Dr. Peñalvo is a Full Professor at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp (Belgium), where he leads the Unit of Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) and an Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Antwerp. He is an epidemiologist and public health specialist with a strong background in quantitative research and epidemiologic methods, including the design, and outcome and impact evaluation of primary prevention interventions, and estimating health impacts through modeling the effect of population-based dietary policies to reduce NCD-related burdens. Throughout his career, he had the opportunity to address all levels of chronic NCD prevention, from primordial to tertiary, from developing strategies to instill appropriate lifestyle behaviors in small children, to population-based studies to reduce the prevalence of NCD risk factors, to refining treatments and reduce disabilities among chronic disease patients. He has been central in the process- and impact-evaluation of a nation-wide, intra-curricular school-based intervention to encourage healthy lifestyles and behaviors in children (N~2,400) aged 3-5.  He has led the study of the psychosocial, dietary and physical activity habits of participants from two large prospective cohorts (N~10,000) studies dedicated to identifying the determinants of plaque formation and the onset of atherosclerotic disease using state-of-the-art imaging to assess the burden in several territories in asymptomatic individuals. Dr Peñalvo is interested in a life-course approach to health and disease, through the analysis of the long-term effects that biological, physical and social exposures during childhood, adolescence, young adulthood and later adult life, may have on the development of chronic disease.