ELMC Leadership
Dr Rob Lawson, MD
ELMC Trustee and President, founder and Chairman of The British Society of Lifestyle Medicine
Vice President Mediterranean LM Institute
Diplomate of International Board of Lifestyle Medicine
Having qualified in Medicine in 1975, Rob has gained extensive experience as a GP in Scotland. His principal interests have been primary and secondary prevention of disease and the specialty of Lifestyle Medicine. In 1991 he founded a charity providing weekly activity and support in venues around East Lothian for sufferers of long term conditions including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, lung disease and frailty. He has retired from NHS practice to concentrate on the applications of Lifestyle Medicine to healthcare. In 2016 he co-founded British Society of Lifestyle Medicine.
Dr Alicja Baska, MD
ELMC Vice President and Trustee, founding member and Executive Director of the Polish Society of Lifestyle Medicine
She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Medical University of Warsaw in 2019, where in 2016 she co-founded and served as a President of the first in Poland Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group. In 2017 she was awarded American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s Donald A. Pegg Student Leadership Award. Between 2018-2020 she was a member of the ACLM Trainees Executive Board on a position of a Global Alliance Liaison. In 2019 she co-founded Polish Society of Lifestyle Medicine, Co-author of the “Polish Lifestyle Medicine” handbook (Śliż, Mamcarz, 2018). Coordinator of the Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance social media presence. Polish national editor at Practical Health Psychology Blog. For many years she was involved with the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations IFMSA-Poland advocating for students’ involvement and education in the field of lifestyle medicine.
Dr Bernardo Barata
ELMC Trustee and Treasurer, Co-founder of the Portuguese Society of Lifestyle Medicine.
Dr Barata graduated in Medicine (NOVA Medical School) in 2012 and completed his speciality certification examination in Psychiatry in 2019. He currently works as a Psychiatrist in Portugal’s National Health System. His passion for Lifestyle Medicine fostered during his early years as a doctor when he realised the potential that lifestyle interventions could have on his patients. This led him to certify as a Lifestyle Medicine Practitioner by the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine in 2019. In the same year, he also co-founded the Portuguese Society of Lifestyle Medicine.
Emanuela Mercore Hutanu, MD
ELMC Trustee, President & Founder of the Romanian Society of Lifestyle Medicine.
Dr. Mercore is a family medicine specialist, working in the Emergency Department at the Falticeni Municipal Hospital as a Chief of Department.
In afternoon shifts, Dr. Mercore works on the ambulance car in a small community and during weekends, she is the GP of the local football team. She is trying to integrate the education for a healthy lifestyle to her patients and she is willing to bring the lifestyle medicine education closer to her collegues, doctors and nurses.
Nature lover, animal activist and humanitarian, Dr. Mercore adores haiku poetry, Japanese culture and social causes volunteering.
Dr Anera Lazic
ELMC Trustee and Board Member.
Co-founder and President of the Croatian Lifestyle Medicine Association
Anera graduated from the Medical School of the University of Zagreb in 2016 and is currently completing Sports and Occupational Medicine residency in Croatia. In her early career, she has been devoted to healthy aging and prevention of chronic disease, and pursued this passion while working in Croatia and Germany in GP practice and Geriatrics Department. Inspired by the profound impact healthy aging can have on the quality of life, she discovered her passion for Lifestyle Medicine. Anera certified in Lifestyle medicine in 2020 and founded Lifestyle Medicine Centre in Zagreb providing one-on-one lifestyle programs together with a multidisciplinary team of nutritionists, exercise physiologists and psychologists. Anera later founded the Croatian Lifestyle Medicine Association together with leading academics and professionals in Croatia. Her current active research projects are focused on improving the lifestyle of students in the European Union and the primary care for COPD patients.
Tobias Schmidt Hansen
Chairman of the Danish Society of Lifestyle Medicine and Candidate in Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen.
Dr. Hansen is a board certified lifestyle physician. He graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 2014 and is currently completing family medicine residency. He has been one of the pioneers of plant based nutrition and lifestyle medicine in Denmark having authored several books on the subjects. In 2016 he co founded "The Danish Society of Lifestyle Medicine" and has since then served as president. He now serves as medical director of a private intensive lifestyle medicine clinic and teaches nutrition at the University of Copenhagen.
Labros S. Sidossis, PhD FTOS, FAHA, FNAK
Labros S. Sidossis, is a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Kinesiology and Health and the Department of Medicine at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA and President of the Mediterranean Lifestyle Medicine Institute. He holds a BS in Exercise Sciences, an MS in Exercise Physiology, MA in Exercise Biochemistry and Nutrition, and a PhD in Nutrition - Metabolic Biochemistry from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, TX USA.
Dr. Sidossis’ research over the past 30 years has focused on the role of lifestyle factors (nutrition and exercise) in the prevention and treatment of major cardiometabolic diseases, including obesity, insulin resistance and dyslipidemias. His studies have been funded by the National Institutes of Health (USA), the American Diabetes Association, the Shriners Hospitals for Children, the European Union, and the industry. His 220+ papers in peer-reviewed journals have been cited > 20000 times; h-index: 68, i10-index:179
Dr Fraser Quin
ELMC Executive Director
Dr Fraser Quin brings a wealth of senior executive experience to the ELMC. With CE and Board experience, in both the private and third sectors, he has considerable experience of change management, growth, strategic planning, HR, fundraising and project management. Governance is a particular strength and Fraser is currently a Non-Executive Director of Ark Housing Association, and was previously Chair of Deaf Action, Scotland’s largest Deaf charity. He also has a background in higher education and was formerly a senior lecturer in environmental economics, completing his PhD at Edinburgh University. Fraser is also a strong advocate for Lifestyle Medicine, and is in his own words “living the dream” as a keen cyclist.
