Invited Speakers

William Zoghbi, MD, MACC

William A. Zoghbi is the Elkins Family Distinguished Chair in Cardiac Health, Chairman of the Department of Cardiology at The Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and the Houston Methodist

Academic Institute.

Dr. Zoghbi is a renowned leader in cardiology, echocardiography, and cardiac imaging. He has developed new techniques to evaluate heart function and valve disorders non‐invasively. He is known for his research on ischemic heart disease, myocardial function and hibernation, and for his development of echocardiographic techniques to evaluate valvular disease. He has chaired several national guidelines on native valvular heart disease and prosthetic valves for the American Society of Echocardiography and collaborating organizations. He served as Associate Editor of Circulation and has served as Associate Editor for JACC Cardiovascular Imaging since inception of the Journal.

Dr. Zoghbi has been actively involved with the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the American Heart Association and the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) for nearly 40 years. He was president of the ASE in 2008 and President of the American College of Cardiology in 2012. During his presidency, he focused on patient‐centered care and spearheaded the relaunch of CardioSmart.org website for the public and patients. Dr. Zoghbi is involved internationally in cardiovascular health advocacy and health promotion. He was instrumental in the vision and implementation of the international mission of the ACC since 2008. He represented the ACC and the global cardiovascular community at the United Nations and World Health Organization, advocating for the reduction of premature mortality from non‐communicable diseases.

Science Consultant 

Harbers Bik LLC

City, State

Elisabeth Bik, PhD is a Dutch-American microbiologist who has worked for 15 years at Stanford University and 2 years in industry. Since 2019, she is a science integrity volunteer and consultant who scans the biomedical literature for images or other data of concern. She has found over 7,000 scientific papers, and her work resulted in over 1,000 retractions and another 1,000 corrections. For her work in science communication and exposing research misconduct, she received the 2021 John Maddox Prize.

Gladys Parkinson Stahlman Professor of Cardiovascular Research 

Chair, Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC)

Physician-in-Chief, Vanderbilt University Hospital

Editor-in-Chief, Circulation Research   

Vanderbilt Medical Center

Nashville, TN

Jane Freedman, MD, is the Gladys Parkinson Stahlman Professor of Cardiovascular Research and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), and Physician-in-Chief of Vanderbilt University Hospital. Prior to assuming the chair role in December 2023, she was the Director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Physician-in-Chief of the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute. As of July 1, 2025, she will be promoted to Deputy CEO and Chief Health System Officer at Vanderbilt.

Dr. Freedman is the current Editor-in-Chief for Circulation Research and has also served as the Chair of the National American Heart Association Peer Review Committee. She has extensive mentoring experience and has been the PI of three T32 Training Grants including being the Co-PI of the recently awarded Cardiovascular T32 at VUMC.   She currently serves as President of the Association of University Cardiologists.

Dr. Freedman is a member of the ASCI, ACCA, and AAP.  She currently oversees two research programs. The first is a basic science laboratory that examines the role of immunity, infection, and inflammation on atherothrombotic disease. The second facility uses high-throughput, nano-chip, and RNA-seq technologies to study gene expression and provide large scale transcriptomic and proteomic translational data for a wide range of clinical and translational projects.

Beverly Lorell, MD, FACC

Beverly H. Lorell, M.D. (Bev) is the Senior Medical and Policy Advisor with the FDA & Life Sciences Practice Group of King & Spalding LLP in Washington, D.C.  Prior to joining King & Spalding, Dr. Lorell was Vice President and global Chief Medical and Science Officer of Guidant Corporation. She specializes in regulatory and compliance areas of pre- and post-market clinical investigations, as well as postmarket safety surveillance, for FDA-regulated medical devices, drugs, and cell therapies.  

Dr. Lorell was previously Professor of Medicine at Harvard University and clinician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She has extensive experience in medical drug and device development and clinical trials during 25 years as a practicing interventional cardiologist, heart failure specialist, and clinical investigator. She was also an NIH-funded basic science investigator. She served on FDA Cardiovascular and Renal Advisory Committee and NIH study sections. While at Guidant, she led and facilitated U.S. and global cross-functional teams in both early stage development and clinical investigation of novel treatments for coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, and heart failure.      

She is an active Fellow of the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology and has served on multiple guideline committees and policy task forces. In addition, she  participates in multiple public-private policy initiatives regarding regulatory and scientific issues that impact innovations in cell therapy, drugs, and devices. Dr. Lorell is expert on the new federal mandate for Diversity Action Plans (DAPs) in FDA-regulated drug and clinical device clinical investigations. She assists both U.S. healthcare centers, physician leaders of clinical investigations, and industry on the challenges of implementing this new federal mandate.  

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Los Angeles, California, USA

Dr. Sanjay Kaul is a Cardiologist and Professor of Medicine at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Dr. Kaul received his medical training at the Government Medical College of the University of Kashmir in India. His residency in internal medicine was performed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and his cardiovascular training was completed at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.
 

Dr. Kaul has served on several national committees of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, the FDA Cardiorenal Advisory Committee, and the Institute of Medicine Comparative Effectiveness Research Methodology Committee. He is on several editorial boards including the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Circulation and served as an Associate Editor for Diabetes Care.
 

Dr. Kaul’s clinical interests are in preventive cardiovascular medicine, cardiovascular disease in diabetes, and ischemic heart disease. His research interests lie in the fields of thrombosis and vascular biology, acute coronary syndromes, clinical trial and statistical methodology and evidence-based medicine. He is a recognized expert in these areas and has published extensively in these areas.

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