Cardiovascular pathology at the frontier of new therapies in cardiac disease

Professor Mary N Sheppard is head of the Cardiovascular Pathology Unit at City  St George’s, University of London, within the Cardiovascular and Genetics Research Institute.  She has established a national cardiac referral and research centre investigating  sudden young cardiac deaths in the UK. She is director of Cardiac Biobank within City St Georges which is important source of research

She qualified in medicine from University College Cork, Ireland and was trained in cardiac pathology by Professor Michael Davies at St Georges Medical School London. She followed him in being appointed to Chair of Cardiovascular Pathology in the same medical school in 2013.  She has published 475 peer reviewed papers, 35 book chapters, and has been on writing panel for 10 international guidelines. She published the third edition of her book on Cardiovascular Pathology in 2022. She mentors cardiac pathologists and cardiovascular researchers nationally and internationally and her unit is  recognised as a Higher Specialist Training Centre by European Society of Pathology. Her unit received a Team Achievement Award by Royal College of Pathologists in 2024.

She works closely with her cardiological colleagues at St Georges Hospital in clinical and genetic follow up of families who have suffered a sudden cardiac death.  She is on pathology review panel for Sudden Unexpected Death in Children (SUDIC) UK.  She is the lead pathologist on the Executive Board of the National Pathway for Investigation of Sudden Cardiac Death formed in 2020 in UK. She runs an international annual cardiovascular pathology course. She is a former President of European Association of Cardiovascular Pathology. She also served as board member of Society of Cardiovascular Pathology. She is  a working group member of Pericardial and Myocardial Disease within European Society of Cardiology. She is on several international panels responsible for writing guidelines in cardiovascular pathology.  She has a recognised international training programme for pathologists with trainees coming from USA, Australia, Malaysia, Italy, Austria and Denmark. She is on international grant awarding panel for Canadian and Danish Cardiovascular Academy. She is President of Pathology Section of Royal Society of Medicine, London. She was awarded Stokes Medal by Irish Cardiovascular Society and alumnus of Year at University College Cork Ireland. She is visiting Professor of Imperial College and St Mary University of London.  She is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and has an honorary doctorate from  University of Copenhagen in recognition of collaborative research work.  

Cristina Basso graduated in Medicine in 1990, is Full Professor of Pathological Anatomy and Vice-Rector for International Relations at the University of Padua.

Cardiologist, Pathologist and PhD in Cardiological Sciences, she is Director of the Cardiovascular Pathology Unit of the Hospital-University of Padua and of the Registry of Cardio-Cerebro-Vascular Pathology of the Veneto Region, Venice, Italy.
She is Director of the 2nd level Master in Cardiovascular Pathology of the University of Padua since 2013 and Tutor of Students of the Degree Course in Medicine and of the PhD in Translational Special Medicine "G.B. Morgagni”, University of Padua.

Elijah Behr is an international expert in the field of arrhythmias and is Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine at City St. George’s, University of London where he directs the Cardiovascular and Genomics Research Institute. He is a Consultant at St. George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Mayo Clinic Healthcare, London, where he leads nationally, and internationally reputed clinical services dedicated to patients with arrhythmias, and patients and their families with genetic risks for arrhythmia, cardiac arrest and sudden death. He has co-written multiple international guideline documents.

He is past president of the Association for Inherited Cardiac Conditions and the first chairperson of the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Genetics Group of EHRA. He is first chair of the Predisposition and Screening Genome England Clinical Interpretation Partnership and advises the NHS England Clinical Reference Groups for Cardiovascular and Genomics Services. He leads the NHS England Coronial Sudden Unexpected Death Pilot.

He leads a research group with interests that include the genomics and prediction of sudden death risk; drug-induced arrhythmia; the Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS) and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS); channelopathies including long QT and Brugada syndromes; and arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. He has published over 300 articles in peer reviewed journals.

Marianna Fontana is Professor of Cardiology and is an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at the Royal Free Hospital, University College London, where she is Director of the UCL Cardiac MRI unit, deputy Head of Center for Amyloidosis and deputy clinical lead of the National Amyloidosis Center. She obtained her Medical degree (MD) and qualifications as a cardiologist at the University of Pisa in 2011. In 2012 she obtained a BHF Clinical Research Training Fellowship to undertake a PhD at UCL which focused on CMR in cardiac amyloidosis. In 2015 she became Senior Lecturer at UCL, Honorary Consultant Cardiologist and Director of the UCL CMR unit at the Royal Free Hospital, which she founded. In 2018 she was awarded an Intermediate Clinical Fellowship by the BHF. She was appointed deputy Head of Center for Amyloidosis and Acute Phase Proteins and deputy clinical lead of the National Amyloidosis Center in 2019. She took up the chair of Cardiology at UCL in 2020. Her major clinical and research interests are in the delivery of efficient and effective care for patients with amyloidosis, with a particular focus on new technologies: imaging and drugs. She lectures widely in the UK and internationally on amyloidosis, and organises many multi-professional educational events. She advises industry at all stages in the lifecycle of innovative products that can help improve the life-expectancy and quality of life of patients with amyloidosis. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Michael Davies Early Career Award in 2021, the BHF Fellow of the year award in 2022, the AHA Visiting Professorship Award for Harvard Medical School in 2024. She has co-authored 282 peer reviewed publications with >25000 citations (h-index 80).

Renu Virmani, M.D., F.A.C.C. is an internationally renowned cardiovascular pathologist, recognized as a leading researcher in the field of cardiovascular disease treatments and presently serves as the President Emeritus of CVPath Institute, which she founded in 2005. Dr. Virmani received her M.D. from Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi University, New Delhi, India.

Lecturing at scientific meetings all over the world, Dr. Virmani has delivered more than 600 presentations. She has authored or co-authored over 1200 publications in peer-reviewed journals covering atherosclerosis, vulnerable plaque, stents and other cardiovascular diseases; she has edited seven books, written more than 500 book chapters and is also a manuscript reviewer for many top scientific journals.

Among numerous outstanding honors and awards, Dr. Virmani has delivered the Laennec Clinician/Educator Lecture Award for the American Heart Association in 2010; she has received the TCT Career Achievement Award from the Cardiovascular Research Foundation in 2012; the ICI Innovations in Cardiovascular Interventions Award in 2013; the Female Luminary Award from the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions Foundation in 2016; she received an honorary degree from the University of Antwerp, Belgium as well as many other honorary awards including from the European Society of Cardiology, EuroPCR, TCTAP “11th Master of Masters 2021 Award” and SCCT 2024 Agaston Award.

Dr. Virmani was a Clinical Professor in the Department of Pathology at Georgetown University; University of Maryland-Baltimore; George Washington University; and Vanderbilt University. From 1984 until 2004, she was Chairperson of the Department of Cardiovascular Pathology of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology for 20 years. Dr. Virmani is a member of the American Heart Association, the U.S. and Canadian Academy of Pathology, and is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology.

Professor Dame Sue Hill DBE FMedSci FRSB FRCP(Hon) FRCPath (Hon) FHCS (Hon) is the Chief Scientific Officer for England and the NHS in England, is the Head of Profession for the scientific workforce and provides scientific leadership and advice for the wider health and care system.  A respiratory scientist by background, she has an international academic and clinical research reputation

Dame Sue leads and directs Genomics in the NHS, driving the world-leading programme to introduce a nationwide Genomic Medicine Service working in partnership between the NHS and academia, industry and UK and international governments/initiatives, building on her work in heading up the NHS contribution to the world-leading 100,000 Genomes Project.

Dame Sue was made a Dame Commander in 2018 in recognition of the scale of her contribution to British genomics, having previously been awarded an OBE in 2005 in recognition of her services to healthcare science. In 20/21 she was named one of The 80 Most Influential People in English NHS and health policy.

Professor Ulrik Baandrup has been appointed as the first "Name Person" at the Faculty of Health Sciences at Aalborg University. He will have a central role in guiding researchers and PhD students in solving collaboration problems, dealing with disagreements about authorship and navigating other ethical challenges in research work.