Giuseppe Mancia is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca. He is also the President of the Italian Foundation for “Research and Innovation for Hypertension and Cardiovascular Protection” and the Foundation of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) in Zurich, Switzerland. Since 2008, he has been the Coordinator of the Consultation of National Scientific Societies operating in the field of cardiovascular prevention.

Giuseppe Mancia's research focuses on the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and therapy of arterial hypertension, heart failure, and coronary pathology. He also studies cardiovascular risk factors, including diabetes, obesity, and other metabolic disorders. In particular, he has worked on dynamic blood pressure monitoring, neurohumoral control of blood circulation, mechanics of large arteries, hemodynamic effects of cardiovascular drugs, stress and sleep effects, as well as epidemiological investigations and intervention trials in hypertension and diabetes.

He has been a part of or chaired various clinical trial steering committees. He has published over 2000 articles, reviews, and editorials in indexed journals of international medical literature. He has received numerous scientific awards and recognitions, including the Heymans Lecture Award from the International Society of Pharmacology, the Wright International Award from the High Blood Pressure Council of Australia, the Volhard and Tigersted Awards from the ISH, the Folkow Award from the ESH, the Research Award from the Italian Society of Arterial Hypertension, the Peter Sleight Award from the World Hypertension League, the Alberto Zanchetti Life Achievement Award from ESH, the Talal Zein Foundation Award, the International Recordati Prize, the Invernizzi Prize for Medicine in 2001, the Gold Medal from the Lorenzini Foundation, the Hariri Memorial Award, and the Spinoza Award from the University of Amsterdam. He was awarded the Rosa Camuna award from the Lombardy Region and the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for his scientific activity in 2014. He is also an honorary member of numerous other academies and scientific societies.
He was included among the top 100 Italian excellences in various fields of activity (Award ceremony at Montecitorio, December 2015). He is part of the Group 2003 for Research (most cited Italian scientists in the world, Thompson Reuters and Clarivates) and is a member of the European Academy of Sciences. He has been invited to give lectures or keynote speeches at over 600 international conferences.

Barbara Riegel is a Professor at the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania and the Co-Director of the International Center for Self-Care Research, a virtual center dedicated to the study of self-care. Riegel has developed theories and self-care tools that are used worldwide and has published over 600 articles on various topics related to self-care, broadly defined to include treatment adherence, condition monitoring, and self-management of symptoms associated with chronic illnesses.

Since the early years of her career as a Clinical Researcher in an acute care setting, she has focused on heart failure as a primary reason for hospitalizations. In 2022, she published an article further highlighting the important role of symptom recognition in monitoring behaviors and self-care.
Riegel conducts numerous research projects through international collaborations with colleagues in Italy, Sweden, Australia, Hong Kong, Brazil, and other countries. Her current project focuses on a clinical trial to demonstrate the effectiveness of a health counseling intervention for caregivers of adults with heart failure. Another project involves identifying what patients do to manage the symptoms of chronic illness.

Professor Riegel has been elected as a member of several professional organizations, including the Heart Failure Society of America, the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association, the American Heart Association, and the American Academy of Nursing. She is also the Founder and Editor of the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. She has received numerous honors and awards, including the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Heart Association, induction into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame, and the Barbara J. Lowery Award from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate Student Organization.

Dorret I. Boomsma is a Full Professor and Head of the Department of Biological Psychology at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where she earned her doctoral degree and worked as an assistant and later as an associate.

Professor Boomsma has constructed a database of over 75,000 twins in the Netherlands, which has been used for dozens of studies. Twins and their families have undergone periodic testing (DNA, blood, and urine) for decades, providing a wealth of longitudinal data for statistical analysis. Her research has primarily focused on understanding the hereditary influence on various physical and mental illnesses, including cardiovascular diseases, pediatric bipolar disorder, and depression.

This work has been reported in over 1000 published articles and a book, earning Boomsma numerous awards. Twin studies provide a way to understand how genotype influences an observable trait (phenotype). In short, identical twins (monozygotic) have 100% identical alleles for their genes, while fraternal twins (dizygotic) will have different alleles for 50% of their genes since their parents have different genotypes. Therefore, if a trait (such as depression) is present in one identical twin (monozygote), it is always present in the other, while this doesn't hold true for fraternal twins (dizygotic). This indicates that heredity plays a significant role in causing that condition.

Boomsma has been a pioneer in collecting a wide range of data and biological material from thousands of twins and analyzing them to determine the role of genetics in various traits like adult height, brain volume, intelligence, migraines, anxiety, drug addiction, and coffee consumption. Her findings span a wide array of behavioral traits, including the surprising discovery of a genetic component in feelings of loneliness, the fact that firstborns have higher IQs compared to their younger siblings, and the increasing influence of genetics on body weight as children grow up.

Andrea Ballabio is the Scientific Director of the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM) in Pozzuoli, which he founded in 1994 upon returning to Italy from the USA. He graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Naples, where he completed his specialization in Pediatrics. After working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Genetics and Biophysics in Naples and Guy's Hospital in London, he moved to the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, USA, in 1989, where he became an Associate Professor and Co-director of the Center for Human Genome.

Ballabio has published over 360 articles in peer-reviewed international journals and contributed to 19 chapters in prestigious international books such as “Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine” and “Molecular Bases of Inherited Diseases”. He also holds seven international patents. A member of numerous international committees (European Commission, European Research Council, EMBO Council), Professor Ballabio has also served as the President of the European Society of Human Genetics.

He is one of the founders of Casma Therapeutics in Boston, USA, and a member of the Advisory Board of Next Generation Diagnostics and Avilar Therapeutics. In 2007, he was awarded the title of Commander of the Italian Republic and received the Silver Medal of Merit. In 2020, he was awarded the title of “Grand Officer” of the Italian Republic. He has received the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant funding twice (in 2010 and 2016). In 2016, he became the first scientist in Italy to receive the prestigious Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine for his contribution to understanding the molecular mechanisms that control lysosome function in health and disease. In 2021, he won the Feltrinelli Prize in biology from the Accademia dei Lincei.

María Vallet-Regí is a Spanish inorganic chemist. Since 2012, she has been a Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and head of the Intelligent Biomaterials research group at the Department of Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Vallet-Regí has authored over 600 articles and several books. She has been the most cited Spanish scientist, according to ISI Web of Knowledge, in the field of Materials Science in recent decades. Her research areas include bioceramic-based bone graft materials and scaffolds for regenerative biomedicine, production and study of bioceramic systems for controlled release of biotechnological and antitumor species, nanoparticles and biocompatible matrices for biotechnological applications, ordered mesoporous silica-based materials as delivery systems for biologically active species, encapsulation of cells in porous silica materials, mesoporous materials for gene therapy and transfection, and organic-inorganic hybrid materials.

She is an honorary member of Biomaterials Science and Engineering at the International College of Fellows of Biomaterials Science and Engineering (ICF-BSE), an Ordinary Member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Engineering, and a member of the Royal National Academy of Pharmacy. She has received the Prix Franco-Espagnol 2000 from the Societé Française de Chimie, the award from the Real Sociedad Española de Química (RSEQ) in Inorganic Chemistry, the National Research Award in Engineering in 2008, the FEIQUE Award for research in 2011, and the RSEQ award and gold medal for research in 2011.

Milena Fini is the Scientific Director of the IRCCS Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute in Bologna, where she also previously led the Complex Unit for Surgical Sciences and Technologies. She is engaged in international activities related to technological innovations and new therapeutic strategies in the musculoskeletal field. She is co-responsible for the translational research line “Regenerative and Reparative Medicine” and participates in projects within the national networks of IRCCS institutes focused on musculoskeletal regeneration, reconstruction, and aging.

Specialized in Emergency and PS Surgery, as well as Orthopedics and Traumatology, and former Deputy Director of the Rizzoli-RIT (Research, Innovation & Technology) Department, Dr. Fini has been involved in the study of traumatic, degenerative, infectious, and oncological musculoskeletal diseases. She has been engaged in projects and clinical studies in collaboration with the orthopedic departments at Rizzoli. Additionally, she has conducted internationally recognized research on biomaterials, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, vertebral and prosthetic surgery, fractures, and tissue loss.