Vicki Wade is a senior Noongar woman (nurse) with over 40 years of experience in health at state and national levels. Vicki is a recipient of multiple national awards including the 2019 AHHA Sidney Sax medal and CSANZ Indigenous Health lifetime award for her contributions to Australian health services policy, delivery and research, particularly in relation to Indigenous heart health.

The research of Heidi M. Connolly, M.D., includes identifying the challenges and complications in caring for patients with complex congenital and genetic cardiovascular disorders. Dr. Connolly studies how to improve patient care and better understand the short- and long-term outcomes of care protocols. She studies pregnancy complications and outcomes in patients with cardiovascular diseases to identify opportunities for improving their care. She also is interested in identifying, describing and seeking improved treatment options for patients with: Heart valve disorders. Drug-related valve disorders. Prosthetic valve thrombosis. Carcinoid heart disorders.

A mid-career interventional cardiologist and researcher at Cabrini and Alfred Health. She trained at Alfred and completed her PhD at the Baker Institute (Monash) receiving NHMRC postgraduate medical research scholarship. She received Medtronic scholarship for fellowship in Interventional Cardiology (UK). First woman of colour to qualify as and one of only 17 female interventional cardiologists in ANZ. She is the first female Australian cardiologist to be awarded the prestigious SCAl-USA Fellowship for interventional cardiology excellence. A member of Gender Equity in Medicine Committee of the RACP and Co Chair Equity, Diversity and Culture Committee CSANZ she is winner of 2023 Women as One (USA) annual international escalator awards as a mentor for the global mentorship program. Dr Swati Mukherjee is the founder director of Victorian Heart and Lung Clinic which continues to provide outreach comprehensive cardiac services in several sites in Gippsland for more than 10 years now.

Professor Johanna Montgomery completed her PhD in Physiology at the University of Otago New Zealand. She then performed her postdoctoral research at Stanford University USA where she gained her expertise in cellular electrophysiology techniques to examine neural plasticity. She is now a Principal Investigator at the University of Auckland. She has been awarded prestigious national and international awards including the Physiological Society of New Zealand Excellence in Research Award, the Colin Pillinger International Exchanges Award (Royal Society London), the Eppendorf and Science International Prize for Neurobiology Finalist Award, and the Servier Distinguished Young Investigator Award (International Union of Physiological Scientists). Her research focusses on neural plasticity in the heart and in the brain. She has a major interest in neural control in atrial fibrillation, and in womens heart heath, with research spanning from the cell to the community.

Dr Linda Dear is a GP and Menopause Doctor. She is a fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, has a post-graduate diploma from the UK Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and is a certified menopause practitioner with The Menopause Society. Linda runs a private menopause clinic called Menodoctor comprising a team of seven doctors, a nutritionist, pelvic floor physiotherapist and health coach. The clinic sees women from all over NZ for virtual menopause consultations and offers a face-to-face clinic in Tauranga. (menodoctor.com) Linda also runs a menopause training and education service for NZ workplaces called Menodoctor at Work (menodoctoratwork.com). Click here for a copy of this presentation

Dean is an electrophysiologist.