Dr. Jonathan Howlett is an Advanced Heart Failure Cardiologist. Dr. Howlett graduated from the University of Toronto Medical School in 1989, completed Internal Medicine and Cardiology studies at Dalhousie University in 1994, and continued his training at the Toronto Congenital Cardiac Centre for Adults. He served as Assistant Professor of Medicine at Dalhousie University in Halifax from 1995 to 2008, and then became Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Libin Cardiovascular Institute and Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary, where he remains at present.

His current activities include clinical trials research in the areas of heart failure, health care delivery, outcomes, and knowledge translation. He is past Chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Heart Failure Guidelines and has served on several national and international Guidelines Committees, Scientific Planning and Steering Committees. He is currently Co-Chair of the Heart Failure Working Group Alberta Strategic CV Clinical Network, Past and Founding President of the Canadian Heart Failure Society and co-chair of the CHFS Annual HF Update Meeting. He publishes actively in the areas of chronic cardiovascular disease management, heart failure and end of life, and has published over 165 peer-reviewed articles and is an Associate Editor of the Merck Manual.

Dr. Serge Lepage is currently a Full Professor in the Cardiology Department at the Université de Sherbrooke (CHUS).

He is active in cardiac rehabilitation and is Director of the Cardiac Insufficiency Clinic. Dr. Lepage graduated from the Université de Sherbrooke in 1985 and, since his residency in 1990, has been working at the CHUS as a Cardiologist specializing in Echocardiography. He has done ground-breaking work in cardiac insufficiency, angina, and hypertension. He has published more than 26 articles and 28 abstracts. He is a member of the board of several committees, including the ACMDP (Quebec Association of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists). Dr. Lepage was President of the Quebec Heart Failure Society from 2009-2014.

Dr. Shelley Zieroth joined the Section of Cardiology at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg in July 2006. She is currently a Professor in the College of Medicine, Max Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, as well as Director of the Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Clinics. She is also Head of the Medical Heart Failure Program for Cardiac Sciences Manitoba.

Dr. Zieroth attended medical school at the University of Manitoba and went on to train in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the same centre. She completed her Postdoctoral Clinical Fellowship, specializing in Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant, at Toronto General Hospital. She is involved in several heart failure clinical trials as a PI, National Lead or Executive Committee member. Her area of research examines the efficacy of new treatments including food derived bioactives, in heart failure. She is the Immediate Past President of the Canadian Heart Failure Society and on the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Primary Panels for both the Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Guidelines. She serves as Co-Chair of Canada’s largest annual heart failure meeting, HF Update and Scientific Planning Committee Chair for the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress hosted by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Her current passion is working with national and provincial patient advocacy groups and primary care to operationalize hub and spoke models of heart failure care.

Dr. Zieroth is actively engaged in Social Media and promotes #cardiotwitter for its rapid access to clinical trial data, publications, and free online access to medical education. It is through this engagement Dr. Zieroth has become recognized as a global supporter and sponsor of women in medicine and cardiology. She is currently President-elect of the Federation of Medical Women of Canada.

Dr. Jennifer Amadio completed her residency training at the University of Toronto and went on to complete a two-year fellowship in Advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation at the University Health Network in Toronto, Ontario. During this time, she was the Chief Fellow for the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Currently, she is blending her interests in heart failure, complex valve disease, and imaging by pursuing an echocardiology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Dr. Amadio is passionate about medical education. During cardiology training, she completed a Master of Education for Health Professionals through Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Amadio was the inaugural Canadian Heart Failure Society trainee representative and currently serves on the CCS Trainee Committee and Affiliate Senate.

Mathieu Bernier is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Medicine of Université Laval’s Faculty of Medicine. He earned a degree in pharmacy from the Université de Montréal in 1995 and a medical degree in 1999. In 2005, he completed his post-doctoral training in internal medicine and cardiology at the Université de Montréal and in clinical epidemiology at McGill University. From 2006 to 2007, Dr. Bernier pursued a fellowship in contrast-enhanced ultrasound and stress echocardiography at the Mayo Clinic. Dr Bernier is currently a cardiologist at the Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec and his main fields of interest include echocardiography, structural cardiology, and heart failure.

Dr. Richard Choi is a clinician-educator. He is a Vancouver native who completed his MD at UBC then Internal Medicine and Cardiology residencies at the University of Toronto. He is a staff cardiologist at St. Joseph's Health Centre/Unity Health Toronto and clinical adjunct faculty/Lecturer in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He has been involved in the development of CME programs for primary care physicians and specialists on multiple platforms and in conjunction with the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and the Canadian Heart Failure Society.

Dr. Nadia Giannetti received her Medical Degree from McGill University. After training in cardiology at McGill, she went on to pursue a Fellowship in Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation at Stanford University in California. She returned to McGill to become an Attending Cardiologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine.

Dr. Giannetti is the Medical Director of the Heart Failure and Heart Transplant program at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal. She is a Clinical Researcher with an interest in personalized therapy for patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and optimizing clinical outcomes in patients living with heart failure. For the past 10 years, she has been an active member of the Canadian Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Guidelines. She has led multiple multi-centre clinical trials as a local and national principal investigator. She is the Program lead for a large research initiative entitled the Courtois Cardiovascular Signature Program (cvsignature.ca) and the Director of the Courtois Cardiovascular Biorepository.

Dr. Giannetti along with her team participates in the care of over 1000 patients with heart failure. She is the former Chief of Cardiology at the McGill University Health Centre (2010-2021). Since 2021, she has been the Associate Physician-in-Chief for the Department of Medicine at the McGill University Health Centre.

Dr. Karen Harkness has been a Cardiovascular Nurse for over 30 years and was a nurse in the heart function clinic in Hamilton for 15 years. She completed her PhD in Nursing (2009) and is an Assistant Clinical Professor at McMaster University. She is a certified Heart Failure Nurse with the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses. She is Co-Chair of the Nursing and Allied Health Council with the Canadian Heart Failure Society. Karen is currently a Clinical Scientist at Ontario Health-CorHealth and the Clinical Lead for the Integrating Heart Failure Care Initiative in Ontario. She is the recipient of the 2021 Annual Achievement Award by the CHFS.

Dr. Michael Heffernan is a staff cardiologist at the Oakville Trafalgar Hospital. He obtained his honours bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Genetic Engineering from McMaster University in 1987. He then successfully pursued a Ph.D. in the department of Medical Genetics at the University of Toronto. Dr. Heffernan completed Internal Medicine and Cardiology training at the University of Toronto. He accepted a staff Cardiology position at the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital in 2001 and is currently the Director of the Oakville Hospital Heart Function Clinic and he is the Research Director of Halton Healthcare. In addition, Dr. Heffernan is a Director of Oakville Cardiologists, a partner of Oakville Cardiovascular Research LP, and is an Assistant Clinical Professor at McMaster University. Dr. Heffernan’s research activities have been widely published in academic and peer-reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine. His current research interests include acute coronary syndromes, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, diabetes and dyslipidemia.

Dr. Eileen O’Meara is a Professor at the Department of Medicine at the Université de Montréal and practices cardiology at the Montreal Heart Institute. She pursued a Fellowship in Heart Failure at the Western Infirmary & Glasgow Royal Infirmary in the UK, and another in Stress Echocardiography and Tissue Doppler at Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou in Paris. From 2007 to 2010, Dr. O’Meara oversaw resident training/teaching at the Montreal Heart Institute’s Echocardiography Laboratory. She is a member of the Research Core Echocardiography Laboratory at MHI and a member of the teaching Committee at Université de Montréal for Multisystem Diseases. She is currently in charge of the Physiology program organization for students in nutrition and rehabilitation at U de M.

She is a member of the Internal Review Board for Research at the Montreal Heart Institute and, in 2018, she became the Chief of Outpatients Clinics at MHI. Dr. O’Meara is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada and a member of multiple cardiology associations. She was Co-Chair of the Primary Panel for the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and Canadian Heart Failure Society (CCS and CHFS) Heart Failure Guidelines (2016-2019) and is currently co-chair of the Cardiorenal Protection with Anti-Hyperglycemic Agents Guidelines for the CCS/CHFS (2020-2022). She is a member of the Editorial Board for Circulation: Heart Failure and serves as a Reviewer for the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, the European Heart Journal, the European Journal of Heart Failure, Circulation and Circulation: Heart Failure, and the Journal of Cardiac Failure, among others, and does abstract grading for the European Society of Cardiology and CCC meetings.

Her research focuses on remodeling and fibrosis biomarkers in HF, including cardiac imaging biomarkers; as well as on comorbid conditions that contribute to HF, more specifically diabetes, CKD, and anemia. Dr. O’Meara has long been involved in clinical research on HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and was the Canadian lead investigator for the TOPCAT and PARAGON-HF trials and is currently co-national lead investigator for the DELIVER trial. For HF with reduced ejection fraction, she was the national lead investigator for the DAPA-HF and the GALACTIC trials; as well as a member of the Steering Committees for the GALACTIC-HF trial and, currently, for the HEART-FID trial (IV iron vs. placebo in HFrEF with regards to major clinical outcomes).

Dr. Poon is a cardiologist and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. After completing her fellowship training in Cardiology, Advanced Heart Failure/Transplant and Adult Echocardiography at the University of Toronto, she obtained a Master of Science in Quality Improvement and Patient safety from the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. She is now the Medical Director of the Heart Function clinic at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and is a member of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Heart Failure Guidelines committee. Her research is focused on improving, standardizing, and evaluating the quality of care that heart failure patients receive.

Kim Anderson is an adult cardiologist and hold a position of Assistant Professor at the Halifax Infirmary Hospital-Dalhousie University. She did her medicine and cardiology training at Université de Montréal and then completed a fellowship in Advanced Heart Failure, Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support at UHN-University of Toronto. She completed a MSc in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research at University of Toronto – IC/ES in 2019.

She sits on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Heart Failure Society, she holds the position of Canadian Cardiac Transplant Network Educational Lead, is a member of the Heart & Stroke Canada Heart Failure Task Group and a Member of the Atlantic Cardiovascular Society. She is the Director of the Cardio-Oncology Clinic and the Head of the Heart Failure Research group at QEII-Halifax Infirmary. In her free time, she enjoys the great outdoors of the Atlantic Provinces and cuddling time with her spouse and their three purring cats.

Dr Anita Asgar is an Interventional Cardiologist working at the Montreal Heart Institute since 2009. Originally from Newfoundland, Dr. Asgar completed her medical school and Internal Medicine Residency at Memorial University (1995-2002), and Cardiology training at Dalhousie University. She then completed a two-year fellowship in Interventional Cardiology at the Institut de Cardiologie de Montreal, followed by a fellowship in Structural and Congenital Intervention at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, England as well as a fellowship in Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging. She has a master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from the Universite de Montreal with a focus in cost-effectiveness of transcatheter technology. Dr. Anita Asgar is a full-time staff Interventional Cardiologist at the Montreal Heart Institute, and Associate Professor of Medicine at the Universite de Montreal. She specializes in transcatheter valve interventions, congenital interventions and cardiac MRI. Dr. Asgar was Co-Chair of the Canadian TAVR Guidelines and chairs the Working Group for Transcatheter Valve Therapy Quality Indicators in Canada. She has led the publication of two national quality reports for TAVR in Canada in 2016 and 2019 and was the Co-Chair of the Canadian Position statement for TAVR in 2019. She is the lead cardiologist for the transcatheter mitral/tricuspid valve program at the Montreal Heart Institute. Her research interests include the treatment and management of valvular heart disease and cost-effectiveness analysis and she is currently the Director of Transcatheter Valve Therapy Research at the Montreal Heart Institute.

Dr. Jacinthe Boulet MDCM, FRCPC completed her medical school and internal medicine residency at McGill University. She then completed her cardiology residency at the Université de Montréal. She is currently a MPH candidate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a research fellow in advanced heart failure and transplantation at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Her current research focuses on novel pathophysiological mechanisms of complications associated with heart transplantation.

Dr. Catherine Bourque completed her medical studies at the University of Sherbrooke, Québec. She received her specialist certificate in internal medicine and became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada in 2017. In 2019, she obtained her subspecialists certificate in cardiology. Subsequently, she completed an additional postdoctoral training in Bordeaux, France, in advanced echocardiography under the supervision of Professor Stéphane LAFITTE (medical-surgical department of valvulopathies and cardiomyopathies - adult cardiac surgery – adult structural interventional cardiology) as well as in heart failure under the supervision of Professor Pierre DOMINGUESDOS- SANTOS (heart failure treatment service [UTIC]). Dr. Catherine Bourque is part of the CHUS cardiology team and the FMSS faculty at University of Sherbrooke.

Javed Butler, MD, MPH, MBA, is the President of the Baylor Scott and White Research Institute and Senior Vice President for the Baylor Scott and White Health. He is also the Distinguished Professor of Medicine at University of Mississippi in Jackson, MS. Prior to joining Baylor Scott and White Health, he served as the Patrick H. Lehan Chair in Cardiovascular Research, and Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Mississippi, where he was also Professor of Physiology. Prior to joining the University of Mississippi, he was Charles A. Gargano Professor and Director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Co-Director of the Heart Institute at Stony Brook University, New York. He had served as the director for heart failure research at Emory University and director of the heart and heart-lung transplant programs at Vanderbilt University prior to that.

He received his medical degree from the Aga Khan University and then completed residency training at Yale University, cardiology fellowship and advanced heart failure and transplant fellowships at Vanderbilt University, and cardiac imaging fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital at the Harvard Medical School. He has completed Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University and a Master in Business Administration from the Emory University. Dr. Butler is board certified in cardiovascular medicine and advanced heart failure and transplant medicine. His research interests focus on clinical trials in patients with heart failure. He serves on several national committees for the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health, and the Heart Failure Society of America. He is the recipient of the Simon Dack Award by the American College of Cardiology as well as the Time, Feeling, and Focus Award by the American Heart Association.

Dr. Butler has authored more than 875 peer-reviewed publications. He serves on the editorial board of several peer reviewed cardiovascular journals. He has been cited numerous times in America’s Best Doctors list.

Dr. Cheng is an Endocrinologist at Trillium Health Partners and Unity Health Toronto and is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. She has been involved with the development of the Diabetes Canada clinical practice guidelines since 2003 served as Chair for the 2013 version. Currently, she is the Chair of the Professional Section of Diabetes Canada and an Associate Editor for the Canadian Journal of Diabetes.

In recognition of her contribution, she has received the national Charles H. Best Award and the Gerald S. Wong Service Award from Diabetes Canada. She is also the creator of The Med Ed Pledge – an initiative to increase Diversity & Inclusion in continuing medical education (www.theMedEdPledge.com)

Dr. Ovidiu Chioncel received his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, Bucharest in 1992, earned his PhD in 2012 and currently he is Full Professor in Cardiology at University of Medicine Carol Davila, Bucharest.

He received training in Medical Statistics (Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials, University of Leuven UZG, Belgium-1998), Echocardiography (Instituto Clinico Humanitas Milan, Italy-1999), advanced heart failure therapies (Universitat Klinikum Munster, Germany-2001), advanced echo techniques and CardioCT (Cardiocentro Ticino Switzerland-2006), Heart Transplant and Ventricular Assist Devices (Sheba Medical Center, Israel -2013) and LVAD (Leiden University, Netherland-2015).

Since 2014 he is leading ICCU and Cardiology 1st Department at Institute of Emergency for Cardiovascular Diseases, C.C.Iliescu Bucharest, Romania.

His major clinical and research interests are related to Heart Failure, Cardiac Imaging and Emergency Medicine. He is Director of Romanian Acute Heart Failure Syndrome registry (RO-AHFS), National Registry of Acute Aortic Dissections (RENADA) and National Coordinator of EORP/ESC-HF registries. Dr Chioncel is author of four monographies dedicated to Heart Failure and more than 90 chapters in cardiovascular textbooks. He authored more than 200 manuscripts in peer reviewed journals and he joined Editorial Board of 8 international journals.

He served as member of the 9 Steering Committees / Executive Committees / Adjudication Committees for phase III clinical trials and country coordinator for 11 clinical trials in the field of cardiovascular medicine. Ovidiu Chioncel is Member of the Executive Committee of Heart Failure Association of European Society of Cardiology and Coordinator of Acute Heart Failure Committee and National Heart Failure Societies.

Dr. Coats is an experienced cardiologist, academic and business leader with a career spanning university leadership, and clinical practice. He is the author of more than 20 awarded patents. He is fully accredited physician and cardiologist in the United Kingdom and Australia, and a qualified company director (London Business School MBA, Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Member of the Institute of Directors, London). Dr. Coats has more than 50 board years of experience, and is a trained and experienced fund-raiser with in excess of $500M raised. He has over 750 peer-reviewed full papers, over 120,000 career citations and an H-Index of 146. Dr. Coats has been named one of the top 1,000 researchers of all time by the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities. He holds two higher doctorates (DM, Oxon, and DSc, Imperial) for separate research areas and have held senior offices in Professional Societies, including being President of the largest international specialist society in his field (Heart Failure Association).

Dr. Kim Connelly is a Cardiologist and Scientist who is both nationally recognized as an expert in echocardiography, cardiovascular MRI and the impact of diabetes upon cardiac function and ventricular remodeling. His work has been recognized evident by winning the “Young Investigator of the Year Award” by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, an Early Researcher Award in 2014, and a CIHR New Investigator award in 2014. Dr Connelly was trained at the University of Melbourne, Australia, where he did both cardiology training and a PhD.

Dr. Connelly runs a basic research laboratory at the Keenan Research Centre at St. Michael’s Hospital where he focuses upon basic mechanisms of disease – primarily around the role of pathological extracellular matrix accumulation and the pro-sclerotic cytokine transforming growth factor beta, with a focus upon translating discoveries into therapies in humans. He developed the first hemodynamically validated model of diabetes induced HFpEF. He is the Director of the Krembil Stem Cell Facility at St. Michael’s Hospital and uses regenerative cell based therapies to improve cardiac and renal dysfunction as a result of diabetes. He has research support from the HSF of Canada, CIHR and CFI along with significant research support from the pharmaceutical industry. His work has been published in journals such as the NEJM, Circulation, Journal of the American college of Cardiology, Circulation Research, Diabetes, Cell Metabolism and Lancet Endocrinology and Diabetes.

Originally hailing from Niagara Falls, Ontario, Dr. Davey has completed training in Ontario, Europe and the United States where he underwent specialty training in Advanced Heart Failure and Pulmonary Hypertension.

Dr. Davey is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (Internal Medicine, Cardiology) and the American College of Cardiology. He is American Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiolgy and Advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation.

Dr. Davey joined the Division of Cardiology Heart Failure Service as an Assistant Professor in September 2016.

He is currently the Medical Lead for the Mechanical Circulatory Support, Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic at St Joseph’s Hospital, leads the Cardiac Amyloid Program and is Director of the Cardiac Care Unit at LHSC. He is involved in a number of multi-centre clinical trials along with investigator-initiated studies in London.

Margot Davis is a cardiologist at Vancouver General Hospital and St. Paul’s Hospital, a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, and Director of the UBC Cardiology-Oncology Program. She completed fellowships in Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Cardiology and Cardio-Oncology & Cardiac Amyloidosis at Stanford University School of Medicine. She obtained her Master of Science degree in clinical epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Davis is Co-Chair of the CCS/CHFS Position Statement on Cardiac Amyloidosis, a Primary Panel member of the CCS Cardio-Oncology Guidelines, and a Secondary Panel member of the CCS Heart Failure Guidelines. She is on the Executive Committee of the Canadian Heart Failure Society Board of Directors and she is Vice President of the Canadian Cardiac Oncology Network. Her research interests are focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and management of heart disease related to cancer therapy, cardiac amyloidosis, and advanced heart failure.

Dr. De attended Dalhouse University in Halifax for undergraduate studies and went on to obtain his MD from Dalhousie in 2000. He completed his Internal Medicine (2003) and Cardiology (2006) residencies at Dalhousie, followed by a Fellowship in Echocardiography (level 3) at Vancouver General Hospital, University of British Columbia (2007). Dr. De then studied as a Clinical Scholar at the Cleveland Clinic, further training in Echocardiography and Heart Failure (2009).

Previously, Dr. De was an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University and a community-based cardiologist in Nova Scotia. He joined the Division of Cardiology at London Health Sciences Centre in September 2016 and is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine. His current professional activities include: Panelist, Canadian Heart Failure Guidelines; Board Member, Canadian Society of Echocardiography; and Member, Education Committee, American Society of Echocardiography. Current clinical interests include echocardiography, heart failure and transplantation.

Dr. De is the recipient of the 2016-2017 Award of Excellence in Postgraduate Medical Education - Division of Cardiology and the 2018 Department of Medicine Junior Teaching Award of Excellence.

Dr. De currently serves as the Director of Echocardiography for the London Health Sciences Centre. He is also the Fellowship Director for Adult Echocardiography and the Educational Director for the Division of Cardiology.

Dr. Akshay Suvas Desai is a cardiovascular medicine specialist and the director of the Cardiomyopathy and Heart Failure Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). In addition, he is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS).

Dr. Desai received his medical degree from HMS. He completed an internal medicine residency, as well as fellowships in cardiovascular medicine, vascular medicine and advanced heart disease at BWH. He is board certified in and cardiovascular disease, as well as advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology.

His clinical interests include advanced heart failure, cardiomyopathies (myocarditis, amyloidosis, sarcoidosis), congenital heart disease and cardiac transplantation. The author of over 80 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Desai’s research focuses on improving care and outcomes for heart failure patients, as well as strategies to reduce heart failure readmissions. His research has received support from the American College of Cardiology and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Mark H. Drazner, MD, MSc received his medical education at Washington University in St. Louis. He subsequently completed an Internal Medicine residency at UT Southwestern including serving as Chief Resident. He completed a cardiology fellowship at Duke University Medical Center followed by a Cardiomyopathy/Transplant Cardiology fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He subsequently received a Master of Science in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. He returned to UT Southwestern in 1997, later served as the Medical Director of the Advanced Heart Failure/LVAD/Transplant section, and presently is Professor with tenure, the Clinical Chief of Cardiology, and holds the James M. Wooten Chair in Cardiology. He has served on several writing committees for the AHA/ACC Guidelines for the Management of Heart Failure. He was the inaugural recipient of the L. David Hillis Award for Excellence in Teaching from the UT Southwestern Cardiology Fellowship program and in 2018 received the Laennec Master Clinician Award from the AHA. In 2020 he received the Patricia and William L. Watson Jr., M.D. Award for Excellence in Clinical Medicine, the highest honor in clinical care bestowed by UT Southwestern Medical Center to one faculty member each year. He currently is the President of the Heart Failure Society of America.

Dr. Anique Ducharme is a Professor of Medicine at Université de Montréal and holds the University of Montreal endowed chair “Fondation Marcelle and Jean Coutu, Cal & Janine Moisan for better practices in advanced heart failure.” She is also the founder and Director of the Heart Failure Clinic at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) and a former Senior Clinical Researcher at the Fonds québécois de recherche en santé (FQRS). She is president of the Canadian Heart Failure Society (CHFS) and the past chair of the Scientific Program Committee for the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress (2018-2020). In addition, she is an active member of the CCS Heart Failure Guidelines Committee, sitting on the primary panel since 2006.

Dr. Ducharme graduated from Université de Montréal in 1991 in Medicine (MD) and Biomedical sciences (MSc, cardiac transplantation) and completed her residency in Cardiology in 1996. She pursued additional training in Echocardiography at the Montreal Heart Institute, then in Molecular Biology and Heart Failure at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston. Since her return in 1999, she has held a position in the Noninvasive Cardiology department at the Montreal Heart Institute, where she carries out activities in echocardiography, advanced heart failure and cardiac transplantation. Her clinical and research focus is on advanced heart failure, including remodeling, pharmacological and device therapies (cardiac resynchronization and percutaneous valvular therapies, mechanical assist devices and transplantation).

Dr. Ducharme has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, 15 book chapters, 200 abstracts and 2 online university tutorial courses (Echocardiography Certificate, University of Melbourne, Australia).

She is currently PI for the SELFIE (Virtual HF clinic) and the CHAMP trials, and has sat on the executive committee of the CANSAVER and EARTH studies. Dr. Ducharme has served on several steering committees for large-scale studies, including GUIDE-HF, STICH, AF-CHF, EARTH, RELAX-HF and CHARM. She also participates in several review panels for journals, including Circulation, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the Journal of Cardiac Failure, the Canadian Medical Association Journal and the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

Dr. Dyrda has degrees in Engineering Physics from Queen’s University and in Medicine from the University of Ottawa. She continued her training in Internal Medicine at Queen’s University and in adult Cardiology at the University of Montreal. She then pursued a fellowship in interventional electrophysiology starting at the Montreal Heart Institute and continuing at the Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands. She has a particular interest and expertise in complex ablation. She currently works at the Montreal Heart Institute, and, is an Associate professor at the University of Montreal. She is the director of the arrhythmia out-patient and atrial fibrillation clinics and in charge of academic affairs as EP program director while combining medicine and engineering in her research work.

Dr. Justin Ezekowitz obtained his Bachelor of Science degree (honours in zoology) at the University of Alberta, and his medical training at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, where he earned an honours degree. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center / Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. He then returned to Canada for a fellowship and research training, and completed a Master of Science in clinical epidemiology at the University of Alberta's Department of Public Health Sciences, as well as a cardiology fellowship at the University of Alberta.

He is on faculty as a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology, Director of the University of Alberta Cardiovascular Research Institute, and Co-Director of the Canadian VIGOUR Centre at the University of Alberta. He is a cardiologist at the University of Alberta Hospital and Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute. His research focuses on heart failure (specifically with heart "pump" problems or end-stage heart disease). He is involved in numerous clinical trials in heart failure at the local and international levels. He has authored a number of book chapters in medical textbooks and over 300 publications in his field. Dr. Ezekowitz is involved with numerous organizations including the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, CHFS, the Heart & Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Heart Failure Society of America, the European Society of Cardiology and the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association.

Dr. Fine is a heart failure cardiologist and echocardiologist in Calgary AB since 2014. He is an Assiciate Clinical Professor of Cardiac Sciences, Medicine and Community Health Sciences at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. He is the Clinical Director of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute. He is director of Clinical and Research/Core Echocardiography Laboratories, and co-lead of Heart Failure research program. Dr. Fine has a clinical and research interest in heart failure and infiltrative cardiomyopathies, particularly cardiac amyloidosis and Anderson-Fabry disease, and is co-director of the Amyloidosis Program of Calgary and Calgary Cardiac Amyloidosis Clinic. He is the co-principal investigator for the Canadian Registry for Amyloidosis Research.

Staff Cardiologist at the Trillium Health Partners. Currently the Physician Lead for Cardiac Rehabilitation and Diagnostic Services and Undergraduate Lead for cardiology at the University of Toronto, Mississauga Academy. He is a Council Member of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and vice chair of the continuing professional development program.

He has been the Medical Director of the Coronary Care Unit and Clinical Cardiology for the Trillium Health Partners and the Innovation Lead for the Cardiac Program and the Founder and Co-Chair of the Smoking Cessation Program at Trillium.

He is the Past President of the Trillium Health Centre Medical Staff Association and served on the Trillium Health Centre Board of Directors.

He is a Lecturer at the University of Toronto and an active member of the teaching staff for the Mississauga Academy of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.

He currently serves on Telefilm Canada’s Talent Fund and is a cardiology consultant to Basketball Canada. He is currently working with Tennis Canada as a Medical Officer for the National Bank Open, National Wheelchair and Junior tournaments.

He served on the Canadian Hypertension Society Guidelines Implementation Committee (CHEP). He was a panelist for the CCS Fitness to Drive/Fly Consensus Document, CCS Peripheral Artery Disease Consensus Document and the CCS Antiplatelet Therapy Consensus Document.

Finn Gustafsson, MD, PhD, DMSci (born 1968) is a professor of cardiology at the University of Copenhagen and medical director of the advanced heart failure, transplantation and MCS program at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark. His clinical training in cardiology was conducted in Denmark and Canada. His research interests include several aspects of heart failure pathophysiology and management. He is an author of more than 300 peer reviewed articles in international scientific journals and several book chapters. Dr. Gustafsson serves on the steering committee of several international clinical trials and registries within the field of advanced heart failure. He is a board member of Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC and an associate editor for European Journal of Heart Failure.

Dr. Jacqueline Joza is cardiac electrophysiologist at the McGill University Health Centre. In addition to caring for patients with both general and inherited arrhythmias, she has special interest in ablation of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias and conduction system pacing. Current research focuses on physiologic pacing, familial sick sinus syndrome, and cardioneural ablation.

Dr. Anuradha Lala-Trindade (Anu Lala)’s clinical interests encompass all aspects of management of heart failure including the selection and care of patients with mechanical circulatory support devices and heart transplantation as well as genetic cardiomyopathies and perioperative management of high-risk cardiac surgical cases. She believes in a patient-centered approach, where each individual’s unique needs and preferences are essential components of developing a personalized treatment plan. Dr. Lala seeks to implement guideline directed medical and device-based therapies while integrating emotional and spiritual aspects of care.

In addition to caring for patients, she serves as the Director of Heart Failure Research and as Data Coordinating Center leadership for the NHLBI Cardiothoracic Surgery Network. Dr. Lala also leads the fellowship program in Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant at Mount Sinai. She has authored over 100 peer reviewed scientific publications and serves as the Deputy Editor of the Journal of Cardiac Failure. In 2016, she was named the American Heart Association Young Professionals Society Honoree for her service and commitment to education and promoting cardiovascular health awareness. In 2020, she was recognized with the Proctor H. Harvey Teaching Award by the American College of Cardiology which honors a promising young member of the College who has distinguished herself by dedication and skill in teaching, and to stimulate continued careers in education.

JoAnn Lindenfeld, M.D is Professor of Medicine and the Samuel S Riven, MD Director at Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute. Dr. Lindenfeld founded the Heart Failure and Transplantation program at the University of Colorado where she also cofounded the Center for Women’s Health Research-the largest center focused on cardiometabolic disease in women. Dr. Lindenfeld is Past President of the Heart Failure Society of America. She serves as Deputy Editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure and as a Senior Editor of the Journal of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation as well as on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and the Journal of Cardiac Failure. Dr. Lindenfeld served as the chairman of the Heart Failure Society Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee for the 2006 and 2010 guidelines and is currently a member of the AHA/ACC/HFSA Heart Failure Guideline Writing Committee.

Dr. Lindenfeld is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the Heart Failure Society of America. She was a member of the Cardiorenal Advisory Panel of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for 8 years and was also a member of the FDA Advisory Panel on Circulatory Devices and is currently an ad hoc adviser to that panel.

Dr. Lindenfeld has been an investigator in a large number of clinical trial and has served on multiple Steering Committees, End Point Committees and Data and Safety Monitoring Committees including COAPT, BEAT-HF, FIX-HF 5C, EMPEROR-Preserved and EMPEROR Reduced and is the Chair of the Guide HF Trial. She is the author of a more than 400 original papers, reviews, and book chapters in the field of heart failure and heart transplantation

Dr. Lindenfeld has had a long interest in women’s health and was the first to suggest that women are more likely than men to have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. More recently Dr. Lindenfeld has pioneered the use of Hepatitis C positive organ donors which has significantly expanded the donor pool for solid organ transplant recipients. She has discovered that continuous flow mechanical circulatory support significantly affects vascular remodeling— both large vessels such as the aorta and medium size vessels such as the coronary arteries. In addition, Dr. Lindenfeld has pioneered the use of urinary sodium as a biomarker to assess patients at risk or worsening heart failure.

Dr. Peter Liu is currently the Chief Scientific Officer and VP of Research of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, and also Professor of Medicine and Physiology at the University of Toronto and Ottawa. He is the former Scientific Director of the Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the President of International Society of Cardiomyopathy & Heart Failure of World Heart Federation, and inaugural Director of the Heart & Stroke/Lewar Centre at University of Toronto. He received his MD degree from University of Toronto, and postgraduate training at Harvard University. His laboratory investigates the causes and treatments of heart failure, role of inflammation and identification of novel biomarkers and targets for intervention in cardiovascular diseases. He has published over 400 peer reviewed articles in high impact journals, and received numerous awards in recognition of his research and scientific accomplishments. He has chaired scientific sessions of the Heart Failure Society of America, International Society of Heart Research and Human Proteomic Organization, amongst others. He is also champion for knowledge translation, integrating the cardiovascular prevention guidelines and healthy heart policy in Canada and internationally, including the C-CHANGE guidelines.

Dr. Michael McDonald obtained his medical degree at the University of Ottawa after completing his undergraduate studies in Life Sciences at Queen's University. He subsequently completed his Internal Medicine and Cardiology training at the University of Alberta, followed by subspecialty fellowship training in Advanced Heart Failure/Transplantation and Implantable Device Therapy at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto.

Dr. McDonald has been a member of the Division of Cardiology at the University Health Network/Mount Sinai Hospital since 2010, where his clinical focus is the management of patients with advanced heart failure and cardiac transplantation. Dr. McDonald is currently an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He has received a number of teaching awards and citations, and is the Medical Director of the Adult Heart Transplant Program at the University Health Network/Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, and is the inaugural Martha Rogers Chair in Heart Failure Training and Education. He is the past president of the Canadian Cardiac Transplant Network and the past co-chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society's Heart Failure Guidelines Committee.

David McFarlane was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He attended medical school at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago, the birthplace of his father, and interned at Port of Spain General Hospital. He completed internal medicine residency at the University of Toronto, cardiology residency at Dalhousie University and an echo fellowship at Vancouver General Hospital. He has a strong desire to improve cardiac care both in Cape Breton and Tobago.

Dr. McKelvie attended the University of Western Ontario, in London Ontario, completing a BSc, MSc, and MD degrees. He subsequently trained in Hamilton and received a PhD from McMaster University. Dr. McKelvie is presently a Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at Western University in London, Ontario. He formerly was a Professor of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where he ran the heart failure and cardiac rehabilitation programs. At present he is also a Professor Emeritus at McMaster University. At Western Dr. McKelvie is involved in the Heart Failure Program and the St. Joseph’s Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention Program. Over the years he has been involved with the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Heart Failure Guidelines Committee including serving as Co-chair and Chair of the committee. He presently chairs the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Heart Failure Quality Indicators Committee and the Cardiac Care Network of Ontario Heart Failure Working Group. Over the course of his career he has been involved in the design and conduct of many studies in the area of heart failure and cardiac rehabilitation; including the supervision of graduate students and research fellows. He continues to be active in these areas of research. Dr. McKelvie has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, over 200 abstracts and contributed to over 30 book chapters.

Dr. Emmanuelle Massie completed her medical school, internal medicine residency and cardiology residency at the Université de Montréal. She is currently completing her echocardiography fellowship at the Jewish General Hospital and will then pursue specific training in heart failure with a focus on infiltrative cardiomyopathies in Geneva, Switzerland.  

Dr. Mielniczuk completed her medical degree at McMaster University and subsequently went on to complete a residency in Internal Medicine from Queen's University and a Cardiology Fellowship at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. She also completed a fellowship in advanced heart failure/cardiac transplantation at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston - where she also concurrently completed a Master's Degree in Clinical Science and Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Mielniczuk is currently an Professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and the Director of the Advanced Heart Diseases Program at the Ottawa Heart Institute. She is also cross-appointed to the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. Her commitment to leadership and program development is evident in her multiple accomplishments at the Heart Institute, including being the co-Founder and Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program, developing a Rapid Intervention Clinic for HF patients, and a Regional HF program for the Ottawa/Champlain region. She is a translational scientist and currently holds a University of Ottawa Chair in Heart Function Research, has more than 100 peer reviewed papers, and has built a multi-disciplinary right heart failure research program at the University of Ottawa. Provincially and Nationally, Dr. Mielniczuk is an active leader for the HF and Pulmonary Hypertension community and serving as the Vice-Chair on the Pulmonary Hypertension Association of Canada. Dr. Mielniczuk is a member of the CorHealth Ontario Senior Leadership Council for Cardiac Disease, as well as an expert panel member for CADTH and Health Quality Ontario. She has been a Canadian Cardiovascular Society Council member since 2015 and is currently serving as the Secretary and treasurer for the Executive. In 2019 Dr. Mielniczuk was appointed Vice-Chair of Patient Safety and Clinical Care for the Department of Medicine at the University of Ottawa.

Dr. Moist is a Clinician Researcher and Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Western Ontario, Associate Chair, Division of Nephrology, Associate Director of the Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Clinical Lead for the South West. Dr Moist is a Certified Canadian Physician Executive, credentialing her significant role in healthcare leadership. Dr Moist is an active clinician, teacher and researcher. Dr Moist’s publications include over 200 peer reviewed papers and her recent research is in Implementation Science, integrating best evidence to best practice.

Dr. Kareem Morant is a cardiologist. He graduated Medical school at University of Ottawa in 2010. In 2013, he completed the Internal Medicine program at Western in London, ON where he served as Chief Medical Resident. In 2016 Dr. Morant completed his Cardiology Fellowship at University of Toronto.

He went on to complete an Advanced Echocardiography Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota, where he developed a keen interest in Cardiac Amyloidosis (among others) after working with many leaders in the field. He has a particular interest in Hereditary TTR Amyloid in the African-Caribbean Canadian population.

In 2019, Dr. Morant was appointed the role of Heart Function Clinic Director at North York General and is working towards establishing a dedicated Amyloid Clinic in the region. He is also Co-Founder of Cardiac Care North York (CCNY), which is an outpatient full-service Cardiology clinic designed to deliver high quality rapid outpatient cardiac care to the North York community.

Dr. Morant is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine and loves to teach and mentor residents and junior colleagues.

He currently is working to establish a Complex Valve Clinic to improve the care of complex patients with heart failure and valvular heart disease. Through this venture he has become a member of the Tricuspid/Mitral Valve Complex Rounds Team at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Dr. Morant’s currents Interests include regular exercise, cycling, spending time with his family (including his two young children) and lastly, anything and everything Raptors!

Dr. Ouellette is a Geneticist (Ph.D. in genetics) and genetic counsellor. She is the founding president and scientific director of the Quebec Coalition of Orphan Diseases and its iRARE Centre (a rare disease information and support centre).

Dr. Ouellette obtained a PhD in molecular genetics at the University of Montreal. She did postdoctoral studies in genetic epidemiology at the Center for Human Genetics in Leuven, Belgium. She was a researcher at Algène Biotechnologies / Signalgène where she worked on the discovery of genes for complex diseases in founder populations. In 1999, Dr. Ouellette left the lab and the computer to do a master's degree in genetic counseling at McGill University. She worked as a genetic counselor at the Center hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke and at Procréa Cliniques in Montreal. Since 2005, Dr. Ouellette has volunteered with several rare disease associations in Quebec and Canada. In 2010, she co-founded the Regroupement québécois des maladies orphelines (RQMO / Quebec Coalition of Orphan Diseases) with associations of rare diseases and patients without association. She has offered - as a health professional and ex-researcher with knowledge, skills and contacts in the field of genetics - to help associations and individuals with rare diseases to pursue the mission of the RQMO which is:

• inform and support families affected by rare diseases via the iRARE Centre
• raise awareness in the medical community and the public regarding the specificities of rare diseases
• disseminate and exchange information in the field of rare diseases
• and bringing together patients and researchers to advance knowledge on rare diseases.

Rodolfo Pike has been working with cardiac sciences for 20+ years. He has held many roles within the cardiac/critical care program: staff nurse, clinic educator for cardiology and the cardiac catheterization laboratory. He currently works as a nurse practitioner in the Heart function clinic with Eastern Health. Rodolfo has and continues to present on heart failure related topics at both local and national conferences. Rodolfo has had his research presented at local, national and international conferences. His work has also been published in peer review journals.

Dr. Racine completed his Medical Degree at the Université de Montréeal, his Cardiology at McGill University and his Intensive Care at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He is Full Professor of medicine at the Université de Montréal. He was the Program Director of the Adult Cardiology Training Program at the Université de Montréal from 2001 to 2006. He was Head of the Department of Medicine and Cardiology at the Montreal Institute from 2006 to 2014 and is presently the Program Director of the Heart Transplant and ventricular assist device program at the Montreal Heart Institute.

Dr Racine was the first President of the Société Québécoise d’insuffisance cardiaque from 2003 to 2008. He is the present Chair of the Réseau québécois de cardiologie tertiaire (RQCT), an advisory committee for the Ministry of Health of the Province of Quebec since 2012.

Dr. Racine remains very active in clinical activities and research in the field of heart failure and transplantation at the Montreal Heart Institute. He has been involved as Principal Investigator for numerous trials as well as co-investigator in multiple other heart failure trials.

Ms. Reay is a Board-Certified, Acute Care Nurse Practitioner in the advanced heart failure ambulatory clinic at the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus. She is dedicated to improving patient quality outcomes and quality of life for patients with heart failure. Her primary focus is increasing patient medication adherence and optimization of guideline-directed medical therapy for the heart failure patient. She has been a consultant to non-heart failure physicians and advanced practice providers and is a mentor and educator to nurses working in the field of Heart failure. Ms. Reay has been an integral part of the development and promotion of the Cleveland Clinic CardioMEMS program. She has served as a lead provider and co-administrator for the CardioMEMS program.

Ms. Reay has served as Study Coordinator for (GUIDE-HF) Hemodynamic-GUIDEd Management of Heart Failure and was a Contributing Provider for VIV-HF: Virtual Visits in Heart Failure Care Transitions.

Ms. Reay currently serves on the Cleveland Clinic Heart Failure HVTI, Readmission Rate Project Committee. She has served as a consultant on an advisory panel for Cardiac Amyloidosis for other advanced practice providers. Ms. Reay is a Certified Heart Failure Nurse and currently serves on the Heart Failure Society of America’s Nursing Committee and is a member of the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses.

Ms. Reay was recently selected as a subject matter expert by the Heart Failure Society of America to serve on the Exam Development committee to create the first Heart Failure Provider Exam. She was invited by the Heart Failure Society of America to participate in the development of guidelines for Virtual Visits for the Heart Failure patient during COVID-19 and was a Co-Author of the published guidelines in the Journal of Cardiac Failure. Ms. Reay was recently honored with designation as a Fellow in the Heart Failure Society of America.

Dr. Jean-François Roux is cardiologist and electrophysiologist at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke. He is professor of medicine at the University of Sherbrooke and adjunct professor of medicine at McGill University. After completing his cardiology training at the University of Sherbrooke in 2005, Dr Roux pursued a cardiac electrophysiology training at the Montreal Heart Institute, followed by an advanced cardiac electrophysiology fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. His main clinical and research interests are related to the treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. He is also program director for the internal medicine residency program at the University of Sherbrooke.

Dr. Shah is the Stone Endowed Professor of Medicine and Director of Research for the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Shah is also Director of the Center for Deep Phenotyping and Precision Therapeutics in the Institute or Augmented Intelligence in Medicine at Northwestern University, and he is Director of the Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) Program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Dr. Shah’s research is focused on improving our understanding of the epidemiology, mechanisms, and treatment of HFpEF. Dr. Shah started the first dedicated HFpEF clinical program in the world at Northwestern University in 2007 and has been a leading enroller in clinical trials for HFpEF since that time. Dr. Shah’s research interests also include the study of acquired and genetic risk factors for abnormal cardiac mechanics, and novel machine learning techniques for improved classification and therapeutic targeting of heart failure syndromes. Dr. Shah’s research is currently funded by multiple U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants, and he is the principal investigator of the Data Translation Center for the largescale, multi-center NIH HeartShare Program ($25 million program that seeks to accelerate understanding of HFpEF subtypes and treatment targets). Dr. Shah is also a leading heart failure clinical trialists and has been overall principal investigator or steering committee member for > 35 clinical trials. In addition to leadership of pharma heart failure trials, he is also the principal investigator of 2 interventional heart failure trials: Corvia REDUCE LAP-HF II (atrial shunt device) and Axon REBALANCE-HF (greater splanchnic nerve ablation). Dr. Shah has published over 450 original papers, review articles, and editorials. He is the editor of a textbook entitled, “Cardiovascular Genetics and Genomics in Clinical Practice”, and he was an Associate Editor for JAMA Cardiology from 2016-2021. He has also received several awards throughout his career, including the W. Proctor Harvey Teaching Award from the American College of Cardiology, the George Joost MD, teacher-of-the-year award from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and the Feigenbaum Lecturer/Award from the American Society of Echocardiography.

Dr. Abhinav Sharma is an Assistant Professor at McGill University in the Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology. He completed his medical school and internal medicine from McMaster University and his cardiology fellowship from the University of Alberta. He completed his PhD in epidemiology with a thesis focusing on the intersection of diabetes and heart failure. He went to Duke University to complete a cardiovascular research fellowship. Following this, Dr. Sharma went to Stanford University and completed an advanced heart failure and cardiac transplantation fellowship. He continued as a Postgraduate Visiting Scholar at Stanford University in digital health. His research focuses on the intersection of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and digital health. He is the recipient of the FRQ-S Chercheur-Boursier Clinicien award (Junior 1). Dr. Sharma has also won numerous local and international awards including peer reviewed grants such as the European Society of Cardiology young investigator award, The Heart Failure Society of America young investigator research grant, and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Bayer vascular award. Dr. Sharma is an editorial consultant at the Journal of the American College of Cardiology - Heart Failure.

Dr. Kavita Sharma is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, the Chief of Heart Failure/Transplant Cardiology at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU), and the Director of the JHU Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) Program. Her clinical expertise is in the diagnosis and management of patients with cardiomyopathies involving left and right heart disease, treatment of advanced heart failure including heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support, and the diagnosis and management of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Her research area of interest is heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), specifically clinical and molecular phenotyping of HFpEF, understanding pathophysiological mechanisms of disease, and identifying therapeutic targets. She is the PI many ongoing clinical trials in HFpEF and is the US National Leader of the PARAGLIDE, FINEARTS, and STEP-HFpEF / STEP-HFpEF DM trials in HFpEF. She has received funding support for her research from the American Heart Association and Amgen.

Dr. Nakul Sharma completed his undergraduate medical training at the University of Saskatchewan before pursuing Cardiology. He continued his passion in the area of advance heart failure in which he completed a fellowship in Cardiac Transplant/VAD at both the Mazankowski and Libin Heart Institutes. He furthered his endeavors while at the University of Calgary in which he completed Masters in Public Health in the area of health promotion from the University of Alberta.

In addition to clinical research, Dr. Sharma remains active in Continuing Medical Education programs and has participate in both local and national workshops in Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation. His current research interests are in Advance Heart Failure / Mechanical Support and their pivotal role in end stage Heart Failure. In recent years he has perused more community engagement initiatives through the lense of health promotion When not working as a cardiologist he enjoys playing competitive basketball. Dr. Sharma has recently taken over as the site lead for cardiology, CICU and heart failure clinics at the Rockyview General Hospital.

Dr. Elizabeth Swiggum is a Cardiologist, heart failure specialist and the Medical Director of the Heart Function Clinic and Cardiac Rehabilitation program at the Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria, B.C. She is the Medical Chair for Heart Failure and Chronic Cardiovascular Disease at Cardiac Services BC and is Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia.

National contributions include the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Guidelines for Heart Failure. She has been involved in many clinical research trials related to HF including pharmacotherapy, device therapy and stem cell treatment.

Dr. Swiggum continues to advocate for prevention of cardiovascular disease through Cardiac Rehabilitation Strategic Planning.

She, herself, leads a very active life including marathon running, having completed her 12th marathon in Victoria, October 2018, winning first in her age group.

Dr. Paaladinesh Thavendiranathan is a cardiologist at the Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network. He is an Associate Professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and a Clinician Investigator. His training was in advanced cardiovascular imaging and his current clinical practice involves work with cardiac MRI, CT, and echocardiography. He is the Director of the Ted Rogers Program in Cardiotoxicity Prevention which focuses on cardiac toxicity from systemic therapies including cancer therapy. His research focus is in the use of advanced cardiac imaging techniques for detection and management of cardiac toxicity. He is an international expert in the field of Cardio-oncology and holds a Canada Research Chair in Cardiooncology.

Dr. François Tournoux is an Associate Professor at the University of Montreal Faculty of Medicine and a cardiologist at the Hospital of the University of Montreal (CHUM), where he is Director of the Amyloidosis Program. He is also a clinical researcher working on developing new technologies and strategies to transform heart failure management and patient experience, with a focus on cardiac imaging, artificial intelligence, exercise, amyloidosis and cardio-oncology. He is the current president of the Quebec Heart Failure Society. Dr. Tournoux completed his cardiology training at the University of Paris in France, followed by a fellowship in echocardiography at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Heather Tulloch is the Senior Psychologist, co-Chair of the Patient Partnership Council, and Director of the Cardiovascular Health Psychology Lab at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and School of Psychology at uOttawa. Dr. Tulloch conducts research on psychological interventions to improve mental health, quality of life, and CVD outcomes and provides psychological assessment and treatment services to patients with cardiovascular disease.

Muthiah Vaduganathan, MD MPH FACC 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. His research focuses on drug development, clinical trials, and implementation of cardio-renal-metabolic therapies. He has authored or co-authored more than 475 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Vaduganathan serves on the editorial boards of the European Journal of Heart Failure, JACC Heart Failure (Social Media / CME Editor and Associate Editor), & JACC (FIT / Early Career Section Editor). He participates in the leadership teams of ongoing advanced-phase trials in HF and cardiometabolic medicine.

Dr. Vallis is a health psychologist based in Halifax, Canada. He is a Health Behaviour Change Consultant and Associate Professor in Family Medicine at Dalhousie University. He obtained his Ph.D. and M.A from the University of Western Ontario, London, and his B. Sc. From Dalhousie University. His main area of expertise is adult health psychology, with an emphasis on obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular risk and gastroenterology. He spends most of his time training healthcare providers in behaviour change for chronic disease management. He regularly supervises clinical and academic students and is active in research on motivation, behavioural change and adaptation to chronic disease. He consults nationally as well as internationally and is heavily involved in academic publications, journal editing, and clinical practice guidelines. He was on the executive of the Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Obesity (2020) and lead author of the Psychological and Behavioural Chapter for these new guidelines as well as the 2006 guidelines. As well, he is an author of the Psychology and Mental Health chapter of Diabetes Canada’s Clinical Practice Guidelines (2018, 2013, 2004). He received the 2021 Charles H Best award from Diabetes Canada and was awarded a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Government of Canada on the recommendation of the Diabetes Canada.