RISE 2025

She is amongst the most prolific researchers in the United States and is a globally-respected leader of an academic research center focused on designing and implementing randomized clinical trials, outcomes research projects, and high impact academic publications. She has served as principal investigator for numerous global studies, developed important practice guidelines for treating patients with cardiovascular disease. She has focused on personalized medicine and developed individual risk scores for bleeding and acute kidney injury, participates regularly in developing clinical guidelines, and has authored over 1,800 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Mehran currently serves as member and 2025-2026 Vice President on the Board of Trustees of The American College of Cardiology (ACC). She is a founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF). She ranked 36th in the “Best Female Scientists in the World” and has been included for the past eight consecutive years in Clarivate Analytics: “Most Cited Researchers – Top 1%” as well as “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds”.

Dr. Mehran is leading the Lancet Commission on Women’s Cardiovascular Diseases, which has brought together leading researchers from around the world to identify and bridge gaps in scientific discovery, clinical trials, and care for women with cardiovascular disease. She was recently named Director of the Women Heart and Vascular Center at Mount Sinai Heart, spearheading a new program that represents a collaboration across multiple disciplines and designed to meet the unique needs of women’s cardiovascular health. In 2019, she founded Women As One, a not for profit organization, dedicated to advancing opportunities for women in medicine, where she serves as Chair of the Board.

Dr. Mehran is a recipient of several awards including the 2016 American College of Cardiology Bernadine Healy Leadership in CV disease award, the 2018 Nanette Wenger Award from Women’s Heart for excellence in research and education, the 2019 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and the 2019 European Society of Cardiology Silver Medal and Andreas Grüntzig Lecture plaque. In 2022, she received The Terry Ann Krulwich Physician-Scientist Alumni Award at Mount Sinai; the Linda Joy Pollin Heart Health Leadership Award from Cedar Sinai Medical Center; Doctor Honoris Causa Degree at Università della Svizzera Italiana; Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award from American Heart Association; and the Pulse-Setter Champion Award from The Cardiovascular Research Foundation. On March of 2024 she was honored with the Jacobi Medal, top achievement award from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

@drroxmehran

Dr. Agatiello obtained her degree from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires in 1998 and in 2002 she completed her specialization and training in Cardiology at the Hospital Israelita de Buenos Aires. Subsequently, she completed a specialization in Interventional Cardiology at the University of Rouen and at the University of Créteil & Necker (Paris, France), where she obtained her diploma in 2005.

She was fellowship trained in Interventional Cardiology and focused on heart valve disease at the Charles Nicole Hospital (Rouen, France) over a period of 3 years. Immediately afterward, Dr. Agatiello returned to Argentina to work with Liliana Grinfeld MD, PhD in the Department of Interventional Cardiology at the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires.

She is director of the MIL Group (Women Interventional Cardiologists in Latin America) and coordinates the activities of Women as an NGO in Latin America on behalf of SOLACI and CACI. Actually, Dr Agatiello was the President of the scientific SOLACI-CACI2024 Meeting to be held in Buenos Aires this year. She has vast experience as a researcher, having published more than 100 scientific articles in indexed and non-indexed journals.

She was the first female interventional cardiologist in the Gulf region and has since represented women on multiple medical committees, including Chair of the Asia Pacific Society Chair of the ACCWIC International Working Group and member of the EAPCI Women’s Steering Committee and SCAI WIN. She is the founder of the Women’s Cardiovascular Research Consortium of the Middle East & Mediterranean under the Patronage of HRH Haifa AlFaisal bin Abdulaziz AlSaoud.

Dr. Alasnag trained in Clinical Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology at Loma Linda University Medical Center (Loma Linda,
California) and Harper University Hospital, Detroit Medical Center(Detroit, Michigan), respectively. Since her graduation in
2009 to date, she has been a practicing Interventional Cardiologist at the King Fahd Armed Forces Hospital.

Dr. Alasnag has been awarded the Distinguished International Service Award by the American College of Cardiology and has represented the international community across the globe such as the Board of Trustees for SCAI and a member of the ACC Interventional Leadership Council, EAPCI Congress Committee, ESC Scientific Committee, Saudi Arabian Cardiac Interventional Society and the Asia Pacific Society of Interventional Cardiology. She is the nominal Director of TCT Middle East Course Directors.

Dr. Alasnag is the Editor in Chief of the Saudi Medical Journal, a legacy journal of 75 years. She has served as the previous EIC of Current Cardiovascular Imaging Reports. In addition, she is an Editor/Associate/Contributing Editor for JSCAI, Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, PCROnline, Open Heart, Radcliffe Cardiology, ACCEL, Faculty Opinions (ESC) and Cardiovascular Revascularization Medicine.

She previously served as the Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and as the inaugural Vice Dean for Population Health and Health Equity in the UCSF School of Medicine. She co-founded the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital that focuses on actionable research to improve health equity and reduce health disparities.

Dr. Bibbins-Domingo is a general internist and cardiovascular epidemiologist whose scholarship includes observational epidemiology, pragmatic trials, and simulation modeling to examine clinical and public health approaches to prevention in the US and globally. She previously served on and led the US Preventive Services Task Force from 2010-2017. She has received numerous honors, including induction into the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Barbara Casadei graduated in Medicine at the University of Pavia, Italy. She moved to the University of Oxford in 1989 where she was awarded a DPhil in 1995 and a Professorship in Cardiovascular Medicine in 2006.

Barbara is Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, holds the highest honour of the British Cardiovascular Society (The Mackenzie Medal) and of the European Society of Cardiology (Gold Medal), and is Past President of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC, 2018-20). She is the co-founder of EuroHeart, an initiative supporting the assessment and improvement of quality of cardiovascular care in Europe and a member/chair of several Advisory Boards including the Fondation Leducq, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine.

Academic Background
She holds a degree in Medicine from the University of Oviedo (Asturias, 1997) and in Cardiology from the Marqués de Valdecilla Hospital (Santander, 2003). She obtained her PhD with honors from the University of Cantabria with a thesis entitled “CT in the Evaluation of Acute Chest Pain: Diagnostic Value of Coronary Calcium Score” (2011). She specialized in echocardiography at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston (2007-2008), and in cardiac computed tomography (CT) and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (Cardio-MRI) at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York (2009-2010) under the supervision of Dr. Valentín Fuster.

Research
Her dedication and interest in research has been reflected in more than 100 publications in high-impact journals (4 Nature, 24 JACC, 7 Circulation, New England Journal of Medicine, EHJ, etc.; X% in Q1, X% in D1, 21 as first or senior author; H-INDEX of X) and 11 competitive research grants. Her main lines of research include the study of atherosclerosis, with a special interest in prevention, cardiovascular disease in women, and non-invasive imaging techniques. She is an executive member of the Research Agency of the Spanish Society of Cardiology and an associate professor at Camilo Jose Cela University.

International Recognition
She received the highest accreditation (Level III) from the European Society of Cardiology in Cardiac MRI (2018) and Cardiac CT (2020), which lends credibility and professional legitimacy to her knowledge with an internationally established standard and guarantees patients the highest quality in diagnostic imaging. She has received several national and international research awards, participates in collaborative projects with prestigious international centers, and is a scientific reviewer for several journals and research institutions.

Teaching and Books
She is an associate professor at Camilo José Cela University and director of multiple CT and cardiac MRI courses (2017-present). Her experience in cardiac imaging is reflected in more than 16 book chapters, and she is the editor of the popular science book La Salud de tu corazón (The Health of Your Heart) and the Manual de Imagen Cardiovascular (Cardiovascular Imaging Manual). She has been extensively involved in the training and specialization in cardiovascular imaging of more than 60 national and international physicians throughout her professional career.

Promoting Women’s Health
She is the principal investigator of the WAKE-UP study (WAKE-UP: a women’s health CV risk reduction program) to study cardiovascular disease in women, supported by Daiichi-Sankyo. She leads multiple initiatives to promote women’s health, including the women’s heart movement, which encompasses a range of activities, including educational talks, global visibility campaigns, workshops, meetings with healthcare specialists, and research projects in collaboration with international leaders in cardiology and companies in the healthcare sector. She is an active member of the Spanish Committee on Cardiovascular Disease in Women. She has been invited to numerous conferences on women’s health, participating in radio and television programs and events, and has written several articles to raise awareness of the importance of cardiovascular disease in women. She has also promoted an agreement between PROCNIC, Mapfre, the Spanish Heart Foundation, and HM Hospitals to promote women’s health (2018).

In addition to cardiology, her main topic of interest is oncology, but she handles a wide range of manuscripts on clinical topics, especially randomised clinical trials. Prior to joining The Lancet in 2020, she worked as Journal Development Specialist for the open access journal Frontiers in Oncology, and before that she was Scientific Officer at the Division of Clinical Studies of the Institute of Cancer Research (London, UK), where she worked on DNA sequencing studies for phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of targeted therapies for ovarian, lung, and prostate cancer. Flávia holds a degree in Biomedical Science in Histocellular Pathology from the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Portugal.

Dr. Kendra Grubb provides clinical and strategic leadership across the portfolio, drawing on her deep procedural experience and a strong academic foundation.

Prior to joining Medtronic in 2024, Dr. Grubb led the Structural Heart and Valve Center at Emory University. She is board certified in cardiothoracic surgery and holds additional degrees in healthcare administration and clinical trials.

Dr. Grubb has served as principal or co-investigator in numerous trials across TAVR, mitral repair, and aortic disease, earning widespread respect for her contributions to both research and clinical practice in structural heart interventions. A long-time advocate for women’s heart health, she has helped lead efforts to close the gender gap in cardiovascular care. Her dual training and hands-on experience in both open-heart and transcatheter procedures position her uniquely to guide the next generation of innovation in heart valve therapies.

She made history as the 70th President of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), becoming the first South Asian American to hold the position. She continues to lead national efforts to advance health equity and innovation, contributing to initiatives such as the ACC Health Equity Task Force, the PCORI Advisory Panel, and the California’s Cardiovascular Disease Master Plan.

Dr. Itchhaporia is actively involved in clinical trials evaluating a range of digital health tools designed to improve care delivery and expand equitable access to cardiovascular care. She serves as an Associate Editor for JACC: Advances and frequently speaks globally on healthcare innovation, digital transformation, and the future of cardiology.

A longtime advocate for women in medicine, she has mentored many women throughout her career and remains committed to fostering inclusive leadership in healthcare.

She recently hosted the Health Tech Horizons: AI and Innovation Summit in Laguna Beach, California, and was featured in the January 2025 issue of the Orange County Business Journal.

Dr. Itchhaporia has been recognized with numerous honors, including Master of the ACC and Cardiologist of the Year (California ACC). She is a Fellow of multiple distinguished medical societies and is widely regarded as a thought leader in cardiology and healthcare innovation.

After receiving his A.B. from Harvard and his M.D. from UCSF, Dr. Christopher Kramer completed residency and chief residency in internal medicine and fellowship in cardiology at the University of Pennsylvania. His first faculty appointment was at Allegheny General Hospital, MCP/Hahnemann School of Medicine where he directed the cardiology fellowship program. In 1999, he moved to the University of Virginia where he was named the George A. Beller/Lantheus Medical Imaging Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Chief of the Cardiovascular Division in 2019.

Dr. Kramer’s principal research interest has been in the application of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) to the cardiovascular system in translational and clinical studies and he has published over 300 peer-reviewed publications, 4 books, and over 100 book chapters, editorials, and reviews in the area of left ventricular remodeling and myocardial viability, atherosclerotic plaque imaging, peripheral arterial disease (PAD), and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). He is co-principal investigator of a 2755 patient, 44-site, NHLBI-funded U01 international registry study of HCM and he directed a NIBIB-funded cardiovascular imaging T32 fellowship training program for 2 decades.

He is presently the President of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and previously served as Treasurer and Vice President. He has served as President of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR), Chair of the Imaging Council of the ACC, and member and chair of the Clinical and Integrative Cardiovascular Sciences NIH study section. He is a member of the editorial boards of Circulation, Circulation Cardiovascular Imaging, and Vascular Medicine, and was previously Executive Editor of JACC Cardiovascular Imaging and Associate Editor for Imaging at JACC. He is also member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of University Cardiologists, and the American Association of Physicians. In 2015 he won the Gold Medal of the SCMR and in 2021 was named Distinguished Mentor by the ACC.

Her clinical research involves using precision medicine approaches to characterize the pathobiological mechanisms underlying complex pulmonary vascular diseases, including pulmonary hypertension and she is a principal investigator of the NHLBI Pulmonary Vascular Disease Phenomics Study. She is also an internationally recognized vascular biologist with expertise in pulmonary vascular disease endophenotyping to understand the role of vascular structural and functional changes in the pathobiology of pulmonary hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. Her work has been funded by the NIH/NHLBI, the American Heart Association, the Lerner Foundation and she was named a Thomas W. Smith MD Scholar. She has coauthored numerous scientific manuscripts, editorial and book chapters and has been issued patents based on her work. She is the recipient of several research awards and was inducted as a member of the Association of University Cardiologists.

She serves on several national and international research committees and on national and international peer review committees. She has a longstanding interest in academic publishing and is a member of several editorial boards; was a former associate editor at Circulation and Circulation:Cardiovascular Interventions; and is currently the Deputy Editor for cardiology at the New England Journal of Medicine. In addition, she actively mentors and promotes the work of students, fellows, and early career faculty, many of whom have gone on to national and international leadership positions.

He trained at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, USA in cardiovascular physiology and cardiology and was Professor of Pharmacotherapy and Director of Clinical Pharmacology at the University Hospitals Basel, then Professor and Vice-Chairman of Cardiology at the University Hospital Bern and later Professor and Chairman of Cardiology and Director of the University Heart Center at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. Since 2017, he has been the Director of Research, Education & Development and consultant cardiologist at the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals and professor of cardiology at King’s College in London, UK. He was appointed Co-Director of the Cardiovascular Academic Group of King’s College in October 2023. He further holds a part-time commitment as Chairman of the Center for Molecular Cardiology at the University of Zurich (see www.cmc.uzh.ch).

Professor Lüscher has mentored numerous physicians and scientists from around the world with many holding chairs or directorships at universities and major hospitals in Switzerland, Europe, Asia and North America.

His research is translational and focuses at the basic level on endothelium-derived mediators and their alteration with aging, atherosclerosis, lipids and inflammation as well as at the clinical level on coronary artery disease, acute coronary syndromes and heart failure. He is among the 0.1% most cited scientists with a h-index of 151 (Scopus).

He is an editor of the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine (Oxford University Press, UK 2019) and the Module Innere Medizin (Springer Verlag, Heidelberg, FRG) and of the Manual of Cardiovascular Medicine (Oxford University Press, UK 2022). He lectures worldwide and is active on social media (@TumLuscher) and has his own YouTube channel. He was editor-in-chief of the European Heart Journal 2009-2020 (last IF 29.9) and continues as senior editor.

He is President of the European Society of Cardiology 2024-2026.

Prior to joining The Lancet Group as the founding Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health,  Sonia worked as a Senior Editor for Nature Medicine. She has also served as the lead editor of Trends in Genetics and a consulting editor for Cell Genomics and Developmental Cell. As an EMBO and HFSP fellow at the University of Oxford (UK), Sonia investigated the role of TNF signalling in lipid metabolism and neurodegeneration. Sonia remains passionate about all aspects of women’s health. She is also a member of the UN Women UK and RisingWISE programs aimed at enhancing the career development of women scientists.

Carol joined Alnylam in 2014 as Senior Director European Regulatory Affairs and was one of our very first Alnylam employees outside the US. She remained in the Regulatory Expertise Area until 2021, during which time she took on increasing responsibility as our geographical footprint expanded and was instrumental in building the Regulatory team globally. In 2021, Carol stepped down as Head of International Regulatory Affairs to become Head of Japan Development and Head of Global Patient Safety and Risk Management. In these roles Carol was responsible for clinical development in Japan and for pharmacovigilance world-wide overseeing the safe and effective use of products throughout the development and commercial life cycle. Carol has continued to take on roles with increasing responsibility, and in 2024 took on the role of Head of Development Programs where she is responsible for oversight of Alnylam’s portfolio of clinical development programs.

During her 11-year tenure, Carol has been a mentor and coach to many within Alnylam, and acts as the Executive Sponsor for the female Employee Resource Network that is committed to the support, development, and empowerment of women and their allies globally.

Carol has been working in the pharmaceutical industry for > 20 years and has extensive experience in brining innovative products to patients, which she has gained not only as part of Alnylam, but from working for a variety of other companies within the pharmaceutical industry (Chiroscience, Celltech, Cambridge Antibody Technology and AstraZeneca). Carol attained a first-class honours degree in biochemistry at Warwick University and completed a PhD at the same institute. Following completion of a post-doctoral fellowship in immunology for the Medical Research Council, she joined the Regulatory Affairs department at Glaxo Wellcome in 1998.

Dr Poppas received a Bachelor of Science degree from Brown University and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics and fellowship in Cardiovascular Medicine at University of Chicago Hospital.

Her clinical and research areas of focus are in echocardiography and in treating patients with valvular heart disease and heart disease during pregnancy and has over 100 peer review manuscripts and 200 international invited lectures. She is a Co-Author of Fuster & Hurst’s The Heart and prior Guest Editor in Chief of JACC. She is consistenly named a Top Doctor by Rhode Island Monthly magazine and has received numerous teaching awards at Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital.

Poppas is currently a board member of the World Heart Federation and member of the WHO Innovation Lab for NCD in women. She has held numerous leadership roles within the American College of Cardiology including President and Board Chair 2020, chair of the ACC Annual Scientific Session in 2015- 2016, chair of the Women in Cardiology Section, chair of the ACC Sections Steering Committee and chair of the ACC Governance Committee. She also served on the ACC Board of Governors as governor and president of the ACC Rhode Island Chapter, as well as on the ACC Board of Trustees.

Dr Poppas is also a Fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography, where she has served on committees, including ethics, nominating and scientific programs. She has also worked with the American Heart Association and the European Society of Cardiology, among other organizations.

After initial experience at Radio France Internationale and two years at the French Embassy in Lebanon, Jean-François Riffaud took part in the creation of the Etablissement Français du Sang and the complete reorganisation of the blood transfusion sector in France in the early 2000. He successively held the positions of Chief of Staff to the Chairman, then Director of Communications and International Affairs.

At the French Red Cross, he was then appointed Director of Communications, Development, and Innovation, and became involved in responses to major humanitarian crises and the adaptation of the health and social sector.

After a year at UNESCO, Jean-François Riffaud joined Action Contre la Faim as Director of Communications and Resource Development, before becoming Chief Executive Officer in 2019. He steers the development of ACF, which has become the largest international humanitarian network fighting malnutrition and food insecurity, present in 55 countries and supporting more than 20 million people.

He joined the ESC as CEO as from July 2023.

Jean-François Riffaud is board member of IDAF and France générosités.

He holds a Master II in International Economic and Development Law (University of Paris V).

Clara Saldarriaga is also the  President of the Colombian  Society of Cardiology, first woman and youngest person to hold this position. She is also a member of the Lancet commission of cardiovascular disease for women, principal investigator and Steering committee member of   heart failure clinical trials. 

She is the director of Preventive Cardiology, the founding director of the Step Family Cardiac Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, and a Professor of Medicine with tenure at UC San Diego and holds the Step Family Director’s Endowed Chair. Dr. Taub was responsible for all aspects of creating the center, which is one of the largest comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation programs in the world. She also leads the newly formed BEACON center for Lipoprotein (a) research at UC San Diego.

Her clinical practice centers on preventive cardiology, lipidology, and cardiometabolic diseases, while her research explores how behavioral, technological, and pharmacological strategies impact cardiometabolic health outcomes.

Dr. Taub is a federally funded researcher with continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health for the past 15 years, and the principal investigator on multiple R01 grants. She has also received research funding from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and American Heart Association. She is an experienced clinical trialist and serves on the executive committee for multiple international clinical trials focused on novel cardiovascular therapies.

Dr. Taub holds multiple patents, edited multiple textbooks and is widely published with high-impact publications in top peer-reviewed journals that have impacted clinical practice. She also has served on multiple guideline committees and most recently on the 2025 AHA/ACC guidelines for management of patients with acute coronary syndrome.

Dr. Taub holds multiple leadership positions in professional societies. She is a fellow and a former board member of the American Society of Preventive Cardiology, a fellow and prior member of the American College of Cardiology Prevention of CV Disease Leadership Council, and currently the Chair of the American Heart Association Women in Cardiology Committee.

He is an MD, cardiologist and heart failure (HF) specialist and PhD in clinical pharmacology. Eugene Braunwald Scholar, visiting Professor at Brigham & Women’s hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USAin 2019. FZ has pioneered and made significant contributions to research and care in HF, such as evidence-based therapy for HF (mainly mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists and beta-blockers, SGLT2 inhibitors, Sacubutril-Valsaratn), as well as in major comorbid diseases in HF, such as sleep-disordered breathing, autonomic nervous dysfunction, diabetes, hyperkalaemia, chronic kidney disease and thrombosis. He recently led two important European-granted HF biomarker and fibrosis programmes and is steering several ongoing major HF trials. He successfully implemented the largest HF disease management programme in France (ICALOR).

He has served as Chairman of the French Society of Hypertension, Chairman of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Working Group on Pharmacology and Drug Therapy, and as a board member of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC. He is the founder of the Global CardioVascular Clinical Trialists (CVCT) Forum and Workshop, an annual international think tank dedicated to the science of clinical trials, with meetings in Paris and Washington D.C. in the Middle East and Asia. Professor Zannad has published more than 950 peer-reviewed papers, several books and book chapters. He received the 2014 European Society of Hypertension Paul Milliez Award, the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award from the ESC-HFA, and the Trophées des Etoiles of the French Ministry of Research.