Professor Morag J. Young is an internationally recognised leader in cardiovascular endocrinology and heart failure research, serving as Head of the Cardiovascular Endocrinology Laboratory and Co-Lead of the Heart Failure Program at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia. She also holds adjunct professor appointments at Monash University and at the University of Melbourne and adjunct professorial appointments at Monash University. Professor Young’s research has been foundational in defining the role of mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) signalling in cardiovascular disease. Her program integrates molecular biology, preclinical models, and clinical translation to uncover cell-specific mechanisms of MR action in cardiomyocytes, macrophages and the vasculature. Her work has also identified a novel interaction between the MR and the circadian clock, providing new insight into how time-of-day biology contributes to cardiovascular pathology, and to MR signalling in normal physiology and disease. A major focus of her research is the development of safer, tissue-selective MR modulators for the treatment of heart failure and fibrotic diseases. She has translated her discoveries into drug development pipelines and biomarker studies in patient cohorts, supported by extensive collaborations with industry and clinical partners. Professor Young is widely recognised for her research excellence and leadership. She has published >130 papers in leading journals and is regularly invited to deliver keynote lectures at major international conferences. She serves as Deputy Editor of the Journal of Endocrinology and the Journal of Molecular Endocrinology, and contributes to international scientific committees, including the US, Australian and British Endocrine Societies and AAMRI. In addition to her scientific achievements, Professor Young is committed to mentoring the next generation of researchers and advancing equity in science. She has supervised numerous PhD students and postdoctoral fellows and has led institutional initiatives in gender equity and diversity. Through her integrated and translational research program, Professor Young continues to drive advances in cardiovascular medicine, with a strong focus centred on preventing the onset and progression of heart failure and improving quality of life for patients living with heart failure.

Benjamin Quick is a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland, supervised by Melissa Reichelt and Wally Thomas. His research explores the role of nitric oxide and neuregulin-1 in heart failure pathogenesis, with a focus on gene editing approaches using viral vectors. He utilizes techniques such as Langendorff heart perfusion, pressure-volume analysis, and echocardiography to study cardiac function. Through his work, he hopes to contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying heart disease and potential therapeutic strategies.

Winnie, Yinghan She, is a PhD candidate at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Her research focuses on cardiac muscle physiology and modelling genetic cardiomyopathies using both human stem cell–based and animal models. She aims to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying cardiomyopathies.

Muhammed Kiyar is a PhD candidate in the Heart Failure Research Group at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Australia, under the supervision of Professor David Kaye and A/Prof Bing Wang. His research focuses on the cellular and metabolic mechanisms driving cardiac remodelling in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), with particular emphasis on cardiac fibroblast biology and multi-omic profiling. His work integrates preclinical models with translational phenotyping to identify fibroblast-specific therapeutic strategies for HFpEF.

Teagan Er is a 2nd year PhD Candidate at The University of Western Australia. Her studies involve identifying the molecular pathway involved in the beat-to-beat regulation of energetics in the heart.

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.

Yow Keat is a Group Leader and Baker-La Trobe Senior Research Fellow in the Metabolomics laboratory, where he currently leads the Cardiometabolic Lipidomics and Therapeutics Theme. His research utilises multi-omics, molecular biology and imaging techniques to understand cardiovascular disease using preclinical models. This ultimately is aimed at development of innovative lipid modulating therapies to treat cardiovascular and other chronic diseases. His research has resulted in 23 career publications (~2400 citations, h-index 15) including ones in Diabetes, Cell Reports and Nature Cardiovascular Research. He has attracted ~$500k as lead investigator in research funding from NHF and most recently, the 2026 Carty Signature Grant. He was awarded the 2023 Baker Institute Sir Laurence Muir Prize that recognises an emerging leader in heart and diabetes research. Yow Keat leads the mentoring program within the Baker Institute and also serves on the Research Training and Education Committee. He is highly active in the International Society for Heart Research, recently elected as secretary of ISHR Australasian Section Council and was previously co-chair of both ISHR Australasian and International ECI committees.