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Clinical / Surgical: Late breaking clinical trials, innovations and equity

Tracks
Track 4
Friday, August 7, 2026
3:45 PM - 5:15 PM
Cockle Bay 2

Speaker

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Dr Muthiah Vaduganathan
Cardiologist
Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School

New advances in cardio-kidney-metabolic therapies and implementation barriers

3:45 PM - 4:00 PM

Biography

Muthiah Vaduganathan, MD MPH FACC FHFA is a cardiologist and clinical trialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He is co-director of the Center for Cardiometabolic Implementation Science at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He serves as an Associate Editor of JACC and as US national ambassador to the ESC Heart Failure Association. His research focuses on drug development, clinical trials, and implementation of cardio-kidney-metabolic therapies. He has authored or co-authored more than 950 peer-reviewed publications and is recognized as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher. He participates on study leadership of ongoing advanced-phase trials in cardio-kidney-metabolism and heart failure.
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Prof Barbara Casadei
Head, National Heart And Lung Institute (NHLI)
Imperial College London

Women in cardiovascular trials: What are we doing wrong?

4:00 PM - 4:15 PM

Biography

Barbara Casadei graduated (cum Laude & Medaglia Teresiana) at the University of Pavia, Italy and moved to Oxford to undertake her clinical and research training. She was awarded the Joan and Richard Doll Fellowship at Green College, a DPhil in Cardiovascular Medicine in 1995, and a British Heart Foundation Personal Chair in 2012. Since 2024, she has been Head of the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London. Barbara is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, holds the highest honour of the British Cardiovascular Society (The Mackenzie Medal) and is Past President of the European Society of Cardiology (2018-20). She is the co-founder of EuroHeart (www.escardio.org/Research/euroheart#), an initiative that supports the assessment and improvement of quality of cardiovascular care in 15 countries, and the incoming Editor-in-Chief of JAMA Cardiology (2026-). She leads a bench-to-bedside translational research programme focused on atrial fibrillation, which spans from investigations in human tissue and cells to clinical trials.
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Dr Chris Gianacas
Head of Biostatistics and Data Management, Australia
The George Institute for Global Health

Innovative trials designs - platform designs, pragmatic, win ratios

4:15 PM - 4:30 PM

Biography

Dr Christopher Gianacas is Head of Biostatistics and Data Management, Australia at The George Institute for Global Health, where he leads a team of 18 biostatisticians and data managers. He holds a Doctor of Public Health from UNSW and a Conjoint Lecturer appointment at UNSW's School of Population Health. With 13 years of experience in academic clinical research, Dr Gianacas specialises in the design and analysis of investigator-initiated randomised trials, spanning cardiovascular, cardiometabolic, oncology, respiratory, neurology, and critical care medicine. He leads an internal Bayesian methods group and regularly presents educational seminars on adaptive and novel methodologies. He currently holds over $3.7 million in competitive funding as Chief Investigator and is a methodological peer reviewer for PLOS Medicine.
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Ms Keziah Bennett-Brook
Program Director, Guunu-maana (Heal) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program
The George Institute for Global Health

First Nations Australians and CV research

4:30 PM - 4:45 PM

Biography

Keziah is a Torres Strait Islander woman and Director of Guunu-maana (Heal) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program at The George Institute for Global Health. Keziah is a Future Women Emerging Leader, and sits on the Association of Australian Medical Research Institute’s Gender, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee. Keziah chairs the George Institute’s Global Research and Impact Committee and has chaired the Research Committee for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health since 2017. She leads the development and implementation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research strategy, policy, stakeholder partnerships and Indigenous research coordination within a global research institute. Keziah has extensive experience in social and cultural determinants of health, Indigenous methodologies, and knowledge translation and impact measurement that privilege Indigenous knowledges, as well as applying decolonising methods to organisation and systems change. Keziah is a recognised leader in implementation of strategic organisational activities to increase cultural safety and capability within global health research.
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Dr Fiona Foo
Cardiologist
Sydney Cardiology Group

The environment and heart disease - the current landscape and future directions for CSANZ

4:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Biography

Dr Fiona Foo is a Clinical and Interventional Cardiologist who started her Cardiology career >20 years ago as an advanced cardiology trainee at Fremantle Hospital. She completed interventional cardiology fellowships in Edmonton and Glasgow, returning to Australia in 2011. She works with Sydney Cardiology Group, Macquarie University Health and Hospital, Sydney Adventist Hospital and is a Clinical lecturer at Macquarie University. She chairs the CSANZ Planetary Health and Sustainability Working Group, Co-Chairs the Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) NSW Committee, and the Macquarie University Health Sustainability Committee. She has written and presented extensively on heart disease in Women, Climate Change and Cardiovascular Disease, and other non-traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease. She created the HER (Heart, Endocrine, Renal) Health Network at Macquarie University Health and is part of The Skin Hospital Psoriasis Multidisciplinary Clinic. She regularly teaches interventional cardiology in developing countries, such as Nepal and Fiji – having visited CWM Hospital in Suva regularly for more than a decade.
Dr Anthony Salib
Basic Physician Trainee
Austin Health

Native versus Prosthetic Valve Infective Endocarditis: Differences in Presentation, Complications and Outcomes

5:00 PM - 5:15 PM

Biography

Dr Anthony Salib is a junior doctor from Austin Health Melbourne, Victoria, completing his first year of Basic Physician Training. He has completed an Honours year during his medical school years at the Victorian Heart Hospital.
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Prof Clare Arnott
Director Of Cardiovascular Program; Staff Specialist Cardiologist
The George Institute / St Vincent's Hospital

Chairperson

Biography

A/Professor Arnott is a Staff Specialist Cardiologist at St Vincent's Hospital and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. She is the Pagent Family Director of Clinical Heart Lung Research at St Vincent's and the Director of the Global Cardiovascular Program at the George Institute for Global Health. She is a clinical triallist with a special interest in Women's Heart Disease, equity and Cardio-kidney-metabolic disease. Clare obtained a Churchill Fellowship in Women's Heart Disease (USA) and established Australia's first women's heart clinic (RPA).
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Dr Lauren Houston
Senior Research Fellow
The George Institute for Global Health

Chairperson

Biography

Dr Lauren Houston is a Senior Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health, a Conjoint Lecturer at UNSW Sydney, and holds a National Heart Foundation of Australia Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her research focuses on cardiovascular disease prevention in women and underserved populations, with expertise in clinical trials, implementation science, and women’s cardiovascular health. Her work includes research integrating cardiovascular risk assessment into routine mammography, alongside cardio-oncology and cardiometabolic prevention research.
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