fDROP relies on a group of close national and international colleagues who participate in writing committees on areas pertaining to geriatric diabetes and frailty, and the development of international clinical guidelines. The key members are:
Professor Alan J Sinclair MSc MD FRCP
Director of the Foundation for Diabetes Research in Older People (fDROP), and King’s College, London, UK
Professor Alan Sinclair is an international expert in diabetes and clinical gerontology. He created in 2012 and is Chair of the European Diabetes Working Party for Older People (EDWPOP) which has produced four sets of international clinical guidelines in diabetes in older people. He has also provided diabetes education for the IAGG. He created the Foundation for Diabetes Research in Older People (fDROP) in 2014. He is a former Professor of Medicine at the University of Bedfordshire and former Dean at the Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Postgraduate Medical School. He is a recognised WHO expert in three disciplines: frailty, older people, and diabetes. He is a Founding Member of the EuGMS and was its first Academic Director.
He has provided advice for the UK NICE organisation, British Geriatrics Society, Diabetes UK, ABCD, Joint British Diabetes Societies, Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the UK Government Department of Health on matters relating to diabetes in older people. Alan was the first National Clinical Lead for Diabetes in Older People at NHS Diabetes (DH) in England. In 2020, he chaired the UK working party on Diabetes and COVID 19 and produced its national guidance in this area. In 2024/2025, he was Chair of the IDF Special Interest Group of Diabetes in Older People for the IDF 11th edition Diabetes Atlas. He is a Founder Member of the International Geriatric Diabetes Society (IGDS) and sits on its Executive Committee. He is currently Chair of the English National Advisory Panel on Care Home Diabetes (NAPCHD). He is recognised as a global leader in geriatric diabetes, a subspeciality which he founded.
Dr Ahmed Abdelhafiz
Ahmed H Abdelhafiz is a senior Geriatrician in the UK with a marked interest in diabetes, frailty, and ageing. He is an Adviser for the British Geriatrics Society. He has written over 45 papers in his subject area in the last 7 years. He an Executive Member of the International CGM Consensus Group for Older People with diabetes (2024-6) which intends to provide guidelines on CGM metrics for clinicians. He is the co-editor of Wiley’s new pragmatic textbook on diabetes in older people: Care of Older People with Diabetes | Wiley Online Books
Professor Sri Bellary
Sri is Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Aston and a Hon Consultant in Diabetes and Endocrinology at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK. His clinical interests include obesity and diabetic kidney disease. His research expertise includes the effects of obesity and diabetes on ageing, diabetes in the youth, new therapies for diabetes and new health care delivery models for people with diabetes. He was instrumental in developing the Solihull Integrated Diabetes Model (SOLID). He is also and is the chair of Pan Birmingham Diabetes Network and works closely with Diabetes UK. He was one of the 12 National Diabetes UK clinical champions in 2014. Dr Bellary has published in many reputed journals including the Lancet, Diabetes Care, Diabetologia and Diabetic Medicine and is a senior editorial board member of BMC Endocrine disorders and Deputy Editor-in-chief for Therapeutic advances in Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Professor Angus Forbes
Professor Angus Forbes holds the FEND Chair of Clinical Diabetes Nursing at King’s College London and until recently held an honorary post as a specialist diabetes nurse at King’s College Hospital. Prof Forbes is an active researcher with multiple publications in diabetes, some current and previous projects include: developing anti-stigma interventions for women with GDM and type 2 diabetes; diabetes prevention in women with GDM; preconception care in women with Type 2 diabetes; evaluating a psychologically modelled education intervention for young people with Type 1 diabetes; developing supportive interventions for adults with new-onset Type 1 diabetes; the relationship between cognitive impairment and diabetic retinopathy; glycaemic variability and mortality and older people with diabetes; the impact of lipohypertrophy on glucose variation in people with Type 1 diabetes; insulin use in older people with type 2 diabetes. Angus is a past vice-president of the International Diabetes Federation, and his previous positions include: senior lecturer in diabetes at King’s College London; a lecturer in health services research at University College London Medical School; and a health visitor and district nurse in East London.
Professor Virginia Boccardi
Specialist in Geriatrics, PhD in Metabolism and Aging, and Longevity Expert, Professor Virginia Boccardi is Associate Professor of Gerontology and Geriatrics at the University of Perugia. She holds prominent roles in national and international scientific societies. She is Chair of the Diabetes Special Interest Group of the European Geriatric Medicine Society and Vice President of the Italian Society of Hospital and Community Geriatrics — SIGOT. She is also a member of the National Scientific Board of SINSeB — the Italian Society of Nutrition, Sport and Wellness.
Her clinical, teaching, and scientific activity focuses on biological aging, frailty, cognitive and metabolic disorders, with particular attention to the prevention of functional decline and the promotion of healthy longevity. Her vision integrates translational research, clinical practice, and innovative models of preventive medicine, aimed at resilience, personal empowerment, and the development of personalized pathways to preserve autonomy, quality of life, and physiological reserve over time.
Dr Giuseppe Maltese
Dr Giuseppe Maltese is a Consultant in Diabetes and Endocrinology with a background in Geriatric Medicine at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust and an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at King’s College London. His clinical and research interests include diabetes in older adults, frailty, cognitive impairment, sarcopenia and hypoglycaemia. He has contributed to national and international clinical and research activities on type 1 diabetes in older adults, with a particular focus on diabetes technology. His research also explores the intersection between frailty and diabetes self-management and the development of more personalised, multidimensional models of care. As a Diabetes UK Clinical Champion, he has led projects to improve diabetes care for people living in care homes and those who are housebound. He has authored numerous publications on diabetes and ageing and contributes to the field as a member of the Ageing Research at King’s Advisory Board.
Prof. Leocadio Rodriguez Mañas
Head of the Geriatrics Service of the Getafe University Hospital (Madrid) and Past Scientific Director of the Spanish Center for Biomedical Research on Frailty and Healthy Aging (CIBERFES) (Ministry of Science and Innovation and Ministry of Health). Visiting Professor in lhe University of Toulouse (France) and Warwick (UK) He coordinates the Toledo Study of Healthy Aging and has led several international funded research projects and scientific publications, many of them focused on frailty and functional decline and diabetes in older people, the mechanisms involved, its operational definition (diagnostics tools) and its management (RCTs), including the use of the technology in the covering of the different requirements of the older frail people or at risk of frailty. He has published >500 scientific papers with more than 28.000 citations, with an H index of 79 (WOS), consensus documents, chapters and books on those same topics. He has participated in the preparation of technical reports on these topics for national (Spanish Ministry of Health, Spanish Parliament, Regional Ministry of Health of Madrid, Scientific Societies, Research Organizations and Agencies) and international organizations (WHO, PAHO, DG-SANTE, DG-Research, IAGG, Canadian Frailty Network, Governments of Mexico, Costa Rica and Chile,…).
Professor Antoine Christiaens, MD, PhD
Professor Antoine Christiaens, MD, PhD, is a geriatrician and pharmacoepidemiologist. He is an FNRS Research Associate and Professor at the Louvain Drug Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Brussels, Belgium. His research focuses on optimising care for older adults living with type 2 diabetes by combining clinical geriatrics, real-world data, and advanced causal inference methods to improve the safety and appropriateness of glucose-lowering therapies, with a particular focus on diabetes overtreatment. He has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications, has held research positions at several internationally renowned institutions, including the University of Oxford, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Sorbonne Université, and actively collaborates with international research groups to advance evidence-based diabetes care for older adults.