Plenary programme

Thomas Lüscher

ZürichSwitzerland

Sir Rory Collins

OxfordUK

Elias Björnson

GothenburgSweden

Elias Björnson, PhD
Researcher at the Wallenberg Laboratory, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
My research focuses on understanding the role of apoB-containing lipoproteins in cardiovascular disease. I have applied Mendelian randomization to quantify the atherogenic potential of remnant lipoproteins, low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) and is currently working to try to understand their possible similarities and differences with regards to different ASCVD outcomes and potential mechanisms for their atherogenicity. I am also involved in the Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Study (SCAPIS), where we investigate the prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis in the general population. Our work includes developing risk prediction tools and validating coronary artery calcium score pre-screening methods, with the broader goal of improving cardiovascular prevention strategies.
Previously, my PhD research centered on lipoprotein metabolism, with a focus on kinetic modelling to study apoB100- and apoB48-containing lipoproteins in postprandial states. I also explored the effects of drugs on the metabolism of apoB-containing lipoproteins.
My key interests include apoB-containing lipoproteins, triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, Lp(a), and early prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD).

Naveed Sattar

GlasgowUK

Naveed Sattar is internationally recognised in cardiometabolic disease, with epidemiology, mechanistic and trial expertise. He has contributed to several randomised lifestyle trials (e.g. DIRECT, STANDBY, UPBEAT, EUROFIT, RE-DIRECT) and multiple drug trials (e.g. REMOVAL, TRUST, AMPLITUDE-O, EMPEROR- HF) and has ongoing activity in several large cardiovascular outcome trials, with increasing focus on weight lowering interventions. He has served on guideline committees, including European Society of Cardiology 2023 Guidelines on diabetes and cardiovascular diseases; Joint British Societies 3 CVD prevention recommendations; SIGN obesity and CVD prevention guidelines (as Chair). He has over 1400 published papers, with more than 170K citations, working collaboratively with hundreds of colleagues nationally and internationally. He has been amongst the top 1% of cited academics in Clinical Medicine for the last decade. Naveed has received several national and international awards, including the prestigious Camillo Golgi and Minkowski Prizes from European Association for the Study of Diabetes, and the Banting Memorial and Rank Nutrition Lectures from Diabetes UK. He is an Associate Editor for Diabetes Care, and past Associate Editor for Circulation and Diabetologia. He contributes to new health initiatives in the Scottish Health Service and in 2023 was appointed UK Government’s Obesity Health Care Goals Programme Chair.

Vera Regitz-Zagrosek

BerlinGermany

Vera Regitz-Zagrosek, is a clinical and experimental cardiologist by training. She worked at Max Planck Institute for “Experimentelle Herz-Kreislaufforschung” (Bad Nauheim, Prof. W. Schaper), at German Heart Center Munchen and German Heart Center Berlin and obtained a professorship on “Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) in Women” at Charité in 2003. In 2004 she founded and in 2007 became the director of the Berlin Institute for Gender in Medicine, at Charité, University Medicine Berlin.
She founded the Working Group on CVD in Women at the German Cardiac Society (DGK) in 2003 and the German and International Society for Gender in Medicine (DGesGM and IGM) in 2007.
She acted as Task Force Leader for the European guidelines on the “Management of Cardiovascular Diseases in Pregnancy” 2015 and 2018 and as review coordinator for the 2021 Guidelines on CVD prevention in clinical practice of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). She coordinated a number of DFG, BMBF and EU funded projects and proposed successfully the National Research Project “Gender medicine” in Switzerland in 2023.
She is a reviewer for national and international funding organizations and journals, published more than 300 scientific papers and numerous book chapters, wrote and edited some landmark books on gender medicine and pharmacology and organized annual congresses in gender medicine.
She received the honorary doctorate from the Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria, in 2016, and from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, in 2022. She held guest professorships at Medical University Utrecht (NL) and at the University of Zürich. In 2018 she received the “Bundesverdienstkreuz” for her work in gender sensitive medicine by the president of the Federal Republic of Germany , in 2021 the “Georg Klemperer Ehrenmedaille” of Landesärztekammer Berlin and the Elisabeth Selbert Preis of Landesregierung Hessen in 2023 . She now works as a Senior Professor at Charité Berlin and as a consultant at the University of Zurich.

Karen Reue

Los AngelesUSA

Karen Reue, PhD, Professor of Human Genetics in the School of Medicine at UCLA. The Reue laboratory is interested in identifying genes and pathways that influence susceptibility to cardiometabolic diseases such as obesity, fatty liver, and atherosclerosis. A current focus is the identification of genetic and hormonal factors that cause sex differences in disease pathogenesis and drug responses. Using mouse models that distinguish chromosomal and gonadal sex, the Reue group has identified roles for specific genes on the X chromosome in the regulation of adiposity and adverse effects of statin, and roles for gonadal hormones and the Y chromosome in lipid metabolism and other processes. Elucidating how biological sex impacts metabolism will contribute to efforts to optimize prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic diseases.

Gemma Figtree

SydneyAustralia

Gemma is a Professor in Medicine at the University of Sydney and an Interventional and Imaging Cardiologist at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. She is the Chair of the University of Sydney’s multi-disciplinary Cardiovascular Initiative. Gemma is committed to improving the care for heart attack patients, unravelling key mechanisms underlying susceptibility and response to heart attack, with studies extending from the bench to large cohort studies and clinical trials. Discoveries in her Laboratory have been published in leading journals including the Lancet, Circulation, JACC and European Heart Journal, with >300 publications. Gemma is a principal investigator on grants >$42 Mill. Her discoveries and innovative strategies have resulted in a US patent, and 5 provisional patents spanning diagnostic and therapeutic fields. Gemma is founder and CSO for Australian start-ups Prokardia and Kardiomics, and the not-for-profit CAD Frontiers Pty Ltd. She was awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Excellence Award for Top Ranked Practitioner Fellow (Australia- 2018), NSW Ministerial Award for Cardiovascular Research Excellence (2019) and was the second female to be awarded the prestigious Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand RT Hall Prize for outstanding and sustained research achievement (2023). Gemma serves as a member of the Editorial Board of leading international journals including Circulation and Cardiovascular Research She chaired the MRFF Mission (CV) Expert Advisory Panel (2017-22). In 2023, Gemma was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

Lale Tokgözoğlu

AnkaraTurkey

Lale Tokgözoğlu is professor of cardiology at Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. She is a past president of the European Atherosclerosis Society and deputy editor of the European Heart Journal. She chaired the Atherosclerosis and Vascular Biology Working Group of the European Society of Cardiology between 2008 and 2010. Prof. Tokgözoğlu was the first female president of the Turkish Society of Cardiology, where she developed heart health policies and strategies and chaired the Dyslipidaemia Working Group of the Turkish Society of Cardiology. She has contributed to several guidelines and consensus papers on dyslipidaemia and preventive cardiology. Prof. Tokgözoğlu was a member of the steering committee of the EUROASPIRE III-V studies. She has also served on the board of the Prevention Association as well as different committees of the European Society of Cardiology, including the Fellowship and Training Committee, the Education Committee and the Research and Grants Committee. She is a member of the Science Academy and a founding member of the Atherosclerosis Research and Education Society in Turkey. She is also a founding member of the Department of Noncommunicable Diseases in Hacettepe University. Additionally, she serves on the Scientific and Research Council of Turkey Working Group on women researchers.