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.

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.

Andrew Maiorana is a Professor of Clinical Exercise Physiology at the School of Allied Health at Curtin University and Head of Department, Exercise Physiology, at Fiona Stanley Hospital, in Perth, Western Australia. He was instrumental in establishing the first comprehensive clinical exercise physiology program in an advanced heart failure and cardiac transplant service in Australia, at Royal Perth Hospital in 1996. The program (now at Fiona Stanley Hospital) continues to provide quaternary heart failure care, including prognostic cardiopulmonary exercise testing and exercise prescription for patients with advanced heart failure, pre and post cardiac transplantation and undergoing mechanical circulatory support. Andrew has wide ranging research interests, from optimising exercise testing and training for patients with cardiovascular disease, to developing innovative approaches to clinical service delivery through remote monitoring and AI. He has a long-standing commitment to working with Aboriginal communities to improve the provision of culturally appropriate health services.

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.

Dr. McLeod is originally from South Africa and completed his clinical training at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. He is Professor of Medicine and a Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiologist at Mayo Clinic in Florida. He is Board Certified in Adult Congenital Heart Disease and is also the co-director of the Mayo Clinic’s High Dimensional Phenotyping Laboratory. He has undertaken a multi-disciplinary approach to investigate lethal arrhythmia syndromes in adults with congenital heart disease and other ventricular arrhythmia syndromes. This investigation is embedded in basic and translational research and extends across novel sensor-based physiological monitoring to develop algorithms for preemptive intervention and forecasting events. He has published over 150 manuscripts and book chapters on the field and holds several patents focusing on novel interventions.

Paul A. Friedman, M.D., is the Norman Blane & Billie Jean Harty Chair, Mayo Clinic Department of Cardiovascular Medicine Honoring Robert L. Frye, M.D. Dr. Friedman is a consultant in the Division of Heart Rhythm Services with a joint appointment in the Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering. He previously served as medical director for the Mayo Clinic Center for Connected Care. He joined the staff of Mayo Clinic in 1998 and holds the academic rank of professor of medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Dr. Friedman is recognized with the distinction of the Betty Knight Scripps-George M. Gura, Jr., M.D., Professorship in Cardiovascular Medicine. Dr. Friedman earned his B.S. and B.A. at the University of Texas and his M.D. at Stanford University. He completed an internship in internal medicine at the University of Washington, a residency in internal medicine at Stanford University, and fellowships in cardiovascular medicine and cardiovascular electrophysiology at Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education.