Dr. Devendra K. Agrawal earned M.Sc. (Chemistry) in 1973 and Ph.D. (Biochemistry) in 1978 from Lucknow University, India. Following his tenure as a Clinical Biochemist at King George's Medical College, Lucknow, India, Dr. Agrawal moved to Canada and earned Ph.D. (Medical Sciences) in 1984 from McMaster University, Canada followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. In 1985, he was recruited as an Assistant Professor at Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, USA where he rose to the rank of Full Professor in 1997. Dr. Agrawal also earned MBA in 2004 and MS (ITM) in 2005 from Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, USA. In 2009, Dr. Agrawal founded the Center for Clinical & Translational Research at Creighton University, which later developed into an independent Department. Dr. Agrawal was the Founding Chairman of this Department. In addition, Dr. Agrawal served as the Senior Associate Dean of Clinical & Translational Sciences at Creighton. Dr. Agrawal served as Senior Vice President for Research and Professor for Translational Research from July 2019 through February 2022. He continues to serve as Professor and Director, Department of Translational Research in WesternU's College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific. Dr. Agrawal has been elected to the membership of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Fellow of the American Heart Association, Fellow of the American Physiological Society, and Fellow of the International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences. Creighton University recognized and honored Dr. Agrawal with many awards, including Young Investigator Award, Distinguished Research Career Award, Distinguished Professor Award, Distinguished Faculty Service Award, University Research Award and Distinguished Mentor Award at Creighton. In May 2017, Dr. Agrawal was honored with the highest teaching award at Creighton University, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for Teaching Achievement. In 2001 and again in 2017, the Midwest Chapter of American Association of Physicians of India recognized and honored Dr. Agrawal for his contributions as a teaching professor, researcher, and mentor. The India Association of Nebraska recognized him with the Man of the Year award in 2000 and Award of Excellence in appreciation of outstanding service and contribution to Nebraska Community at large in 2013. In 2015 and 2016, the International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences recognized Dr. Agrawal with the Professor Bohuslav Ostadal Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Sciences, Distinguished Leadership Award, and Ricardo Gelpi Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Sciences. Dr. Agrawal has been an invited speaker to many prestigious national and international scientific meetings. Dr. Agrawal has served on many grant review panels, including VA Merit Review, NIH-CSR, DoD, NIH-NIAID, NIH-NHLBI, MRC-UK and US-Israel BSF Grant Review Committees, Science Foundation Ireland, Austrian Science Fund, British Lung Foundation, Swiss NSF, and Asthma Research Foundation of Western Australia. Dr. Agrawal has served/is serving on editorial board of several journals, including J. Immunology, American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology. Dr. Agrawal has authored/co-authored of more than 410 original research articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. He has co-edited three books in the area of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. His major research interests have been in the area of cellular, molecular and immunobiology of diabetes, renal diseases, pulmonary and vascular diseases, arthritis and shoulder rotator cuff injuries. NIH funds his research projects. In collaboration with clinical scientists, Dr. Agrawal has developed active and productive research projects in many fields, including maturation failure of arteriovenous fistula, carotid and coronary artery diseases, vein-graft failure, plaque instability, shoulder rotator cuff injury, gene and stem cell therapy, bariatric surgery, and esophageal diseases. He has trained about 64 postdoctoral fellows and 72 MD-PhD/PhD/M.S. students in cellular, molecular, and immunobiology of clinical diseases. At Western University of Health Sciences, Dr. Agrawal is developing research projects with multidisciplinary approaches and new perspectives in the advancement of Clinical & Translational Science, bringing the expertise of various health science colleges, including osteopathic medicine, dentistry, podiatry, pharmacy, optometry, veterinary medicine, and mentoring and training new generation of translational researchers.

Department of Medicine
University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center

Professor of Cardiac Surgery,
Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Program,
University of Maastricht, CARIM,
Maastricht, The Netherlands

Dr. Vikas Kumar received Ph.D. from Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram, India in February 2019 working in a laboratory of Dr. CC. Kartha. During his doctoral tenure, he explored the molecular basis of metabolic remodeling in cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. He examined in male Wistar rats, the metabolic changes associated with cardiac hypertrophy induced by long-term pressure overload in old age and related the alterations to transitions in mitochondrial transporters and mitochondrial function. To explore cardiovascular biology further, in November 2019, Dr. Kumar joined as a postdoctoral fellow the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Sciences (LCS) of the National Institute of Aging (NIA). There, under the supervision of Dr. Edward G. Lakatta and in collaboration with Dr. Ranjan Sen, NIA, IRP and Dr. Luigi Adamo from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Dr Kumar is exploring the immunological signatures of mice with cardiac-selective overexpression of adenylyl cyclase type 8 (TGAC8) . These animals are characterized by a unique pattern of cardiac adaptation to injury. Dr Kumar is testing the hypothesis that these adaptive responses might be driven or modulated by the immune system. He is pursuing a mechanistic approach, with the vision that to develop novel immunomodulating therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, it is necessary to gain a deeper mechanistic understanding of the relationship between the immune system and myocardial physiopathology.

Current Positions:
• Elected Trustee/Council Member of the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) • Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine, College of Medicine, Adventist University of the Philippines • Senior Consultant in Adult Cardiology, Manila Doctors’ Hospital • Dean Emeritus, and Head of Cardio-Metabolic Research Unit (CaMeRU), FAME Leaders’ Academy • Fellow of the Philippine College of Physicians, Philippine College of Cardiology, European Society of Cardiology • Editor-in-Chief, H&L (Health & Lifestyle) magazine • Chairman and Chief Executive & Editorial Officer (CEEO), FAME Medical/Marketing Communications • Chairman, For God’s Glory Foundation, Inc. • Health columnist, Philippine Daily Inquirer since 2000 • Lifetime member of Philippine Medical Association, Philippine College of Physicians, Philippine Heart Association, National Press Club • Primary Member, Makati Business Club

Russell’s Hall Hospital, The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust
and New Cross Hospital Heart & Lung Centre, Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust
UK

Fariba Yazdanpanah is who practices at at University Of Maryland, Prince George's Hospital Center in Department Of Medicine, 3001 Hospital Drive in Cheverly.

Department of Pharmacology,
University of California, Davis,
USA