Dr. Clara Liu Chung Ming is a Research Officer at the Heart Research Institute under Prof. Julie McMullen, specializing in bioengineering advanced 3D in vitro models to study human heart pathophysiology and cancer therapy-induced cardiotoxicity. Her work includes developing a patient-personalised platform to identify biomarkers leading to cardiotoxicity and to validate cardioprotective drugs. She has also pioneered research on the "heart attack-in-a-Petri-dish" model and investigating drug-induced cardiotoxicity using patient-derived stem cells. Clara's research extends to studying the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on human heart pathophysiology and bioengineering models of pre-eclampsia-induced heart failure using stem cells from patient’s blood. Her contributions have been recognized with multiple awards, including the FEIT HDR Women in Engineering and IT Award (2021), ASBTE Rapid Fire Presentation Award (2022), NSW Education Waratah Scholarship (2022–2024), Royal Society NSW Scholarship (2022), ASM PhD Rising Star Award (2023), Dean’s Award (2024) and Chancellor’s Award (2024) for best thesis at University of Technology Sydney.

Prof Julie McMullen is the Deputy Director of the Heart Research Institute (HRI) in Syndey and leads the Heart Muscle Laboratory. Julie is recognised internationally for research that has defined the molecular distinction between physiological and pathological heart enlargement (cardiac hypertrophy) in preclinical models of health and disease. She discovered that a signalling pathway activated with exercise (IGF1-PI3K pathway) was critical for physiological hypertrophy (e.g. athlete’s heart) but not pathological hypertrophy (e.g. setting of hypertension). She subsequently developed novel therapies based on her findings in genetic mouse models involving adeno-associated virus (AAV) technology, RNA interference approaches, and small molecules. Other research interests include atrial fibrillation, heart-organ cross-talk and cancer therapy-induced cardiotoxicity. She is an Associate Editor of a new Nature Portfolio Journal-NPJ-Cardiovascular Health, and serves on several editorial boards. She is a Fellow of the AHA and ISHR, and is President of the ISHR-Australasian section.

Priscilla Prestes is an early career research fellow in cardiovascular health at the Health Innovation and Transformation Centre, Federation University Australia. Her research focuses on the genetics of heart disease. She is the co-chair of the International Society of Heart Research Early Career Investigators, and a member of the ISH membership subcommittee and Hypertension Australia Early Career Researchers.