Speakers
Keynote Speakers
Professor Stefan Anker
Professor Samantha Hocking
Associate Professor Samantha Hocking is an Endocrinologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and a Clinical Academic at the University of Sydney. She is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS) Council and the current president of the National Association of Clinical Obesity Services (NACOS). A/Prof Hocking’s research interests are focused on the metabolic complications of obesity. She is passionate about education to improve the quality of obesity care in Australia. In addition, she treats patients at the Metabolism and Obesity Service, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Associate Professor David Sullivan
David Sullivan is a physician and chemical pathologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown NSW. This includes conjoint appointment as Clinical Associate Professor, Sydney Central Clinical School. David has a long-term interest in lipid metabolism with particular emphasis on the dietary component of gene – environment interactions contributing to cardiovascular disease. He has been involved in the early use of most lipid-lowering interventions and has a particular interest in nutritional principles. His other main interest is the improvement of detection and management of severe inherited dyslipidaemia, such as Familial Hypercholesterolaemia. David has experience in several international clinical posts, including World Health Organization (WHO) Fellowship at the MRC Lipoprotein Unit, Royal Postgraduate School of Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, London and co-ordination of international clinical studies from the WHO reference lipid laboratory in Wageningen, Netherlands. He has served on numerous clinical committees including the management committees of the LIPID and FIELD trials. Current research interests are focussed on biomarkers and post-prandial metabolism.
Dr Rikeish Muralitharan
Dr Rikeish R. Muralitharan is an early career researcher in the Hypertension Research Laboratory at Monash University. His work focuses on uncovering how the gut microbiome and its metabolites regulate blood pressure and exploring novel therapeutic strategies. Trained as a medical doctor from Malaysia and later completing his PhD at Monash University, Dr R Muralitharan integrates clinical and preclinical expertise to bridge discovery science with translational potential. He has authored over 20 publications, including first-author articles in Circulation Research and Cardiovascular Research, and received multiple national and international awards, including the International Society for Heart Research Best Postdoctoral Publication Prize in 2025. Beyond research, he contributes to national and international committees, striving for equity and diversity in the workplace and research.
Dr Faraz Pathan
Dr. Faraz Pathan is a clinician-scientist and cardiologist, serving as Director of Cardiovascular Imaging and Head of Heart Research at Nepean Hospital, Sydney. He leads research on obesity-related heart disease through advanced imaging studies and advocates for employing the full arsenal of therapies to address the patient and population challenge of obesity- including policy level interventions, prescribing exercise, pharmacotherapy and surgery. Dr. Pathan champions paid exercise breaks for staff, delivering a TEDx Talk on "Paid Health Breaks" viewed over 1 million times, and advises businesses to optimize workplace wellness and productivity. He explores climate change's health impacts as Board Member of the CSANZ Climate Change and Health Committee, organizing related conferences and advising on heat resilience. Committed to equity, Dr. Pathan supports remote rural communities and emerging nations as International Scientific Advisor to Mauritius' Ministry of Health and conducts outreach work with Central Australian Aboriginal Congress. Cardiology Education Lead for Radiology Across Borders Charity, Dr. Pathan provides free cardiology education program to over 70 emerging nations and helps develop cardiovascular clinical and imaging capacity globally.
Professor Girish Dwivedi
Professor Girish Dwivedi holds the Chair in Cardiology at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and serves as a Consultant Cardiologist at Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) in Perth since 2017. He is the Joint Head of the Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes Program at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and Director of the Cardiometabolic Clinic at FSH. Professor Dwivedi also leads the CardioInnovate Translational Lab – Western Australia, part of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, and heads the Advanced Clinical and Translational Cardiovascular Imaging Group at the Perkins Institute. He has received accreditations in Cardiac Computed Tomography, Echocardiography, Cardiac Magnetic Resonance and Nuclear Cardiology including Positron Emission Tomography. Professor Dwivedi has authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals such as Nature, Circulation, JACC, Annals of Internal Medicine, and JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging and and has secured more than AUD 33 million in grant funding.
Dr Sinjini Biswas
Dr Sinjini Biswas is an interventional and structural cardiologist at Royal Melbourne Hospital and Epworth Richmond Hospital in Melbourne. Sinjini graduated from The University of Melbourne, and completed her physician and cardiology advanced training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. She then completed a PhD at Monash University examining the role of registries in optimising access to, and outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), supported by scholarships from the National Heart Foundation and NHMRC. She subsequently undertook advanced subspecialty training in transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and complex high-risk PCI at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. She continued to work as a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at Bristol Royal Infirmary for a few years, before returning to Melbourne in 2023. Sinjini has clinical and research interests in intra-coronary imaging, complex PCI and registry-based research. She regularly serves as invited faculty at European and American interventional cardiology meetings such as EuroPCR and TCT, and is also heavily involved in the teaching of intracoronary imaging and physiology in the region through the Asia-Pacific Society of Cardiology and ANZET.
Associate Professor Adam Nelson
Adam Nelson is an interventional cardiologist and clinical trialist appointed to the Royal Adelaide and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals and the University of Adelaide. His clinical interests are in improving adoption to evidence based therapies through implementation science and his academic interests focus on emerging therapies for dyslipidaemia, diabetes and obesity.
Professor Alta Schutte
Alta Schutte is Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at UNSW Sydney, and the Global Co-Director of the Cardiovascular Division of The George Institute for Global Health. She is a globally recognised leader in the field of hypertension, having led major research programs in Australia and globally. She’s contributed over 550 publications, including the NEJM. She is a Trustee of the May Measurement Month global blood pressure screening initiative, an invited author of the Lancet Commission of Hypertension, and senior author of the 2020 International Society of Hypertension Global Hypertension Guidelines. Alta has received numerous international awards, and in Australia she received the NHMRC’s Fiona Stanley Award for the highest ranked $5 million Synergy Grant, and was listed by The Australian in 2023 and 2024 as the Leading Scientist in Vascular Medicine. She is the Company Secretary of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance, Co-Chair of the National Hypertension Taskforce of Australia, and Past President of the International Society of Hypertension.
Professor Peter J Psaltis
Professor Peter Psaltis is an academic Interventional and Preventative Cardiologist, holding a Level 3 National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship. He has faculty positions with the Central Adelaide Local Health Network, the University of Adelaide, and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), where he is co-Deputy Director, co-leads the Lifelong Health Theme, and heads the Heart and Vascular Health Program. He is also Head of Interventional Cardiology at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Peter’s research spans basic, translational, and clinical science. He has received over $22 million in competitive grant funding and has published over 230 peer-reviewed works. Ranked in the top 0.05% globally for coronary artery research impact, he has also supervised 13 PhD and 12 Honours students to completion, with outstanding outcomes.
Professor Haris Haqqani
Haris Haqqani is a Senior Consultant Electrophysiologist at Prince Charles Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Queensland. He graduated with honours from the University of Melbourne and undertook advanced training in cardiology and electrophysiology along with his PhD at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. His completed his postdoc at The University of Pennsylvania where his research further examined the mechanisms of ventricular tachycardia in heart failure. Haris has authored or co-authored more than 100 journal papers, 20 book chapters and several national and global arrhythmia guidelines. He is a regularly invited conference speaker and serves as Associate Editor for Heart, Lung & Circulation and on the Editorial Boards of JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology and International Journal of Cardiology.
Professor Andy Yong
Professor Yong is an interventional cardiologist and the Director of the Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory at Concord Hospital. He serves as a Clinical Professor at the University of Sydney and Macquarie University. He has published over 100 research papers and regularly serves as an invited faculty speaker at national and international cardiology conferences. He has a special research interest in coronary physiology.
Professor Ben Freedman OAM
Ben Freedman is Director External Affairs and Group Leader Heart Rhythm and stroke Prevention Group at Sydney’s Heart Research Institute Sydney, Honorary Professor of Cardiology Faculty of Medicine and Health, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, and former head of Department of Cardiology Concord Hospital. He holds honorary or adjunct professorial titles at Monash and Melbourne Universities and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His major research interest is stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. In 2015 he formed the AF-SCREEN International Collaboration with 5 others. It now has over 240 members from 40 countries. He co-chaired the 2020 World Heart Federation’s AF-Roadmap update, and co-chaired 2020 APHRS guidance on screening for AF. In 2011 he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for service to medicine as a clinician, educator and researcher, and in 2023 received the NSW ministerial senior Researcher award for cardiovascular research excellence.
Dr Pugazhendhi Vijayaraman
Dr. Vijayaraman completed his medical school in 1989 from Madurai Medical College, Madurai, India. He completed his residency in Internal medicine at Jawaharlal Institute of Post-graduate Medical Education, Pondicherry, India in 1993. Following completion of residency at Jacobi Medical Center, Alber Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx NY and fellowship in cardiology and electrophysiology from Montefiore Medical Center, NY, he joined the faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University and the VA medical center at Richmond VA in 2002. Since 2005, Dr. Vijayaraman has been at Geisinger Health System, PA.
He currently serves as the System Director of electrophysiology at the Geisinger Heart Institute and also directs the cardiac electrophysiology fellowship program at Geisinger Medical Center. He is actively involved in clinical research in arrhythmia and device management. He is a fellow of American College of Cardiology and Heart Rhythm Society.
He is pioneer in His bundle pacing and Left bundle branch pacing and has published more than 250 articles in this field including consensus documents and guideline documents of HRS/AHA/ACC and ESC/EHRA.
Professor Andrew Sindone
Professor Andrew Sindone is Director of the Heart Failure Unit and Department of Cardiac Rehabilitation, Concord Hospital and Head of Cardiology, Ryde Hospital.
He established the Heart Failure Unit at Concord Hospital in 1995, with its Clinic, research, rehabilitation and outreach programs. He teaches medical students, junior doctors, General Practitioners and cardiologists and ran a program to update over 150 cardiologists in the management of heart failure.
Professor Sindone has received multiple awards, Grants, has been Principal Investigator in over 60 international multicentre clinical trials and has presented over 120 research papers. He is advisor to the NSW Government on heart failure policy, is co-author of the Asia-Pacific, Global and the Australian Heart Failure Guidelines and served on over 50 Pharmaceutical Advisory Boards. He is patron of multiple charities and supports the Italian Community in Australia with heart disease.
Associate Professor John Amerena
Assoc. Prof. John Amerena trained in Melbourne before spending four years in the United States at the University of Michigan. He is now a Cardiologist at Barwon Health, and currently has appointments in the Medical School, Deakin University and the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. He is the director of the Geelong Cardiology Research Unit which is currently involved in many phase II-III clinical trials and is interested in research into atherothrombosis, in particular with respect to antithrombotic/antiplatelet therapies, especially in the context of atrial fibrillation. Heart failure is also a major interest and he is the Director of the Heart Failure and AF services at Barwon Health. He has been on the steering committee of several of the major trials in these areas as National Lead Investigator, and has many publications in these fields.
Dr Alicia Chan
Dr Alicia Chan is a clinical and academic Cardiologist who specialises in heart failure and implantable devices therapy. She has also a keen interest in heart disease in women. Her academic interests include heart disease in women, having completed her PhD (Dean’s list 2013) entitled “Cardiovascular Risk Assessment in Women: Impact of Ageing, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and Menopause on Nitric Oxide Signalling” and also heart failure mechanisms and therapeutics, with international presentations and publications in peer-reviewed journals in these fields. Her latest contribution was in the “Consensus Statement on the current prevention and management of Heart Failure” MJA 2022. She is the current SA Board Representative Cardiac Society ANZ, Chair of Cardiology Females in SA (CAFE-SA, CSANZ), Board member of the Heart Foundation and continues to be active in teaching through the University of Adelaide.