2026 Invited Speakers
Invited Speaker
Robert M. Califf, MD, FACC
Robert M. Califf, MD, FACC, was the Commissioner of the FDA from February 2016 to January 2017 and from February 2022 to January 2025. He is currently a Professor of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. Between his 2 stints at FDA, Dr. Califf was the head of medical policy and strategy for Alphabet’s subsidiaries Verily and Google Health. Previously, Dr. Califf served as the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco from February 2015 until his appointment as Commissioner in February 2016. Prior to joining the FDA, Dr. Califf was a Professor of Medicine and Vice Chancellor for clinical and translational research at Duke University. He also served as Director of the Duke Translational Medicine Institute and founding Director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute. A nationally and internationally recognized expert in cardiovascular medicine, health outcomes research, healthcare quality, and clinical research, Dr. Califf has led many landmark clinical trials and is one of the most frequently cited authors in biomedical science, with more than 1,200 publications in peer-reviewed literature. Dr. Califf became a Member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly known as the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2016, one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine. Dr. Califf has served on numerous IOM committees, and he has served as a member of the FDA Cardiorenal Advisory Panel and FDA Science Board's Subcommittee on Science and Technology. Dr. Califf has also served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Library of Medicine, as well as on advisory committees for the National Cancer Institute, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Council of the National Institute on Aging. While at Duke, Dr. Califf led major initiatives aimed at improving methods and infrastructure for clinical research, including the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI), a public-private partnership co-founded by the FDA and Duke. He also served as the Principal Investigator for Duke's Clinical and Translational Science Award and the NIH Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory coordinating center. Dr. Califf is a graduate of Duke University School of Medicine. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and a fellowship in cardiology at Duke.
Emeritus Session Speaker
Kim A. Eagle, MD, MACC
Dr. Kim Eagle is the Albion Walter Hewlett Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Frankel Cardiovascular Center at the University of Michigan Health System. A graduate of Bozeman Senior High School (Bozeman, MT) he then attended Oregon State University graduating in 1976 followed by Tufts University Medical School graduating in 1979. He completed a residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital from 1979 to 1983 followed by research and clinical fellowships in cardiology and health services research at Harvard Medical School and The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) from 1983 through 1986. From 1986 to 1994, Dr. Eagle served MGH where he was promoted to Associate Director of Clinical Cardiology and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard before moving to the University of Michigan. At “U of M”, beginning in 1994, Dr. Eagle developed an outcomes research program focusing on quality, cost-effectiveness, practice guidelines, acute coronary syndromes, treatment of aortic diseases, the fight against childhood obesity (Founder - “Project Healthy Schools”), and reuse of pacemakers in third world nations (Founder – “Project My Heart Your Heart”). His outcomes research team has led quality improvement initiatives across the state of Michigan in acute MI, heart failure, and coronary intervention. Dr. Eagle has contributed extramural presentations to more than 115,000 learners in 33 US states and 12 countries. He has published 782 peer-reviewed articles, 77 chapters, and edited 8 books including his latest, The Heart of a Champion, co-written with legendary Michigan football coach, Bo Schembechler. Dr. Eagle has served the American College of Cardiology on numerous committees and task forces. He is the editor of the ACC’s website, ACC.org. He served its Board of Trustees from 2001-2005. He received ACC’s “Master” designation in 2009, and its national Distinguished Teacher Award in 2012. In 2018, he received the 2018 Distinguished Scientist Award (Clinical Domain) from the American College of Cardiology. He served on the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s External Advisory Committee from 2002-2006, and was the Study Chair of its Genetic Causes of Thoracic Aortic Conditions (GenTAC) from 200-2016. He is currently chair of the GenTAC Alliance, powered by the Marfan Foundation. He has served the local and national American Heart Association, and he received the national AHA’s Laennec Society’s Clinician Educator Award in 2013. He is past President of the Association of University Cardiologists and a Board Member of the World Medical Relief. In 2014, the University of Michigan and many of Dr. Eagle’s grateful patients created the Kim A. Eagle Professorship in Cardiovascular Medicine and an endowed research fund bearing his name. In 2024, the Eagle Fund for Education was created to support specialized training of University of Michigan’s Cardiovascular Medicine fellows. Dr. Eagle enjoys Ann Arbor’s diverse opportunities for cultural and family fun. This includes cheering the Michigan athletic teams, and volunteering at St. Mary’s Student Parish. Dr. Eagle is Past President of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. He is an avid fly fisherman and skier and often enjoys these pastimes in Montana, his childhood home.
Invited Speaker
Michael Lauer, MD
Michael Lauer MD was the Deputy Director for Extramural Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 2015 to 2025. In this role he was the principal scientific leader and advisor to the Director of the NIH on all matters relating to the substance, quality, and effectiveness of the NIH extramural research program and administration. From 2009 to 2015 he was the Director of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, where he led the Institute's program for research on the causes, prevention, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Lauer was educated and trained at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Albany Medical College, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, and the NHLBI’s Framingham Heart Study. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a fellowship in cardiology at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital; he is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine. Dr. Lauer spent 14 years at Cleveland Clinic as a staff cardiologist and as Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Biostatistics (Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University). During his tenure at the Clinic, he led a federally funded internationally renowned clinical epidemiology program that applied big data from large-scale electronic health platforms to questions regarding the diagnosis, prognosis, and management of cardiovascular disease. From 2000 to 2007 he served as a part-time editor for the prominent medical journal JAMA, where he oversaw the cardiovascular portfolio and inaugurated a new review-article series.
Emeritus Session Speaker
Martha Gulati, MD, MS, FACC, FAHA, MASPC, FESC, FSCCT(hon)
Martha Gulati, MD, MS, FACC, FAHA, MASPC, FESC, FSCCT(hon) is the Immediate Past President of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology. She is a professor of cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles and is the director of prevention, the associate director of the Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center and holds the Anita Dann Friedman Endowed Chair in Women’s Cardiovascular Medicine and Research. She was formerly the inaugural Chief of Cardiology at the University of Arizona. She is the author of the best-seller, “Saving Women’s Hearts”. She served as the chair of the national chest pain guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. She also served as editor-in-chief of CardioSmart, the patient education arm of the American College of Cardiology. Her exceptional commitment to the study of women and cardiac diseases has won her numerous awards and distinctions, including being named by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of Chicago’s Top 40 under 40. In 2011, she received the first CREDO (Coalition to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Cardiovascular Outcomes) Award from the American College of Cardiology that was given to honor her contributions to improve cardiovascular healthcare of women patients. In 2012, she was awarded the National Red Dress Award for her efforts in raising awareness of heart disease in women and advancing research in this field. In 2019, she was chosen as the most influential woman in Arizona and received the 2019 American College of Cardiology’s Bernadine Healy Award for her leadership and accomplishment in the field of cardiovascular disease in women. In 2023, she was awarded the Arthur Agatston Award in Cardiovascular Disease prevention from the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT). She is the principal investigator of the St. James Women Take Heart Project, a study that examined cardiac risk factors in women, and set standards for women’s fitness levels and heart rate response to exercise. She is the site PI and coinvestigator of the WARRIOR (Women's IschemiA TRial to Reduce Events In Non-ObstRuctive CAD) trial that is funded by the Department of Defense. She also is a co-investigator on the Women Ischemic Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) study and previously served as a co-investigator on the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). She has published articles in peer-reviewed publications, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Circulation, and Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). She has also been featured on Oprah. Dr. Gulati is Canadian and completed medical school at the University of Toronto, Canada. She went on to complete her internship, residency and cardiology fellowship at the University of Chicago. She received a Masters’ in Science at the University of Chicago and is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the American Society for Preventive Cardiology & the European Society of Cardiology. She is board certified in cardiovascular disease.