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
Harvard Medical School
Director of Diabetes Clinical Research
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Boston, MA

Dr. Vanita R. Aroda completed her training in Internal Medicine and in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the University of California San Diego, CA, USA. She 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 Phase 3 and 4 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 clinical trials in novel therapeutics. Dr. Aroda serves on the American Diabetes Association’s Professional Practice Committee, which is responsible for updating the annual Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes.

Scott Kahan, MD, MPH
Director, National Center for Weight and Wellness
Medical Director, Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance
Johns Hopkins University/George Washington University
Washington, DC

Dr. Scott Kahan is the Director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness in Washington, DC, Medical Director of the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance at George Washington University, and past Chair of the Clinical Committee for The Obesity Society. Dr. Kahan’s clinical practice and research addresses obesity prevention and treatment, chronic disease risk reduction, health behavior changes in populations, and clinical aspects of weight management. His public policy work focuses on expanding access to care for obesity treatment services, addressing weight stigma, and training physicians in obesity treatment modalities. Dr. Kahan holds faculty appointments at the Johns Hopkins University, where he has served as associate director of the Johns Hopkins University Weight Management Center and as a member of the core faculty of the Preventive Medicine Residency Program, and George Washington University, where he has previously served as co-director of the George Washington University Weight Management Program. Dr. Kahan is a fellow of The Obesity Society and serve on leadership committees at The Obesity Society, American Diabetes Association, and The Endocrine Society. He received a B.S. in bioengineering from Columbia University, received his medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and completed his residency at Johns Hopkins University, where he also trained in public health.

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.

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 B. VanWagner, MD, MSc, FAST, FAHA
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Preventive Medicine
Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology and Epidemiology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Chicago, IL

Dr. Lisa B. VanWagner is 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 in 2007. She completed her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL in 2010 and then served as Chief Medical Resident from 2010-2011. She also obtained her master’s degree in Clinical Investigation from the Northwestern University Graduate School in 2011. Dr. VanWagner completed her Gastroenterology & Hepatology training at Northwestern in 2014 followed by an Advanced Transplant Hepatology Fellowship in 2015 before joining the Northwestern faculty in 2015.

Dr. VanWagner utilizes human population-based approaches, large electronic health record data analysis and health services research methods to define and characterize cardiovascular disease risk prediction, prevention and treatment approaches in patients with chronic liver disease, particularly among patients with fatty liver disease. As a practicing transplant hepatologist, she sees patients with NAFLD/NASH before and after liver transplant and recognizes gaps in our knowledge of the epidemiology and pathobiology of cardiovascular disease in this growing population. Her scientific work has been recognized by leading professional organizations, with research awards from 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 cardiovascular disease events after liver transplant for NASH, the first to describe national estimates of cardiovascular disease events after liver transplant, and the first to develop a clinical liver transplant-specific cardiovascular disease risk assessment tool for clinical use (calculator available at: www.carolt.us). Other publications have been used to develop strategies for policymakers, such as the American Heart Association (annual statistics update), and for clinical practice guidance (AST guidance on cardiovascular disease evaluation and management in liver transplant candidates). 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.