Transforming Diabetes Care: UCL Research Innovations and Discoveries

Hanna Baldursdottir has recently completed her MSc in Dietetics at UCL following a BSc in Nutrition. Her interests are in weight management and empowering people to make informed, sustainable nutrition choices. She is passionate about presenting and creating engaging conversations around nutrition and health for diverse audiences. At UCL, she was the student representative for her cohort and is now a current student representative for the BDA Women’s Health & Fertility Specialist Group.

Dr Adrian Brown is an NIHR Advanced Fellow and Associate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics at UCL, where he co-leads the MSc Dietetics (Pre-registration) programme. With over 19 years of clinical experience, he is a Senior Specialist Weight Management and Bariatric Dietitian and holds a PhD in Medicine from Imperial College London. His research focuses on obesity, type 2 diabetes, bariatric surgery, weight stigma, and formula-based diets.

Prof Anastasia Kalea is Academic Programme Lead for the MSc in Obesity and Clinical Nutrition at UCL. She holds a BSc in Nutrition and Dietetics and a PhD in biomedical research. Her work spans vascular biology, diabetes, obesity, and functional foods, with postdoctoral research in the USA and roles at Columbia and Northwestern Universities. At UCL, she explores genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in cardiovascular disease and contributes to international nutrition education.

Dr. Ken (Kezhi) Li (F-BCS, F-RSPH) is Associate Professor of AI in Healthcare at UCL’s Institute of Health Informatics. His research focuses on diabetes management using AI, biomedical time series analysis, and clinical risk prediction using EHR data. He collaborates with UCLH, GOSH, and Moorfields Eye Hospital, and directs the AI-enabled Healthcare MRes programme. With over 130 publications, his team has won multiple awards, including Champion of the Blood Glucose Prediction Challenge at IJCAI.

Professor Lucy Walker leads immune regulation research at UCL, focusing on how T cell responses are controlled to prevent autoimmune diseases, especially type 1 diabetes. Her work centres on regulatory T cells (Treg) and their role in maintaining immune tolerance. She aims to translate mechanistic insights into novel immunotherapies. Professor Walker has received several prestigious awards, including the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (2015) and EFIS Lecture Award (2016).