Dr. Lakatta received his M.D. from Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C. in 1970. His postdoctoral training included an internship and residency in medicine at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester School of Medicine, cardiology fellowships at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins University Hospitals, and basic research training at NIH and at the Department of Physiology, University College, London, England. He was section chief of the Cardiovascular Laboratory in the Clinical Physiology Branch, Intermural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health from 1976 to 1985, at which time he founded the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Science at the NIA/NIH. *Dr. Lakatta is presenting in his personal capacity.

Giannie is an early career Research Fellow at the Victorian Heart Institute at Monash University. She completed her PhD in Cardiovascular Physiology, studying the effects of the renin-angiotensin system in postmenopausal hypertension, at the Biomedicine Discovery Institute (Monash Uni). She was then awarded a Bridging Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Faculty in 2021, enabling her to extend her research focus to novel treatments for hypertensive pregnancies in the Vascular Pathophysiology and Therapeutics Group at the VHI. In 2022 Giannie joined the Department of Cardiology at the Kolling Institute of Medical Research (University of Sydney) where she researched coronary artery disease and heart failure. She returns to the VHI this year with a strong focus on age and sex-related differences in the pathophysiology and management of cardiovascular disease. She is a strong advocate for education and awareness surrounding the interplay between female-specific conditions and cardiovascular disease.

Dr Jordyn Thomas is a research fellow in the Translational Vascular Therapeutics Group whose research focuses on the role of inflammation in cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis and peripheral artery disease. Jordyn completed her Ph.D. at La Trobe University (2021) and her thesis "Defining the Role of IL-18 in the Renal Inflammation Leading to Hypertension '' was awarded the Nancy Millis Medal. Jordyn is currently investigating the role of clonal haematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) in peripheral artery disease and unstable atherosclerosis, and hopes to uncover new anti-inflammatory targets for these diseases. Jordyn is passionate about raising the profile of cardiovascular disease research in Australia and improving scientific literacy among the general public. Notably, Jordyn has received the Hypertension Australia Judith Whitworth abstract award (2019), best oral presentation at the Baker/La Trobe Cardiovascular Symposium (2020) and first place in the La Trobe Visualize Your Thesis competition (2020).

Clara Jiang is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland. Clara's research focuses on using genomic and transcriptomic analysis to investigate the genetic basis of psychiatric disorders and cardiovascular diseases, and to explore potential opportunities for drug repurposing.

Dr Joshua Wong is a cardiologist and PhD research fellow in Cardio-Oncology and Cardiac Imaging at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute through the University of Melbourne under the supervision of Professor Tom Marwick. His PhD thesis is entitled “Detection and control of heart failure risk in cancer survivors”. Dr Wong holds an appointment at The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre/Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He is also completing a part-time fellowship in advanced cardiac imaging at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. His specialty areas of interest are cardio-oncology, heart failure and non-invasive imaging.

Dr Kristen Bubb is the lead of the Translational Vascular Therapeutics Group at Monash University Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Victorian Heart Institute. Her work is focused on identifying new treatments for vascular diseases by understanding the fundamental vascular pathophysiology. Dr Bubb has focused on pulmonary hypertension which drives right ventricle failure and has published work on multiple potential novel therapies, in addition to leading methodology development for right ventricle pressure and imaging measurements in mice. She is also leading studies into peripheral artery disease, atherosclerosis progression and hypertension/left ventricle failure in humans.