The 4th Growth Biennial Meeting, titled “Harmonious and Disharmonious Growth: In Search of Vitruvian Man”, organized by Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), will bring together the most renowned international experts in the field. A distinctive educational model will be implemented during the event: before each keynote lecture, a USFQ faculty member will deliver a brief introductory presentation. This structure aims to foster engaging discussions throughout every session.
Moreover, the program content will span from fundamental and molecular aspects to clinical and practical applications. It is an event that will undoubtedly meet—and exceed—the expectations of all participants.
Organizing Committee
The 4th Growth Biennial Meeting
Program
THE 2025 USFQ BIENNIAL MEETING
“HARMONIOUS AND DISHARMONIOUS GROWTH: IN SEARCH OF VITRUVIAN MAN”
OCTOBER 22nd, 2025: FIRST DAY
SESSION 1: GENERALITIES
SESSION 2: BASIC CONCEPTS
SESSION 3: GROWTH DISORDERS
SESSION 4: INTRAUTERINE GROWTH RESTRICTION
OCTOBER 23rd, 2025: SECOND DAY
SESSION 5: THE GROWTH HORMONE RECEPTOR SIGNALING PATHWAY
SESSION 6: EVALUATION OF GROWTH AND OTHER FORMS OF SHORT STATURE
SESSION 7: TREATMENT OF OTHER STATURAL ABNORMALITIES
SESSION 8: CLOSING THOUGTHS
Speakers
David Allen, MD – Universidad de Wisconsin – USA
Dr. David Allen is a tenured professor in the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes. Additionally, he is chief of the Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology, as well as the program director of the Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology fellowship training program. He was awarded the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Parker Palmer “Courage to Teach” national award, the UW Presidential Physician Leadership Award, the Wisconsin Medical Alumni Association Career Citation Award, and the UW Clinical Educator Award.
Philippe Backeljauw, MD – Cincinnati Children’s Hospital – USA
Dr. Backeljauw is Professor at the University of Cincinnati Department of Pediatrics. He is also Director of their Pediatric Endocrine Fellowship Program and Director of the Cincinnati Center for Pediatric and Adult Turner Syndrome Care. He spoke at our Pediatric Grand Rounds. Dr. Backeljauw is an internationally recognized expert in the clinical care of patients with growth disorders and patients with Turner syndrome. He received his MD from the University of Ghent in Belgium, completed pediatric residency at Cleveland Clinic, and pediatric endocrinology fellowship at the University of North Carolina. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts.
Peter Bang, MD – Linköping University – Sweden
Peter Bang is Professor of Pediatrics and Academic Head of Division of Pediatrics, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, Sweden. He is senior consultant and is heading the Pediatric Endocrinology team. He has more than 25 years research experience in the GH-IGF-field and has a publication list of more than 50 peer-reviewed papers. He graduated from the Engineering School, Technical University of Copenhagen and the University of Copenhagen Medical School, Denmark and did his PhD with Professor Kerstin Hall at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. Peter has a long-lasting interest in the regulation of IGF-I bioactivity with focus on growth disorders and diabetes.
Jeffrey Baron, MD – National Institutes of Health (NIH) – USA
Dr. Jeffrey Baron is a senior investigator and head of the Section on Growth and Development in NICHD. He received his M.D. degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He completed a residency in pediatrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital and a fellowship in pediatric endocrinology in the Developmental Endocrinology Branch of NICHD. The Section on Growth and Development, headed by Dr. Baron, investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms governing childhood growth and development. In addition to his research role, Dr. Baron serves as an attending physician for the pediatric endocrinology clinic and consultative service and teaches clinical fellows in the NICHD pediatric endocrinology training program.
George Bright, MD – Pediatric endocrinology consultant – USA
George is a pediatric endocrinologist with over 35 years experience in clinical care and clinical research. He completed training in Endocrinology at the University of Virginia; and his early research efforts included the treatment of growth problems with pituitary-derived human growth hormone. After 20 years in clinical care, in 1999 he joined the biopharmaceutical industry and has focused primarily on the design, conduct and interpretation of Phase 1, 2 and 3 trials of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH), recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-1 (rhIGF-I), combination rhGH and rhIGF-I and now at Versartis, a novel long-acting rhGH fusion protein (VRS-317). While Growth Hormone Clinical Research Director for Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals (Princeton), he led efforts to evaluate alternative dosing regimens and treatment groups for rhGH. While at Tercica, he led the clinical efforts with rhIGF-I, culminating in FDA and EMA approvals in children with severe primary IGF-I deficiency. George is board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Endocrinology.
Fernando Cassorla, MD – University of Chile – Chile
Médico Cirujano, Universidad de Chile, (1973). Especialidad Pediatría, Albany Medical Center, USA (1974-1976). Especialidad Endocrinología Infantil, The Children´s Hospital of Philadelphia, USA (1976-1979). Investigador Senior, Developmental Endocrinology Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, USA (1979-1993) y Director Clínico, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, USA (1990-1993). Profesor Titular y Jefe Programa Endocrinología Pediátrica, Instituto de Investigaciones Materno Infantil, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile (1993 – a la actualidad). Director del Instituto de Investigaciones Materno Infantil (1997-2001). Presidente (1994) y Secretario General (2010-2013) de la Sociedad Latino-Americana de Endocrinología Pediátrica. Investigador Principal de 6 Proyectos FONDECYT entre 1991-2013. Director del Programa M.D. Ph.D., de la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Chile (2000-2007). Autor de 232 artículos científicos publicados en revistas indexadas, 36 capítulos de libros y editor de 3 textos de endocrinología pediátrica.
Andrew Dauber, MD – Children’s National Hospital – USA
Andrew Dauber, MD, MMSc, is currently the Chief of Endocrinology at Children’s National Hospital. Dr. Dauber earned his MD and a Master’s degree in clinical investigation at Harvard Medical School. He completed his pediatrics residency, chief residency, and pediatric endocrinology fellowship training at Boston Children’s Hospital. At Boston Children’s Hospital, Dr. Dauber began his research career in the laboratory of Joel Hirschhorn. Dr. Dauber’s work focuses on rare genetic causes of growth disorders and the use of next generation sequencing technologies to understand pediatric endocrine disorders. He has identified numerous genetic etiologies for short stature including mutations in the ACAN and PAPPA2 gene. He has led targeted therapeutic trials in patients with rare genetic growth disorders. Additionally, Dr. Dauber discovered that mutations in imprinted genes MKRN3 and DLK1 are responsible for central precocious puberty. After his time in Boston, Dr. Dauber was the inaugural Program Director of The Cincinnati Center for Growth Disorders at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
Danilo Gavilanes-Jiménez, MD – Maastricht University – The Netherlands
Research physician specialized in fetal development and neonatology. Professor at Maastricht University, focusing on the complex physiology of fetal growth.
Jaime Guevara, MD – Universidad San Francisco de Quito – Ecuador
Pediatric endocrinologist and clinical geneticist. Founder of the Institute of Endocrinology IEMYR. Recognized for his studies in short stature populations in Ecuador and world class collaborator in the study of the GH-IGF axis.
Michel Hermannussen, MD – Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel – Germany
Michel Hermanussen studied medicine and worked as a pediatrician at the University of Kiel from 1982 until 1989. He investigated growth and child development (auxology) and first described mini-growth spurts.[2] Since 1990 he has cooperated in international joint projects with scientists and works in a general pediatric office. He organizes national and international meetings on growth and nutrition. From 2003 to 2011 he was a member of the scientific board of the German Society for Anthropology and he is chief editor of ”Human Biology and Public Health”. He is the founder and head of the Auxological Society.
Andrew R. Hoffman, MD – Stanford University – USA
Dr. Hoffman is a board certified endocrinologist who specializes in the treatment pituitary and other neuroendocrine diseases, including acromegaly, Cushing syndrome, prolactinomas and other pituitary tumors. His laboratory is interested in examining the role of insulin-like growth factors (IGF) in normal physiology and in oncogenesis. They are studying the molecular biology of IGF with an emphasis on long range chromatin interactions.
Julie Hoover-Fong, MD – Johns Hopkins University – USA
Dr. Julie Hoover-Fong is a Professor of Genetic Medicine and Pediatrics and Director of the Greenberg Center for Skeletal Dysplasias at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Hoover-Fong holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Nutrition from The Ohio State University, where she also completed her medical degree. She received her Ph.D. in the Graduate Training Program in Clinical Investigation at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Hoover-Fong completed a pediatric internship and residency at Washington University in St. Louis and a fellowship in medical genetics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She joined the Johns Hopkins University faculty in 2002 and progressed to Professor of Genetic Medicine and Pediatrics in 2019.
Vivian Hwa, PhD – Osaka University – Japan
Vivian Hwa, Ph.D, received her B.S. (Honors) from the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia and earned her Ph.D in Microbiology from the University of Illinois, Champaign- Urbana. After a post-doctoral fellowship in Microbiology, she switched to Endocrinology and joined the laboratory of Dr Ron G Rosenfeld, then Chair of Pediatrics at Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon. Their subsequent seminal identification of the first human mutation in the STAT5B gene launched a long-timed collaboration and interest investigating the molecular basis of severely short statured children who were unresponsive to growth hormone. In addition to STAT5B, mutations identified along the GH-IGF-I axis have led to re-assessment of the human GH receptor (GHR) functional properties, and demonstrations that hypomorphic IGF1R (IGF-1 receptor) expression/functions in humans confer growth retardation starting in utero. Recent application of exome sequence analysis for some unresolved cases have revealed molecular defects beyond the GH-IGF-I axis, including mutations in genes involved in fundamental cellular processes such as centrosomal functions, the cell cycle, DNA repair. Dr Hwa recently joined Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to head the basic research unit of the new Cincinnati Center for Growth Disorders.
Melita Irving, MD – Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Trust – UK
Melita has been a consultant at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust for fifteen years, during which time she has helped establish whole exome sequencing as a diagnostic genetic test, and set up dedicated multidisciplinary clinics in skeletal dysplasia, achondroplasa-hypochondroplasia and dental genetics, including KBG syndrome. She has local and regional clinics in general paediatric and adult genetic conditions, and in prenatal counselling. As a key opinion leader and expert in clinical trials in rare diseases of the skeleton, Melita holds a number of national and international positions of responsibility.
John Kopchick, PhD – Ohio University – USA
John J. Kopchick is an internationally recognized leader in the growth hormone field. Since 1987, he has been the Goll-Ohio Eminent Scholar and Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology in The Edison Biotechnology Institute and the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine at Ohio University. Dr. Kopchick attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) and received his BS and MS degrees in Biology/Chemistry. He received his PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He then performed postdoctoral studies in molecular virology at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in Nutley, NJ. Following that, he was a group leader in molecular medicine at Merck & Co. in Rahway, NJ. Dr. Kopchick and his group were the first to discover and characterize Growth Hormone (GH) receptor antagonists, an accomplishment for which he and Ohio University were awarded several US and European patents. He also was instrumental in founding a company, Sensus, which applied his research to the development of an FDA approved drug called Somavert (Pegvisomant for injection), which is marketed worldwide for patients with acromegaly who benefit from treatment. Substantial royalties from the sales of Somavert has led to a Translational Medicine Doctoral Program at Ohio University and supported other university research programs. Dr. Kopchick has published more than 430 scientific articles and serves or has served on editorial boards of Endocrinology, Molecular Endocrinology, GH & IGF-1 Research, Pituitary, eLife, and The Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Ron Rosenfeld, MD – Stanford University – USA
Dr. Rosenfeld serves as Professor and Chair (emeritus) of Pediatrics, Oregon Health & Science University in addition to his role as President of STAT5, LLC. The author of over 600 publications and eight-edited books, Rosenfeld is an internationally renowned authority on the endocrine basis of growth and development and has been at the forefront of understanding the biology of growth hormone (GH) and growth factors for over 30 years. He received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Columbia University in 1968 and his M.D. with Honors from Stanford University in 1973. He joined the faculty at Stanford in 1980, was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1985 and then to Professor in 1989. In 1993, he left Stanford, to accept the position of Chairman of Pediatrics at Oregon Health Sciences University, where he served for nine years. In 2003, he returned to Stanford as the Senior Vice-President for Medical Affairs of the Lucile Packard Foundation. In 2008, he established STAT5, LLC, to provide specialized consultation services in endocrinology and pharmacogenomics, while maintaining his research laboratory at OHSU. Dr. Rosenfeld is involved in many international organizations, like The Growth Hormone Research Society (GRS), and is often invited to give lectures on growth-related health and disease topics.
Christiane Scheffler, PhD – Universität Potsdam – Germany
Christiane Scheffler is Human Biologist at University of Potsdam and interested in research on Human Growth and Development. She studied Biology, Chemistry and Pedagogics. Her main research interest is phenotypic plasticity on human growth in association to changing environmental and social living conditions. Currently, she is working on social regulation of body height, especially due to secular trend in historic and recent in European and stunted populations in developmental countries. She has conducted a big data bank of anthropometric measurements of children and adults. She is founder and editor of the Journal “Human Biology and Public Health” and published more than 100 scientific paper and book chapters. Furthermore, she is Board member of the European Anthropological Association and the Auxological Society, as well as member of the Anthropological Society in Germany, and the Society for the Studies of Human Biology. As an expert of anthropometry, she is a member of national (DIN) and international (CEN, ISO) standardization committees.
Lawrence Silverman, MD – Atlantic Health System – USA
Specialist in pediatric endocrinology with focus on growth hormone (GH) deficiency in children. International lecturer and clinician with an outstanding career in diagnosis and treatment.
Thorsten von Stein, MD – Clinical Development Consultant – USA
Thorsten von Stein is a clinical development consultant to the biopharmaceutical industry, as well as the founder and president of Lapidary Scientific Computing, a company dedicated to bringing innovative software to medical and scientific communities.Over the past two decades, Dr. von Stein has served as chief medical officer of California-based biotechnology companies Tercica, NeurogesX and Zosano Pharma, and, before that, as clinical development leader at Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, Switzerland, and Palo Alto, California. He has led the successful clinical development of drugs in osteoporosis, pain management and pediatric endocrinology. Dr. von Stein received his medical degree from Munich University, Germany, and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Hamburg, Germany.
Enrique Terán, MD, PhD – Universidad San Francisco de Quito – Ecuador
Physician and researcher in clinical pharmacology. He has led multiple medical research and bioethics projects in Ecuador and Latin America.
Kevin CJ Yuen, MD – University of Arizona – USA
Kevin Yuen, MD, is a neuroendocrinologist, medical director of both the Barrow Pituitary Center, and and the Barrow Neuroendocrinology Clinic, and is a professor in the Department of Neurology at Barrow Neurological Institute. He is board certified in both internal medicine and in endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Yuen earned his medical degree from the University of Sheffield. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Southampton and a fellowship in internal medicine, diabetes, and endocrinology at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Yuen is nationally and internationally known in the field of pituitary research, particularly for his work in growth hormone studies.
Registration
Fee Structure:
| Categoría | Tarifa de Registro |
|---|---|
| Specialist Physicians | $250 |
| General Practitioners | $100 |
| Students | Free of charge |
Payment Link:
