RISE @ ESC CONGRESS 2026
Faculty
Discover who will guide your learning at this year’s conference.
The RISE @ ESC Congress 2026 faculty is a distinguished group of leaders shaping the future of cardiology. Representing a diverse and global network of experts, they are advancing clinical practice and research while championing the next generation of women in cardiology.
Each faculty member brings unique perspectives, experience, and a strong commitment to leadership, mentorship, and innovation. Get to know the individuals who are guiding and inspiring discussions, leading practical sessions, and sharing strategies for success on the global stage.
The Program Directors
Pamela Douglas, MD
USA
Pamela S Douglas, MD is the Ursula Geller Distinguished Professor of Research in Cardiovascular Diseases in the Department of Medicine at Duke University.
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She has led several landmark multicenter randomized clinical trials and outcomes research studies and is renowned for her scientific and policy work in improving the quality and appropriateness of imaging in clinical care, clinical trials, and registries. Dr Douglas helped to establish several important specialty areas including heart disease in women, sports cardiology, and cardio-oncology.
Dr. Douglas’ wealth of experience includes authorship of over 650 peer reviewed manuscripts and 30 practice guidelines, service as the President of the American College of Cardiology, President of the American Society of Echocardiography, and Chief of Cardiology at both the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Duke University.
She has served on the External Advisory Council of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the Scientific Advisory Boards of the National Space Biomedical Institute and the Patient Advocate Foundation. Among her most cherished recognitions are the naming in her honor of the American College of Cardiology’s Distinguished Leadership Award in Diversity and Inclusion and the American Society of Echocardiography’s Research Scholar Award.
María Rubini, MD
Spain
Associate Professor Rubini is a researcher at the Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research in Madrid and Clinical Cardiology Practitioner at the Ascires Biomedical Group in Valencia. Her research focuses on cardiovascular gender disparities and preventive cardiology.
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Over the last 12 years, Associate Professor Rubini was actively involved in the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). As Chairperson of the 2024-2026 ESC Gender Task Force, she plans to support the comprehensive application of gender policy across ESC activities, foster networks and partnerships to strengthen capacity and ensure visibility for ESC gender initiatives. She is also committed to raising awareness, integrate sex- and gender-specific considerations into care, and advocate for greater representation of women in cardiovascular research.
Zainab Samad, MBBS, MHS
Pakistan
Dr. Zainab Samad is chairwoman of the Department of Medicine at Aga Khan University (AKU) in Pakistan and currently serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University.
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She attended Medical School at the Aga Khan University Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan and thereafter completed her residency training in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Cardiology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. Additionally, she completed advanced training in cardiovascular imaging, specifically in clinical echocardiography, cardiac MRI and SPECT-myocardial perfusion imaging. She is also trained in quantitative methods with a Master of Health Sciences in Clinical Research degree from the National Institutes of Health- Duke Clinical Research Training Program. She served on faculty in the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine for nine years before accepting the position at AKU in 2018. She resides full-time in Karachi.
Malissa J. Wood, MD
USA
Dr Wood is the Chief Medical Officer at Women As One and the Founder of the Corrigan Women’s Heart Health Program and the MGH Multidisciplinary SCAD Program.
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Dr. Wood completed her undergraduate and medical degrees in the combined B.A/M.D program from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, followed by training in internal medicine and cardiovascular medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, where she served as Chief Medical Resident. She joined the staff of Massachusetts General Hospital in 2000, where she founded and co-directed the Corrigan Women’s Heart Health Program and the MGH Multidisciplinary SCAD Program.
A dedicated advocate for diversity and equity, Dr. Wood served as the Associate Chief of Cardiology for Diversity and Health Equity and is currently serving on the Steering Committee of the iSCAD Registry. A past Chair of the ACC Board of Governors and former Trustee and Secretary of the ACC, she most recently served as the Vice President and Chief Physician Executive of the Lee Health Heart Institute in Fort Myers, Florida, and Professor of Medicine at the Florida State University College of Medicine. She is the 2025 recipient of the ACC Bernadine Healy Leadership in Cardiovascular Disease in Women Award.
The Keynote speaker
Lotte Bjerre Knudsen, DMSc
Denmark
Lotte Bjerre Knudsen is the Former Chief Scientific Advisor for the SCO of Novo Nordisk.
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She heads up the team IDEA (Innovation & Data Experimentation Advancement) that focuses entirely on human data driven insights to inform drug discovery. Lotte is a long-time employee of Novo Nordisk, since 1989. Lotte is a co-inventor of liraglutide and has led all biology research programs for liraglutide and semaglutide from diabetes to obesity, cardiovascular, liver, kidney and Alzheimer’s Disease. She has been part of representing Novo Nordisk in five FDA Advisory committees.
Lotte holds a degree in biotechnology from the Technical University of Denmark, and a Doctoral Degree in Scientific Medicine from the University of Copenhagen, and she is an Adjunct Professor of Translational Medicine for Aarhus University. Lotte has an H-index of 64, is an inventor on numerous patents, and most prominently a recipient of the Paul Langerhans Award, the Science Mani Bhaumik Breakthrough of the Year Award, the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Research Award and the Breakthrough Prize of Life Sciences.
The Master of Ceremonies
Julia Lueg, MD
Germany
Dr. Julia Lueg is a cardiologist at the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité (DHZC) in Berlin since 2019, board-certified in 2026.
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Her clinical focus is cardiovascular care in women during and outside of pregnancy. She leads the Women’s Cardiology clinic at Campus Mitte and is part of the interdisciplinary Pregnancy Heart Team. In 2025 she received funding by the German ministry of Research for a project to reduce the Gender Data Gap in clinical research. She passionately tries to improve interdisciplinary research in the field of Cardio-Obstetrics and serves on the steering committee of the German Working Group on Gender Medicine in Cardiology. Her clinical interests extend to electrophysiology where she completed a three-month fellowship in Bordeaux, focused on sudden cardiac death prevention. She loves traveling and is fluent in English and French, the latter acquired during a school exchange in Avignon, France. After an Erasmus stay in Padova, Italy she also speaks solid Italian.
The Faculty
Shrilla Banerjee, MBBS
United Kingdom
Dr Shrilla Banerjee is a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, UK. She has a particular interest in coronary artery disease (prevention and complex intervention) in Women, and also in Aviation Cardiology.
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Dr Banerjee has been associated with Women As One as a CLIMB attendee herself in 2020 and then an Escalator Award Mentor-Match Award Winner in 2021, and with Dr Aaysha Cader produced a Mentorship package for delivery worldwide. Dr Banerjee is a passionate advocate for women in her specialty, and has developed strategies aimed at balancing the gender-based disparity in Cardiology, especially procedure-based Cardiology. This builds on her work as British Cardiovascular Interventional Society (BCIS) Chair of the Focus Group for Women in Interventional Cardiology, which has resulted in change-drivers and campaigns to shape a more equitable future in Interventional Cardiology.
Barbara Casadei, MD, DPhil
United Kingdom
Dr. Barbara Casadei is currently British Heart Foundation (BHF) Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, Honorary Consultant Cardiologist, and Head of the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London.
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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. Since 1 February 2026, Barbara has served as the EiC of JAMA Cardiology.
Silvia Castelletti, MD
Italy
Dr. Castelletti is a cardiologist in Udine, Italy and the chair of the Sports Cardiology and Exercise section of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC).
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Dr. Castelletti graduated in Medicine with honors from the University of Pavia, where she also passed the board examination with honors and became a Specialist in Cardiology. She has been working in inherited cardiac disorders (channelopathies and cardiomyopathies) and on cardiac MRI imaging since her training in cardiology. She moved to London for a fellowship in cardiomyopathies and cardiac MRI imaging at the former The Heart Hospital of the University College of London. She then completed her MSc in Sports Cardiology at St. George’s University of London, where she was appointed Honorary Senior Lecturer. Her interests include sports cardiology, inherited cardiac diseases, cardiac magnetic resonance, and prevention of sudden cardiac death in the young.
She is an ESC Fellow and the chair of the Sports Cardiology and Exercise section of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC). She is also ESC Fellowship Task Force member, Executive Editor of the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, Deputy Editor of the EHJ-Quality of Care and Clinical Outcomes, Associate Editor of BMJ- OpenHeart.
At a National Level, she is a nucleus member of the Italian Society of Cardiology Cardiac Rehabilitation Working Group, a former nucleus member of the Italian Society of Sports Cardiology and of the working group of Inherited Cardiac Disorders of the Italian Society of Cardiology. She has chaired both the European and the Italian first consensus documents on the indication of genetic testing in athletes, published in 2022. She has taken part to Italian and American guidelines for participation in sports and to the 2025 ESC Guidelines for the management of cardiovascular diseases and pregnancy. On In her free time, she enjoys trekking, diving and playing the piano, as well as visiting exhibitions and going to the theatre.
Manjusha Chatterjee
United Kingdom
Manjusha Chatterjee is Head of Programs and Development at Global Heart Hub. Her role includes oversight of the organisation’s cross-cutting programmatic initiatives supporting patient-led advocacy, research and policy interventions to improve cardiovascular health and synergies with broader global health and development agendas.
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Manjusha has nearly 15 years of health advocacy, policy, communications, coalition building, and capacity development experience across multiple sectors. Manjusha previously worked at AstraZeneca leading the company’s global patient advocacy and policy activities across several cancer types and focusing on access to medicines, cross-sector partnerships, and improvements in patient-health worker relationships. Prior experience includes the NCD Alliance where she oversaw the global, flagship Our Views, Our Voices initiative focused on meaningful involvement of people living with non-communicable diseases and was global grant manager for several capacity development and community engagement activities across multiple geographies. Manjusha also served as Co-Chair of the World Health Organisation’s NCD Lab on Meaningful Involvement of People Living with NCDs and represented NCD Alliance at the Patients and Communities Working Group of the WHO Academy.
Currently based in the UK, Manjusha is originally from India, where she has led national health advocacy and communications initiatives while working at the Public Health Foundation of India and in collaboration with India’s Ministry of Health and WHO Country Office. She has a multidisciplinary background including degrees in Journalism, Conflict Transformation & Peacebuilding and Global Politics
Jeanine Cordova, PhD
USA
Jeanine serves as the Cardiometabolic expert on Amgen’s Global Medical team, working closely with cross-functional colleagues and opinion leaders to help patients living with Obesity.
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At Amgen, Jeanine leads the medical affairs strategy for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease, Heart Failure and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. She is passionate about health optimization and views the effective treatment of obesity as an opportunity to make an impact in an alarming public health challenge.
Prior to Amgen, Jeanine held leadership roles in the US and Global medical teams at Boehringer Ingelheim and Cytokinetics in the Metabolic and Cardiovascular space. In these roles, Jeanine has been integral in building medical affairs teams and strategies allowing novel therapies to reach their intended patient.
In addition to her industry experience, Jeanine has a PhD in peptide biochemistry as an NSF fellow under the advisement of Giovanna Ghirlanda and a NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship in insulin signaling and mitochondrial function in people living with obesity under the mentorship of Larry Mandarino.
Julia Dmitrieva, RDMS, RDCS, RVT, FSVU
USA
Dr. Julia Dmitrieva is the Head of Clinical Science and Collaborations at Siemens Healthineers, where she leads global clinical evidence generation strategy and research partnerships in cardiovascular imaging.
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With over 15 years of cross-modality experience spanning across ultrasound, MRI, CT, and enterprise informatics, she brings a unique perspective shaped by her journey from frontline patient care to global leadership. A passionate advocate for inclusive AI innovation and women in STEM, Dr. Dmitrieva is dedicated to building collaborative networks that ensure research reflects the full spectrum of patient populations and drives equitable change in cardiovascular care.
Miriam Fugfugosh
Switzerland
Miriam collaborates with Center for Creative Leadership® as a facilitator and workshop designer.
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Miriam’s experience in facilitation has been in multicultural, multinational, and multilingual environments across four continents with individuals of varying educational and professional backgrounds, and in various positions of hierarchies. One of Miriam’s passions is the promotion of equity and ensuring that opportunities are available to all. In this vein, she has founded and contributes to various programmes in women’s leadership enhancement and programmes that expand learning opportunities to otherwise under-represented audiences internationally.
Background and Industry Experience
For over 25 years, Miriam has contributed to learning opportunities for professionals in the public and private sector. She has worked with clients in the fields of peace enhancement, governance, global health systems, trade, administrative services, insurance, community resilience, advocacy and human rights with individuals associated with national ministries, international organizations, foundations, NGOs, civil society and international corporations.
In addition to her Associate Faculty position with CCL, Miriam is also affiliated with the Geneva Centre for
Security Policy (GCSP), with the Geneva Leadership Alliance (GLA), with Thriving Talent and works as a freelance facilitator and advisor as well. Previously in her career, Miriam was part of the faculty at Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) for over a decade where she contributed to a culture of experiential learning tailored to adult-learning needs, to the expansion of course offerings and dialogue events, to the increase of diversity among course participants and speakers, to the establishment of the organization’s activities promoting gender equity and inclusion and the first course specifically for women in leadership at the centre.
Earlier in her career, Miriam worked at the grassroots level in community outreach and development projects in Bolivian townships, in inner-city California, and in rural South Africa – the latter in her capacity as a United States Peace Corps volunteer. Working with NGOs, community centers and state structures, Miriam’s project partners included youth populations, educators, migrants, low-income families, homeless individuals, recovering addicts and former convicts.
Education and Professional Affiliations
Miriam holds a Master’s degree in International Policy Studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California; a Master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Geneva, and Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of California, San Diego.
She holds certificates in ‘Conflict Transformation and Dialogue Facilitation’ with the Institute for Conflict
Transformation in Bern, Switzerland; in Leadership Development with the Centre for Creative Leadership® in the United States. She is also certified in various assessment instruments including the CCL Benchmarks® Suite of 360 Assessments, the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behaviour (FIRO-B), the WorkPlace Big Five (WPB5), the Leader Networks Diagnostics, the Change Style Indicator, Change Navigator, the Conflict Dynamics Profile and the Influence Style Indicator.
Flávia Geraldes
United Kingdom
Flávia Geraldes is a Senior Editor at The Lancet and serves as one of the journal’s Cardiology Ambassadors.
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She is also a member of The Lancet’s Fast Track team, handling high impact submissions requiring rapid editorial turnaround. In addition to her primary interests in cardiology, she handles manuscripts across a range of clinical disciplines, mainly oncology, gene therapy, nephrology, and hepatology, with a particular focus on randomised clinical trials.
Before joining The Lancet in 2020, Flávia worked as a Journal Development Specialist for the open access journal Frontiers in Oncology. Prior to that, she was a Scientific Officer at the Institute of Cancer Research (London, UK), contributing to DNA sequencing studies supporting phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of targeted therapies for ovarian, lung, and prostate cancers. She holds a degree in Biomedical Science in Histocellular Pathology from the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Portugal.
Tomasso Gori, MD, PhD
Germany
Tommaso Gori is Professor at the University Medical Center of Mainz, Germany where he also leads the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory.
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He obtained his title of Dottore in Medicina e Chirurgia (MD equivalent) from the University of Siena, Italy, and his PhD from the University of Toronto, Canada. He has worked in Siena, Italy (Department of Medicine II, Director Prof S Forconi), Toronto, Canada (Mount Sinai Hospital, Director Prof JD Parker) and Mainz, Germany (Department of Kardiologie I, Director Prof T Münzel). Winner of 19 international awards, among which the American Heart Association – S.A. Levine Young Investigator Award and the Young Investigator Award of the American College of Cardiology, both in the year 2001. Dr Gori has authored 281 (May 2020) peer-reviewed papers in the fields of endothelial (dys)function, mechanisms of action and effects of organic nitrates, physiology of the coronary circulation, oxidative Stress, interventional cardiology.
Kendra Grubb, MD, MHA, MSc
USA
Dr. Kendra Grubb is a nationally recognized cardiac surgeon and structural heart specialist, as well as a healthcare leader, currently serving as VP and Chief Medical Officer for Medtronic’s Structural Heart business.
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She 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.
Catharina Hamm, MD
Germany
Dr. Catharina Hamm is a board-certified cardiologist specializing in preventive cardiology, women’s cardiovascular health, and sports cardiology. She currently serve as Deputy Chair of the Working Group on Gender Medicine of the German Cardiac Society (DGK), where she is actively involved in advancing sex-specific cardiovascular medicine through education, research, and professional initiatives.
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After more than 15 years at Kerckhoff Heart Center, one of Germany’s leading cardiovascular centers, she founded her own cardiology practice, Cardio.Hamm, in 2025, with a special focus on cardiovascular prevention and women’s heart health.
Her background in interventional cardiology, particularly in the treatment of patients with acute myocardial infarction, highlighted the persistent sex disparities in cardiovascular care. Witnessing that women were still less likely to receive timely diagnoses, guideline-directed therapies, and adequate representation in cardiovascular research inspired her to dedicate her work to prevention, early risk detection, and improving cardiovascular outcomes for women.
Beyond her clinical work, Dr. Hamm is a bestselling author, international speaker, and science communicator. Through her books, lectures, and social media channels, she is committed to translating the latest scientific evidence into accessible cardiovascular education and raising awareness of women’s heart health and prevention.
Vijay Kunadian, MBBS, MD, MRCP (Edin), FRCP (Edin), FACC, FESC, PG Dip Clinical Trials (LSHTM)
United Kingdom
Professor Kunadian is a Professor of Interventional Cardiology holding a Personal Chair at Newcastle University and Honorary Academic Consultant Interventional Cardiologist Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
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Professor Kunadian completed all her cardiology and interventional cardiology training in the Northeast of England. She undertook an international academic fellowship in cardiology at the TIMI/PERFUSE Study group, Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston MA. Professor Kunadian has an international reputation in interventional cardiology and cardiovascular research, making her a sought-after and respected speaker at prominent national and international meetings. She has championed diversity in her specialty as a role model; only 5% of interventional cardiologist are female in the UK, <1% are clinical academics/researchers and the first female interventional cardiologist to hold a University Personal Chair. She is recipient of the UK Department of Health National Clinical Excellence Award. She is National Cardiovascular Specialty Group Lead, UK NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) Research Delivery Network. She is the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society Research and Development Working Group National Lead and Council Member.
She has developed internationally recognised expertise in managing cardiovascular disease (CVD) among under-served groups (older adults and women with CVD). She is UK Chief Investigator/Country Lead/National Co-ordinating investigator in many multicentre clinical trials. She has published >250 peer reviewed publications in major journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, Nature Reviews, European Heart Journal, Circulation, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Heart BMJ, JAMA Cardiology, JAMA. She introduced the various UK NIHR Clinical Academic Training Fellowship Programmes in the Northeast of England and recruitment of highly talented academic cardiology trainees in her role as academic lead.
She has campaigned on the national media including the BBC (local, national and world news), BBC Radio 5, BBC Radio 4, ITV, Channel 4 and newspapers to improve the care of patients with heart disease in particular women and heart disease. She was awarded Winner of the UK Times and the Sunday Times We Are The City Rising Star Award (Top 5 Women in Healthcare Category) for 2018. In 2022 she was nominated for the British Heart Foundation Heart Hero Research Engagement Award. She was a finalist for the 2023 Northern Power Women Awards- Disruptor for Good Category. She was voted Inspirational Woman in Newcastle University in 2023. In 2025, she was the Winner of the Clinical Research Excellence Award, Global Cardiovascular Awards.
Bonnie Ky, MD, MSCE
USA
Dr. Bonnie Ky is the Founder’s Professor of Cardio-Oncology and a tenured physician scientist at the University of Pennsylvania.
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She leads a highly active NIH-, AHA-, and PCORI-funded clinical translational research program in cardio-oncology with the fundamental goals of advancing actionable science to improve the cardiovascular care of our cancer patients. She is the Principal Investigator of multiple cohort studies focused on determining individual patient risk, through detailed phenotyping of the social determinants of health, clinical, biologic markers, and imaging-derived measures of cardiac function, and clinical trials focused on mitigating cardiovascular disease risk.
She is the Director of the Thalheimer Center for Cardio-Oncology, the Founding Director of the Penn Translational Cardio-Oncology Center of Excellence, and Director of the Penn Center for Quantitative Echocardiography. She is the immediate past Chair of the NIH Clinical Integrative Cardiovascular and Hematological Sciences Study Section. She is the inaugural Chair of the NCI ECOG-ACRIN Cardiotoxicity subcommittee and the co-Chair of the St Jude Children’s Research Hospital Cardiopulmonary Renal Working Group.
She is the founding Editor-in-Chief of JACC: CardioOncology, inducted member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and Association of University Cardiologists; elected former member of the Sarnoff Research Committee; elected member of the American College of Cardiology Board of Trustees; and recipient of the ECOG-ACRIN Young Investigator Award, the International Cardio-Oncology Society Thomas Force Leadership Award, and the 2025 American College of Cardiology Distinguished Scientist Award in the Translational Domain.
Jane Leopold, MD
USA
Dr. Jane Leopold is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Women’s Interventional Cardiology Health Initiative and Director of the Cardiovascular Research Cores at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
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Her clinical research involves using precision medicine approaches to characterize the pathobiological mechanisms underlying complex cardiopulmonary vascular diseases 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, editorials 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.
Carolin Lerchenmüller, MD
Switzerland
Professor Carolin Lerchenmüller is the Chair of Gender Medicine at the University of Zurich, cardiologist in the Cardiology Department of the University Hospital Zurich and heads the Women’s Heart Health Program / Gender Medicine in Cardiology Clinic.
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Carolin Lerchenmüller studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg, where she also became board certified as a cardiologist at the University Hospital. After a research stay at MGH/Harvard Medical School, she took over the leadership of the Cardiac Remodeling and Regeneration Laboratory in Heidelberg. In 2021, she founded and has since led the Gender Medicine Network Heidelberg.
In 2024, Carolin Lerchenmüller accepted a position at the University of Zurich, where she took over the newly established Chair of Gender Medicine and continues her clinical work in the Cardiology Department of the University Hospital Zurich and heads the Women’s Heart Health Program / Gender Medicine in Cardiology Clinic.
Prof. Lerchenmüller follows two research streams. One focuses on the protective effects of exercise on the heart, especially with respect to sex differences. She is also interested in better understanding past and present gaps in global research concerning Gender Medicine and the role of equity and diversity in medicine and science.
Gregory Lim, MA (Oxon.), DPhil
United Kingdom
Gregory Lim MA (Oxon.), DPhil is the Chief Editor of Nature Reviews Cardiology.
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Gregory took a first-class undergraduate degree in Physiological Sciences from Exeter College at the University of Oxford, UK. He then moved to Merton College, Oxford, to read for a DPhil in Cardiovascular Medicine, funded by the British Heart Foundation. Dr Lim joined Nature Reviews Cardiology in 2011 and has been the Chief Editor since 2015. Nature Reviews Cardiology is the leading journal in the field of cardiology and cardiovascular systems (2024 Impact Factor: 44.2) and publishes reviews, news and opinion articles across the spectrum of basic and translational cardiovascular research and clinical cardiology.
Cecilia Linde, MD, PhD
Sweden
Cecilia Linde is a Professor in Cardiology at Karolinska University Hospital and the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden.
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She was previously head of Cardiology at the Karolinska University Hospital. Her research focuses on devices such as cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) and epidemiology in heart failure. She was the principal or co-principal investigator of international Randomised controlled studies on cardiac resynchronisation therapy CRT for heart failure such as the MUSTIC, REVERSE, MIRACLE-EF and in cardiac contractility modulation trials such as the CCM HFpEF study. She has previously been the director of the Swedish Pacemaker and ICD registry. She is currently the President Elect of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 2024-2026 with special focus on National Societies of Cardiology and Advocacy. Professor Linde contributed to many guidelines of European Heart Rhythm Association and Heart Failure Association. She has authored over 400 papers, reviews and editorials covering a wide variety of topics and is the executive editor for the topic heart failure of European Heart Journal.
Beata Maj, MD, MBA
Switzerland
Dr. Beata Maj, MD, MBA, is VP, Head of International Medical Affairs for Transthyretin (TTR) Amyloidosis at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, where she leads medical strategy and execution across international markets for ATTR amyloidosis, a rare and progressive cardiovascular and neurological disease.
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She oversees multidisciplinary medical teams and collaborates with global and regional stakeholders to advance scientific exchange, evidence generation, and patient access to innovative RNAi-based therapies.
Dr. Maj brings more than 20 years of experience in global and international medical affairs and clinical development across rare diseases and oncology. Throughout her career at Alnylam, AstraZeneca, and LabCorp, she has built and led high-performing international clinical and medical organizations and driven strategic initiatives across Europe, Canada, and other global markets.
She is passionate about addressing disparities in diagnosis and care, including improving recognition and outcomes for women living with ATTR amyloidosis. Her interest in health equity also extends to clinical research, and she has contributed to work on improving diversity and representation in clinical trials to help ensure that research populations better reflect the patients they are intended to serve.
As a female physician and international medical leader, Dr. Maj is committed to developing diverse talent and fostering inclusive leadership in medicine.
Bradley Maron, MD
USA
Dr. Bradley Maron is the Senior Associate Dean for Precision Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the Melvin Sharoky Professor of Medicine, and an Executive Co-Executive Director of the University of Maryland-Institute for Health Computing (UM-IHC) in North Bethesda, Maryland.
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Recently, Dr. Maron was named the next Editor-in-Chief of Circulation. His research interfaces redox biochemistry, network medicine, and next-generation bioinformatics to discover novel mechanisms underpinning cardiovascular disease. He has led collaborative projects contributing to drug development programs and epidemiological reports establishing cardiovascular risk. Collaborative research programs that led changed the hemodynamic criteria used to diagnose pulmonary hypertension in clinical practice worldwide.
Dr. Maron has co-authored over 240 scientific manuscripts, holds co-inventorship of several innovations, and is funded by the National Institutes of Health among other Foundations. He is the President of the Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute, a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and a recipient of numerous awards for teaching. His wife of 25 years, Jill Maron, M.D., M.P.H. is a physician-scientist and neonatologist. Their daughter Alexis is studying musical theater at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and son Jack is a varsity swim team member at Brown University.
Roxana Mehran, MD
USA
Roxana Mehran, MD, FACC, FACP, FCCP, FESC, FAHA, MSCAI is an internationally renowned interventional cardiologist, clinical research expert and trialist in the field of cardiovascular disease.
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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 2026-2027 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.
Manesh Patel, MD
USA
Dr. Manesh Patel is president-elect of the American Heart Association for 2025-26. He is Chief of the Division of Cardiology, Vice President of Heart and Vascular Services for Duke Health, the Richard Stack Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine, and senior investigator at the Duke Clinical Research Institute.
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Dr. Patel received his medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine. He completed his residency and fellowship in cardiology at Duke University.
Dr. Patel is an interventional cardiologist with expertise in the care of people with coronary and peripheral vascular disease. His research areas of focus include evaluating antithrombotic therapies for heart disease and peripheral vascular disease, the imaging and physiologic assessment atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, and work to improve and facilitate the conduct of clinical trials. Dr. Patel has led several clinical trials and has published over 500 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, editorials, and has been named in the top 1% of highly cited researchers by web of sciences. He is currently focused on developing systems to discover and deliver innovative personalized care to improve cardiovascular health.
Dr. Patel’s efforts were recognized with election to the Association of University Cardiologists (AUC), American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), and American Association of Physicians (AAP). In 2022, he received the School of Medicine Career Mentoring Award and was named the Ron Stoney Vascular Hero by Vascular Cures. In 2023, Dr. Patel was named the American Heart Association Physician of the year. Dr. Patel is a longtime volunteer and spokesperson for the American Heart Association and Past Chair of the Committee on Scientific Sessions Program. He also serves in leadership roles at the local and national levels, including the National Board of Directors.
Borjana Pervan
Switzerland
Borjana Pervan is the Chief Executive Officer of the World Heart Federation (WHF), leading strategic direction, external impact, and organizational alignment.
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She led initiatives such as the World Heart Vision 2030, focusing on strengthening health systems and promoting healthier hearts globally. Under her leadership, WHF’s public campaigns have reached over 2 billion people worldwide, significantly raising global awareness and mobilizing partnerships and resources for cardiovascular health. Member engagement, critical to this success, has grown by over 74% since the launch of the USE your HEART campaign in 2020.
With nearly two decades of international leadership experience in global health, climate action, sustainability, and development, Borjana previously held senior roles at the International Cocoa Initiative and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), advancing sustainability, child protection, and environmental governance. Originally from Bulgaria, her early career as an investigative journalist included exposing international human trafficking and money laundering networks.
At WHF, Borjana’s priority is uniting a diverse, global community of over 240 organizations around the shared vision of achieving heart health for everyone. Driven by courage, curiosity, and creativity, she collaborates with colleagues, members, and partners to build compelling narratives grounded in science, advocate for actionable policy changes, and inspire behaviour change globally. Borjana also contributes to global and national climate and environmental initiatives in voluntary capacities.
Jean-Francois Riffaud
France
Jean-François Riffaud is the Chief Executive Officer at the European Society of Cardiology and is a recognised expert in public interest, social economy, humanitarian aid, and international development.
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After initial experience at Radio France Internationale and two years at the French Embassy in
Lebanon, Jean-Francois 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-Francois 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 in July 2023, is board member of IDAF and France generosites and holds a Master II in International Economic and Development Law (University of Paris V).
Sunnhild Salmen, PhD
Germany
Dr. Salmen is Head of Medical Engagement and Excellence at Daiichi Sankyo Europe, where she leads strategic initiatives to advance scientific engagement, medical excellence, and stakeholder collaboration in cardiovascular medicine.
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Dr. Salmen brings more than 20 years of experience in national and international medical affairs, with a strong track record of shaping medical strategy and driving organizational excellence across diverse healthcare environments. Throughout her career, she has built and led high-performing medical affairs teams, fostered scientific partnerships, and successfully implemented initiatives that strengthen medical capabilities and support improved patient outcomes.
She is particularly passionate about advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in healthcare and clinical research. Her work includes raising awareness of gender disparities in cardiovascular disease and supporting research initiatives aimed at understanding and overcoming barriers to clinical trial participation, helping ensure that research populations better reflect the patients they are intended to serve.
As a medical leader, Dr. Salmen is committed to developing diverse talent, cultivating inclusive leadership, and empowering teams to deliver scientific excellence and meaningful impact for patients and healthcare systems worldwide.
Alta Schutte, PhD
Australia
Alta Schutte (PhD FESC ISHF FRSSAf FAHMS) is Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at UNSW Sydney and Global Co-Director of the Cardiovascular Division at The George Institute for Global Health.
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Internationally recognised as a leader in hypertension, she has contributed to more than 580 scientific publications, including in the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet and JAMA. She was senior author of the 2020 International Society of Hypertension Global Hypertension Guidelines and is a Past President of the Society.
She is Co-Chair of the National Hypertension Taskforce of Australia and Deputy President of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance. Her major honours include the American Heart Association Harriet Dustan Award (2022), the World Hypertension League Peter Sleight Excellence Award (2023), the NHMRC Fiona Stanley Award for Australia’s highest-ranked $5 million Synergy Grant (2024). She was named Australia’s leading researcher in Vascular Medicine by The Australian in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Alta received the International Society of Hypertension’s Outstanding Women in Hypertension Research Award (2024).
Liesl Zühlke, MBChB, DCH, FCPaeds Cert Card, MPH, MSc, PhD
South Africa
Professor Liesl Zühlke, MBChB DCH FCPaeds Cert Card MPH FESC FACC MSc PhD, is a paediatric cardiologist in the Dept. of Paediatric Cardiology at Red Cross Children’s Hospital and directs the Children’s Heart Disease Research Unit focused on family-centred research into Children’s Heart Diseases of relevance in Africa.
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Her research projects span congenital and Rheumatic Heart disease, Grown-up Congenital heart disease and cardiac disease in women of childbearing age. She was the recipient of the 2018 MRC/Dfid African research leader Award. She is the only female full Professor of Paediatric Cardiology in her country and is passionate about mentoring women in Cardiology practice and leadership. She has delivered several talks in this regard and is part of the Lancet commission for Cardiovascular disease in Women.
A speaker at all the premier international cardiology congresses, she recently delivered a lecture to the Academy of Medical Sciences in London on “Developing capacity for clinical research in low and middle-income countries”, another personal passion and was a designed rising star at the Gates Grand Challenges meeting held in Ethiopia in October 2019. She leads the PROTEA study” Partnerships for Congenital Heart Disease in Africa” focusing on describing the epidemiology and genetic origins of Congenital Heart Disease in several countries in Africa.
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Explore the sessions led by this exceptional faculty of senior leaders and experts in clinical care, research, and business, offering fresh perspectives and practical strategies you can apply in your own career.
