CONFERENCE CHAIR:
Jan N. Basile, MD, FACP, FASH, FAHA
Professor of Medicine
Division of Cardiology
Medical University of South Carolina
Ralph H Johnson VA Medical Center
Previous Vice-Chair of Clinical Programs AHA Council of Hypertension
US National Leader SURPASS-CVOT
Charleston, SC

Dr. Jan N. Basile earned his medical degree in 1978 from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. He then completed his internship and residency at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, where he was also Chief Resident. He is board certified in internal medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP), the American Society of Hypertension (FASH), and the American Heart Association (FAHA). For many years he served on the American Society of Hypertension (ASH) Board of Directors and has served within the AHA as Vice-Chair of Clinical Programs on the Council of Hypertension.

His honors and awards include the MUSC School of Medicine Excellence in Teaching award, the Golden Apple award, and, in 2014, he was the first recipient of the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control Hypertension Physician of the Year award. In 2019, he received the Marvin Moser Clinical Hypertension Award from the American Heart Association Council on Hypertension. He was President of the Southern Medical Association from 2008-2009.

Currently, he is Professor of Medicine at MUSC in the Division of Cardiology. He spent 31 years at the Ralph H Johnson VA Medical Center while faculty at MUSC having retired from federal service as Chief of Primary Care in 2009. He remains a volunteer at the VA, this his 43rd year at that hospital. At MUSC, he continues to teach all 3rd year medical students on hypertension during their 3rd year core medicine rotation and sees clinical patients in research trials on the tole of renal denervation in controlling hypertension.

Dr. Basile’s career research interests include outcome-based clinical trials involving hypertension, lipid disorders, and diabetes. He has been involved in many large hypertension trials including the ALLHAT, ACCORD, VALUE, ONTARGET, ACCOMPLISH, ACCORD and SPRINT and SPRINT-MIND trials most under the auspices of the NHLBI. Most recently he has been involved in diabetes outcome trials with GLP1RA's including REWIND and most recently the SURPASS-CV Outcome trial, which is a cardiovascular outcome trial comparing Dulaglutide with the dual-agonist Tirzepatide.

He was a contributing reviewer of the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC 7) and the 2017 ACC-AHA Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults. Dr. Basile has published more than 400 original papers, abstracts, and book chapters, as well as a textbook, Hot Topics: Hypertension. He continues to be a contributing author for the hypertension section of “Up To Date”.

Vanita R. Aroda, MD
Director, Diabetes Clinical Research
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Boston, MA

Dr. Vanita R. Aroda is the Director of Diabetes Clinical Research at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA, and is Member of the Faculty of Harvard Medical School. Dr. Aroda completed her training in Internal Medicine and in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the University of California San Diego, CA, USA.

Dr. Aroda has an interest and published record in diabetes prevention and novel therapeutics in diabetes and weight management. She also has a strong interest in understanding therapeutic interventions in large multicenter clinical trials and their applicability and integration into care. Dr. Aroda has years of experience in clinical trial conduct and leadership, has served as an investigator on the National Institutes of Health-funded GRADE, D2d, and DPPOS studies, and as the national or international signatory Principal Investigator for multiple therapeutic clinical trials. Dr. Aroda serves on the Professional Practice Committee of the American Diabetes Association.

Anna Beth Bradley, MD
Assistant Professor
Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism
Vanderbilt School of Medicine
Vanderbilt Weight Loss Center
Nashville, TN

Dr. Anna Beth Bradley is a board-certified Endocrinologist and Obesity Medicine Specialist at Vanderbilt University and the Nashville VA Medical Center. She earned her medical doctorate at Medical College of Georgia, completed internal medicine residency at Medical College of Virginia, then finished her training with an endocrinology fellowship at Duke University. During her endocrine fellowship, she participated in clinical obesity research under the T32 training grant and later pursued board certification in Obesity Medicine. In her clinical practice, she sees a variety of endocrinopathies with an emphasis on type 2 diabetes and medical weight loss. Dr Bradley is Assistant Program Director for the Obesity Medicine Fellowship at Vanderbilt University, and supervises endocrine fellows in the inpatient and outpatient setting. She was an Assistant Professor at Emory University until her family relocated to Nashville, TN in 2021 at which time she joined Vanderbilt faculty. In her spare time she enjoys exercising and spending time with her three boys - her husband, her 3 year old, and her 8 month old.

Mikhail Kosiborod, MD, FACC, FAHA
Professor of Medicine
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Executive Director at Cardiometabolic Center Alliance
Vice President of Research, St. Luke’s Health System
Kansas City, MO, USA

Dr. Mikhail Kosiborod is a cardiologist, the Vice President of Research at Saint Luke’s Health System, Executive Director of the Cardiometabolic Center Alliance, Director of Cardiometabolic Research and Co-Director of the Haverty Cardiometabolic Center of Excellence at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the inaugural recipient of the Ben McCallister, MD Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Research at Saint Luke’s Health System. Dr. Kosiborod received training in clinical research, epidemiology and health policy through the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, as well as clinical training in cardiovascular medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Kosiborod is an internationally recognized expert in cardiometabolic medicine. Dr. Kosiborod has authored and co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications, including scientific statements and position documents. Dr. Kosiborod is involved in the leadership of multiple clinical trials and multi-center registries.

Gitanjali Srivastava, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Pediatric & Surgery
Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism
Director of Clinical Obesity Medicine
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Nashville, TN

Dr. Gitanjali Srivastava is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Surgery in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSOM). She is the Director of Clinical Obesity Medicine, Program Director of the Obesity Medicine Fellowship at VUSOM, and Co-Director of the Vanderbilt Weight Loss Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine, Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, and the American Board of Pediatrics. Dr. Srivastava is also the Vice-Chair of the Obesity Medicine Fellowship Council and Tennessee’s State Official Expert for the Chronic Weight Management Task Force. Dr. Srivastava is the lead PI in several upcoming novel anti-obesity pharmacotherapy clinical trials. She is an internationally and nationally recognized obesity medicine educator and has expertise in the sophisticated application of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy in adults and adolescents. Dr. Srivastava was the lead author on published standards of care in adolescent pharmacotherapy and has had numerous publications in outcomes research, obesity practice management & health economics, pediatric obesity including genetic obesity, obesity public policy, weight regain post-bariatric surgery. She has taught at several courses including the Blackburn Course in Obesity Medicine, where she was the Founder of the now popular Obesity Medicine Board Review Course. She has been instrumental in the development and design of obesity models of care, standardization of adult and pediatric obesity care, and obesity curriculum for postgraduate medical education.

Dr. Srivastava earned her medical degree at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and completed fellowship training at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. She completed her internship and residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.

Pam R. Taub, MD, FACC, FAPSC
Professor of Medicine
University of California San Diego School of Medicine
Founding Director of the Step Family Foundation Cardiac Rehabilitation and Wellness Center
San Diego, CA

Dr. Pam R. Taub is a board-certified cardiologist and founding director of the Step Family Foundation Cardiac Rehabilitation and Wellness Center at UC San Diego. Dr. Taub was responsible for all aspects of creating the center, which provides a comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation program for patients with established heart disease.

Her clinical practice focuses on preventive cardiology, lipidology, as well as women's cardiovascular health. She has extensive clinical trial experience and is active in clinical and translational research. Her research focuses on assessing the impact of behavioral, technological, and pharmacological interventions on cardiometabolic disease. Dr. Taub's is a federally funded researcher with funding from: the National Institutes of Health (Principal Investigator on R01 grant), Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and American Heart Association.

Dr. Taub is widely published (with over 100 publications) and has authored high impact publications in top peer-reviewed journals including Cell Metabolism and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that have made an impact on clinical practice.

Dr. Taub holds multiple leadership positions in professional societies, serving as a fellow and board member for the American Society of Preventive Cardiology. She is a fellow and member of the American College of Cardiology Prevention of CV Disease Section Leadership Council. She also serves on American Heart Association Council on Clinical Cardiology (Women in Cardiology Committee).

Lisa VanWagner MD, MSc, FAST, FAHA
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Preventive Medicine
Divisions of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and Epidemiology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Chicago, IL

Dr. Lisa VanWagner is currently an Assistant Professor of Gastroenterology & Hepatology and Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL. Dr. VanWagner received her medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. She then completed her Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Transplant Hepatology training at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL while concurrently obtaining her master’s degree in Clinical Investigation from the Northwestern University Graduate School. She joined the Northwestern Faculty in 2015. In July 2022 she will join the faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX as Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Clinical Research in the Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases.

Dr. VanWagner utilizes human population-based approaches, large electronic health record data analysis and health services research methods to define and characterize cardiometabolic disease risk prediction, prevention and treatment approaches in patients with chronic liver disease. Her scientific work has been recognized by leading professional organizations, with awards from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), American Society of Transplantation (AST) and American Heart Association (AHA). She has published over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts. Her publications have been the first to describe findings such as the increased risk of adverse cardiac events after liver transplant for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and her team developed the first liver transplant-specific cardiovascular disease risk assessment tool for clinical use (available at: www.carolt.us). Other publications have been used to develop strategies for policymakers, such as the AHA (annual statistics update), and for clinical practice guidance (AST and AHA guidance on cardiovascular disease evaluation and management in liver transplantation). Clinically, she works in the multidisciplinary Northwestern Fatty Liver Program in the Northwestern Medicine Digestive Health Center and the combined heart-liver transplant program at the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Transplant Center. Dr. VanWagner is a fellow of the AHA and AST and currently serves as chair of the Liver and Intestine Community of Practice (LICOP) and as an active member of the Practice Guidelines Committee for the AASLD.