Committee since July 2024, Dr. Cui actively shapes the future of pancreas and islet transplantation through policy development and advocacy initiatives. Under his leadership, the FDA-registered facility supports both the Human Pancreatic Islet Transplant Program and Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy Program. His expertise in quality standards is demonstrated through his roles as FACT inspector, ensuring excellence in cellular therapy practices, and AABB assessor, advancing blood and biotherapies standards. Dr. Cui actively contributes to leading industry organizations through committee service, including the FACT Cell Therapy Accreditation Committee, ISCT Laboratory Practice Committee, and AABB Cell Therapy Section Coordinating Committee. His comprehensive understanding of cell therapy manufacturing, quality control, and regulatory compliance has established him as a leading authority in transplantation medicine.

Jonathan A. Fridell, MD is currently a full professor of surgery and Chief, Abdominal Transplant Surgery at Indiana University. He completed his Transplant training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 2002, following which he joined the faculty at IU. He has directed the pancreas transplant program since 2005. He has developed an international reputation for his contributions to the field of Pancreas transplantation, and was cited as the “top rated expert in Pancreas transplantation in the world 2013-2023” by Expertise in Pancreas Transplantation: worldwide website. He served two terms as the chair of the Pancreas transplant committee for UNOS/OPTN. He is an associates and deputy editor for AJT and clinical transplantation respectively and the IPITA Deputy editor for Transplant Direct. He has served on the IPITA education committee, and is the founding and current chair of the IPITA Pancreas transplant interest group. He has also chaired several sub groups of the ASTKPCOP and was the founding organizer for the ASTS hands-on workshop on Pancreas retrieval and back bench.