Meet the experts

Meet the experts

The following experts feature in this Learning Zone. Professor Kausik Ray, cardiologist and researcher, reviewed the content.

Return to the Lipid management in ASCVD Learning Zone

Professor Kausik Ray

Kausik Ray is Professor of Public Health at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Imperial College London, and an honorary consultant cardiologist at the Imperial College NHS Trust, UK. He is currently President of the European Atherosclerosis Society, Chair of the World Heart Federation Cholesterol Roadmap 2021–2022, and Chair for Global Council for Heart Health. Professor Ray conducts research on lipids, diabetes mellitus and population health, and serves as a global lead for clinical trials and registries.

Disclosures: Advisor/consultant and speaker for Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi Sankyo, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer. Advisor/consultant for Abbott, Esperion, Kowa, Lilly, NewAmsterdam Pharma, Resverlogix, Silence Therapeutics, and as a speaker for Lupin and Sanofi. Stock options in Cargene Therapeutics and Pemi31 Therapeutics. His institution (Imperial College London) received clinical research grants from Amgen, Daiichi Sankyo, Regeneron.

Dr Christie Ballantyne

Christie Ballantyne is the Chief of Cardiovascular Research and the Director of Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. Since 1988, Dr Ballantyne has received continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health to support his basic research of leukocyte–endothelial interactions, translational biomarkers, and clinical trials. His research has led to the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of two biomarkers for cardiovascular risk prediction, and he has played a prominent role in the development and approval of new lipid-lowering therapies. He serves on the Editorial Board of Circulation and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Disclosures: Grant/research support from Abbott Diagnostics, Akcea Therapeutics, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, Amgen, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Esperion, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Merck, National Institutes of Health (NIH), NewAmsterdam Pharma, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Regeneron, and Roche Diagnostics. He has been a consultant for 89Bio, Abbott Diagnostics, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Althera, Amarin, Amgen, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Denka Seiken, Esperion, Genentech, Gilead, Illumina, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Matinas BioPharma, Merck, NewAmsterdam Pharma, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche Diagnostics.

Professor Alberico Catapano

Alberico Catapano is Director of the Center for the Study, Prevention and Therapy of Atherosclerosis of the University of Milan at the Bassini Hospital, Italy; Director of the Cardiovascular Research Unit at MultiMedica IRCCS Sesto San Giovanni (MI); and Co-Chairman of the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS)/European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines for the treatment of dyslipoproteinaemias and lipid consensus papers. Professor Catapano is interested in the study of atherosclerosis, lipids, lipoproteins, and genetic dyslipidaemias, and he has made landmark observations regarding heat shock proteins and pentraxins in atherogenesis, and on high-density lipoproteins in the modulation of the immune response.

Disclosures: Akcea Therapeutics, Amarin, Amgen, Amryt Pharma, AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, Esperion Therapeutics, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Medscape Education, Menarini, Merck, Mylan, Novartis, PeerVoice, Pfizer, Recordati, Regeneron, Sanofi, The Corpus, Viatris.

Professor José Ramón González Juanatey

Dr José Ramón González Juanatey is one of the most renowned cardiologists in Spain. He is Head of the Cardiology and UCC Service of the Santiago de Compostela University Hospital Complex (CHUS) and Professor of Cardiology at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC). Dr Juanatey also directs the Cardiovascular Research group at the University of Santiago de Compostela. He is former President of the Spanish Society of Cardiology and has served in the European Society of Cardiology Press Committee (2011 - 2013) and Education Committee (2013 - 2018). Dr Juanatey has published more than 680 articles accumulating more than 27,000 citations in top international scientific journals including Circulation, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, International Journal of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research and American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology. He has also led multitude national and international research projects and clinical trials with public and private funding.

Disclosures: Research grants and honoraria (personal and institutional) for activities including research committees and clinical trials from Abbott, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Asofarma, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly / Daiichi Sankyo, Ferrer, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi, Servier, Novo Nordisk, Tecnofarma.

Dr Pia Rørbæk Kamstrup

Dr Pia Kamstrup is Head of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Copenhagen University Hospital–Herlev and Gentofte, Denmark. She continues to work with large general population studies, including the Copenhagen General Population Study, exploring the genetic background of cardiovascular disease with a strong focus on lipoprotein(a). She has contributed to international research collaborations and randomised clinical trials of lipoprotein(a)-lowering agents.

Disclosures: Lecture honoraria or consultancy fees from the Physicians’ Academy for Cardiovascular Education, Novartis, Silence Therapeutics.

Professor Meral Kayıkçıoğlu

Professor Meral Kayıkçıoğlu is a cardiologist at Ege University Medical School, Izmir, Türkiye. She has led various clinics, including the Lipid, Pulmonary Hypertension, and Young MI Clinics. Her research focuses on atherosclerosis, prevention, lipids, familial hypercholesterolaemia, rare cardiovascular diseases, and cardiovascular disease in women. Professor Kayıkçıoğlu chairs several national registries, including those for familial hypercholesterolaemia, acute myocardial infarction, premature myocardial infarction and peripartum cardiomyopathy.

Disclosures: Honoraria or research grants from Abdi İbrahim, Aegerion, Amgen, Amryt Pharma, AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, DEVA Holding, Esperion Therapeutics, Exeltis, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, LIB Therapeutics, Medpace, Menarini, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Recordati, Regeneron, Sanofi, Sanovel.

Professor Florian Kronenberg

Florian Kronenberg, MD, is a full professor and Head of the Institute of Genetic Epidemiology at the Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria. His main research interests are genetic and clinical epidemiological studies on lipoprotein(a). His team has more than 40,000 individuals with in-depth characterisation of the LPA gene, including data from western blot analyses. Professor Kronenberg is Co-Editor of Atherosclerosis and served as workgroup member on several guideline and consensus initiatives (K/DOQI, KDIGO and EAS).

Disclosures: Advisory boards for Amgen, CRISPR Therapeutics,  Novartis.

Professor Stephen Nicholls

Steve Nicholls is the Program Director of MonashHeart and Intensive Care, Director of Victorian Heart Institute and Professor of Cardiology at Monash University. He is the Director of the Victorian Heart Hospital. His research interests focus on the role of metabolic risk factors and imaging in atherosclerosis, with work spanning from early discovery to leadership of large clinical trials. He is President of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, a lead investigator of the Australian Stroke and Heart Research Accelerator, Chair of the Asia Pacific Cardiometabolic Consortium and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

Meet Professor Stephen Nicholls

Disclosures: Research support, consulting and honoraria fees from Anthera Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Lilly, Resverlogix, Sanofi–Regeneron, Amgen, Cerenis Therapeutics (ABIONYX Pharma), Esperion Therapeutics, Infraredx, LipoScience, The Medicines Company, Novartis, Roche. Consulting and honoraria fees from Akcea Therapeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Behring, Esperion Therapeutics, Merck, NewAmsterdam Pharma, Takeda.

Professor Borge Nordestgaard

Borge Nordestgaard is a Clinical Professor at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He has written extensively about the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of familial hypercholesterolaemia, hyperlipidaemia, lipoprotein(a), atherosclerosis, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. He chairs the Copenhagen General Population Study and is a steering committee member for the Copenhagen City Heart Study and five phase 3 cardiovascular intervention trials.

Disclosures: Consultancies/given talks for Abbott, Amarin, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Denka, Esperion Therapeutics, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Kowa, Lilly, Mankind, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Regeneron, Sanofi, Silence Therapeutics, Ultragenyx, USV Private Limited.

Dr Paul Ridker

Dr Paul Ridker, MD, MPH, is the Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Dr Ridker and his collaborators provided the first proof-of-principle for the inflammation hypothesis of atherothrombosis in humans; the first demonstration that statin therapy is both lipid-lowering and anti-inflammatory; the first FDA-approved diagnostic test for vascular inflammation; the first proven anti-inflammatory treatment for heart disease; and brought into clinical practice worldwide the concept of ‘residual inflammatory risk’. Dr Ridker has also led over 15 major multinational randomised clinical trials, including PREVENT, JUPITER, SPIRE-1, SPIRE-2, CANTOS, CIRT, PROMINENT, and ZEUS.

Disclosures: Research grant support from Amarin, Esperion Therapeutics, Kowa, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer. Consultancy fees for AGEPHA Pharma, Ardelyx, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cardio Therapeutics, Civi Biopharma, CSL Behring, Cytokinetics, Flame Pharma, GSK, Health Outlook, Horizon Therapeutics, Janssen, Lilly, Montai Health, NewAmsterdam Pharma, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, RTI, SOCAR, Zomagen Biosciences. Minority shareholder equity positions in Angiowave, Bitterroot Bio, and Uppton. Compensation for service from the Baim Institute (Boston, Massachusetts), the Leducq Foundation (Paris, France), and the Peter Munk Advisory Board (University of Toronto, Canada).

Dr Pam Taub

Dr Pam Taub, MD, FACC, FASPC, is the founding director of the Step Family Foundation Cardiac Rehabilitation and Wellness Center and Professor of Medicine at UC San Diego, California, USA. Her clinical practice focuses on preventive cardiology, lipidology and women’s cardiovascular health. Her research focuses on assessing the impact of behavioural, technological, and pharmacological interventions on cardiometabolic disease. Dr Taub serves as a fellow and board member for the American Society of Preventive Cardiology.

Disclosures: Research funding from a Hillblom Network Grant and NIH R01 DK118278. Funding from the National Institutes of Health (Principal Investigator on R01 grant), United States’ Department of Defense, United States’ Department of Homeland Security, American Heart Association. Consultant for Amgen, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Edwards, Esperion Therapeutics, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi.

Professor Lale Tokgözoğlu

Lale Tokgözoğlu, MD, FACC, FESC, is Professor of Cardiology at Hacettepe University, Ankara, Türkiye. She was a steering committee member for the EUROASPIRE III–V studies, which were the landmark studies defining preventive measures in Europe and is currently on the steering committee of several phase 3 trials on lipid lowering. Professor Tokgözoğlu has served on the Board of the Prevention Association. She is also a founding member of the Department of Noncommunicable diseases in Hacettepe University.

Disclosures: No conflicts of interest.

Professor Oliver Weingärtner

Professor Oliver Weingärtner is an interventional cardiologist at the University Hospital in Jena, Germany. As the current President of the German Society of Lipidology (DGFF), he has a special interest in cholesterol metabolism and cardiovascular risk prediction.

Disclosures: Professor Weingärtner has received honoraria for lectures from Akcea Therapeutics, Amarin, Amgen, Berlin-Chemie, Fresenius, Hexal, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi. He has received honoraria for advisory board activities from Akcea Therapeutics, Amarin, Amgen, Berlin-Chemie, Hexal, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi. He has participated in the conduct of the following clinical trials: Horizon Outcomes, AEGIS-II, Care High, VICTORION-Implement.