Keynote Speaker

Jim Johnson is a Professor in the Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences and the Department of Surgery at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada. He is Associate Director of Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute at UBC. A leader in the fundamental biology of pancreatic islets, insulin action, diabetes and their connections to co-morbidities, Professor Johnson is the author of >179 peer-reviewed articles since starting in 2000. His laboratory at the UBC Life Sciences Institute focuses on understanding the causes of type 1 and type 2 diabetes at a molecular level. Professor Johnson and his team study the role of the insulin-secreting pancreatic beta-cell in type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and other rare forms of diabetes using state-of-the-art techniques including molecular imaging, molecular biology and in vivo studies. His group also has research programs that investigate the role of insulin in insulin resistance, obesity, cancer, and accelerated aging. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the journal Islets and co-founder of the Institute for Personalized Therapeutic Nutrition.