Dr. Immele Meeusen is a first-year resident in the field of Internal Medicine. After graduating in July 2024, she first started her residency in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Although the (patho)physiological changes in pregnant women intrigued her, she missed the more internal diagnostic approach in this specialty. Therefore, she decided to leave her specialization and pursue a residency position in Internal Medicine. After meeting her internship mentor, Dr. Marcel Twickler, it became clear that she could still have a meaningful impact on pregnant women, for instance through research in the field of gestational diabetes mellitus. In December 2025, she was selected to start her residency training in Internal Medicine. She aims to combine clinical care with research on metabolic disorders in pregnancy within the field of Internal Medicine.

Elisa Llurba is Principal Investigator of the Perinatal and Women’s Medicine Research Group at the Sant Pau Research Institute (Barcelona), created in 2017. She coordinates the Spanish RICORS network on primary care interventions to prevent maternal and childhood chronic diseases of perinatal origin and leads a consolidated research group recognized by AGAUR. Her research focuses on pregnancy complications and long-term cardiovascular risk. She has led multiple nationally and internationally funded projects. She is Full Professor of Medicine at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, has supervised 12 PhD theses, and has published over 150 scientific articles with more than 6,400 citations.

Leonilde Bonfrate, MD, PhD, is Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at San Raffaele Roma University, Italy. She is a board-certified specialist in Internal Medicine with established expertise in obesity and metabolic diseases. Prof. Bonfrate is Expert Consultant at the Obesity and Clinical Nutrition Center of IRCCS Saverio de Bellis (Italy), a national referral institute for gastroenterology and metabolic diseases. Her clinical and research activities focus on obesity, metabolic syndrome, metabolic-associated fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes, and clinical nutrition, with particular emphasis on the brain–gut–liver axis and gut microbiota in metabolic dysfunction. She is widely recognized as an opinion leader in obesity and metabolic disorders. She is author and co-author of 90 peer-reviewed publications in international high-impact journals, with 4,523 citations. Prof. Bonfrate serves as Councillor of the European Society of Clinical Investigation (ESCI), Section Editor of the European Journal of Clinical Investigation, and President of the ESCI Journal Foundation. She is an active member of numerous national and international scientific societies and working groups in the fields of internal medicine, obesity, metabolic diseases, and clinical investigation. She regularly participates in major European and international congresses and has delivered numerous invited lectures in her areas of expertise.