Dimiter Avtanski, Ph.D. is currently a Director of the Endocrine Research Laboratory at Friedman Diabetes Institute of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, Associate Professor of Medicine at Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in Hempstead, New York, and Assistant Professor at the Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine at Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York. He received his M.Sc. degree in Biology and Chemistry from Sofia University in Bulgaria and his Ph.D. from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in collaboration with Beth Israel Medical Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. Dr. Avtanski specialized at Leipzig University, Germany, and completed seven years of post-doctoral fellowships at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. His main research focuses on the connection between obesity, diabetes, and breast cancer progression.

  Dr. Leonid Poretskyis Chief, Division of Endocrinology; Associate Chairman for Research; Director of the Gerald J. Friedman Diabetes Institute; and the Founding Director, The Gerald J. Friedman Transgender Program for Health and Wellness-all in the Department of Medicine, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City.  He is also Professor of Medicine at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine and Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research.  Dr. Poretsky was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he graduated from First (Pavlov) Medical Institutesumma cum laudein 1977.  Upon immigrating to the United States in 1979 and completing medical residency, he graduated from the endocrinology fellowship at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital (now Beth Israel/Deaconess Medical Center) and Harvard Medical School.  He has authored over 150 publications and is the editor of a 1,000 page textbook entitled "Principles of Diabetes Mellitus", currently in its 3rd edition.  He is also the editor of "Contemporary Endocrinology" and co-editor of "Transgender Medicine:  A Multidisciplinary Approach," all published by Springer Publishing, Inc.  His research interests include the relationship between energy metabolism and reproduction, endocrinological aspects of HIV-infection, and clinical studies in diabetes.  His research projects have been supported over the years by philanthropy, industry and government grants, including the grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the New York State Department of Health.  He has served on the NIH grant review committees and on the editorial boards of theJournal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolismand other journals.