Yoshihiko Saito, a physician-scientist in the cardiovascular field, graduated from Nara Medical University in 1981 and started his scientific career in 1985 at Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine. He got his thesis on natriuretic peptides' clinical and pathological significance in 1990. He moved to the National Cardiovascular Center Research Institute to study protein purification and molecular biology. He was appointed to Nara Medical University as a professor of the First Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine, in 2002. He is currently CEO of Nara Prefecture Seiwa Medical Center from 2022. During the last 35 years, he has studied the three primary research targets: the diagnostic and therapeutic application of natriuretic peptides in heart failure, the molecular mechanism of cardiorenal connection, and the creation of clinical evidence of heart failure management using cohort and big data analyses. He published over 600 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including NEJM, JAMA, JCI, Circulation, Circ Res, JACC, EHJ, and JMCC, with an H-index of 98. He received many honourable awards, including the President’s Distinguished Lecture Award in 2019 from ISHR and the Japanese Heart Failure Society Distinguished Leader Award in 2023. He has been the president of ISHR International since 2022.

Professor Girish Dwivedi, MD, DM, MRCP (UK), PhD (UK), FESC, FASE, FSCCT, FCSANZ, is the inaugural Wesfarmers Chair in Cardiology at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, University of Western Australia (UWA), and Consultant Cardiologist at Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch, Perth. He leads the "Advanced Clinical and Translational Cardiovascular Imaging" group at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research (University of Western Australia) and also holds the position of Joint Head of the Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes Program at Perkins, as well as serving as the Director of the Cardiometabolic Clinic at the Centre for Cardiometabolic Health and Research, Fiona Stanley Hospital. He has >250 manuscripts accepted or published. Several of his original research manuscripts have been published in top-tier journals such as Annals of Internal Medicine, JACC, Circulation, JACC-Imaging, and Circulation Heart Failure. He has written chapters in a highly prestigious book in Cardiology (Principles and Practice of Clinical Cardiovascular Genetics published by Oxford University Press). His group has conducted pioneering work examining the association of inflammation and atherosclerosis. He has utilized a trans-disciplinary approach that involves translational medicine and novel cardiovascular imaging methods in assessing subclinical atherosclerosis in distinct inflammatory clinical phenotypes. This body of work has received many grants and generated several publications in high-impact journals such as Annals of Internal Medicine, Chest, Journal of Nuclear Cardiology, and AJP-Heart and Circulatory Physiology. After arriving in Perth, he has collaborated closely with the Computer Science colleagues at UWA. Dr. Dwivedi started working with a MedTech start-up company based in Perth (Artrya Ltd) soon after its inception as the Chief Medical Officer and as Chief Scientific Officer (since 2021). Their joint research program is focused on the development of artificial intelligence algorithms to automate advanced and novel cardiac CT biomarker assessment towards heart disease events. Dr. Dwivedi contributed to the development of the intellectual property, resulting in a TGA approved product.

Louise Burrell is an active clinician-researcher with specialty training in Endocrinology and Internal Medicine and a significant track record of translational research in cardiovascular disease and related conditions. She is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Melbourne and an Honorary Professor of Medicine at Dundee University. Her research program investigates the pathophysiology and treatment of cardiovascular disease with work that spans laboratory science and clinical research. She is known for contributions in regard to the understanding and management of cardiovascular disease, particularly as it relates to the renin angiotensin system. She has a particular interest in role of ACE2 as a biomarker of risk in heart and kidney disease, and in COVID-19. She has significant experience in randomised clinical trials, and led a large trial that studied the effect of climate on hospital admissions and another that repurposed RAS blockers to reduce severe acute respiratory distress in patients with COVID-19.

Dr. Purcell joined HMRI in 2021 to pursue two passions: her research on intracellular signaling pathways involved in cardiovascular disease, and training and nurturing the next generation of scientists and doctors. In addition to her role as Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Signaling, Nicole serves as Scientific Director of HMRI’s Postdoctoral, SURF, and the inaugural STEM Program for high school students in the community. She has a unique ability to mentor individuals who wish to pursue careers in various scientific and medical fields. Before joining HMRI, Nicole spent almost 14 years at the University of California at San Diego, first as a research scientist, then as an assistant professor, and finally associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology. Her contributions to science include regulation of signal transduction pathways in the heart; investigating the role of MAP kinases and related enzymes in cardiac diseases; and therapeutically targeting newly discovered phosphatase (PHLPP) that impacts the physiology and pathophysiology of the heart and brain.

AM Gomez is Director of Research at Inserm (French National Institute for Health and Medical Research) in France and hear of the department “signalling and cardiovascular pathophysiology”. Her work aims at elucidating mechanisms involved in heart failure and arrhythmias focusing in intracellular calcium handling, and ryanodine receptor function.

Dr Bernardo is a Senior Research Fellow at Dekin University in the School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences. She specialises in cardiac physiology and preclinical development of small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of the failing heart. Dr Bernardo was awarded her PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2009, where she studied key genetic and biological mechanisms of skeletal development and disease at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. She then joined the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, focusing on preclinical testing of microRNAs and other small molecules, such as tilorone, as novel treatments for heart failure. One of her notable achievements was demonstrating that a microRNA-based drug could attenuate pathological remodelling and improve cardiac function in mice with preexisting pathological hypertrophy and dysfunction (PNAS 2012). This was the first study to inhibit an entire microRNA seed family in established heart disease. Her microRNA discoveries led to prestigious awards, including the Ralph Reader Prize (Basic Science), Postdoctoral Publication Awards (ISHR, AuPS), the highest HOPE Award (Japan - JSPS) and the inaugural Alice Baker and Eleanor Shaw Fellowship (Baker Institute) in recognition of her research excellence. In 2024, Dr Bernardo was recruited to Deakin University, where her research now focuses on identifying and developing mitochondrial non-coding RNAs as novel drug targets for cardiometabolic diseases. Her work has been supported by project grants from Diabetes Australia, Sir Edward Dunlop Medical Research Foundation and Perpetual.