Dr. Chilkoti’s research explores the interactions of biological and synthetic polymers with biology at the molecular level, with the goal of developing molecular tools and devices for medicine and biotechnology. Through a series of approximately 100 papers in the past two decades, his research group has pioneered the design and synthesis of genetically encoded stimulus-responsive elastin-like polypeptides and their fusions with peptides and proteins, with applications in protein purification and drug delivery. Dr. Chilkoti co-founded PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals in 2002 and served as a member of the company’s board of directors from 2002 to 2018.

Dr. Patterson is a cardiologist and assumed the position of Chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in June 2018. Immediately prior to assuming this position Dr. Patterson served as senior vice president and chief operating officer of New York-Presbyterian / Weill-Cornell Medical Center. Previously, he was the founding Director of the University of North Carolina (UNC) McAllister Heart Institute, Chief of the Division of Cardiology at UNC, Physician-in-Chief of the UNC Center for Heart and Vascular Care and Director of the system-wide UNC Heart and Vascular Network. Dr. Patterson was appointed the Ernest and Hazel Craige Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, and was recognized at UNC with the Ruth and Phillip Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement and the Kenan-Flagler Distinguished Alumni Award. He is an established investigator of the American Heart Association and a Burroughs Wellcome Fund clinical scientist in translational research. Dr. Patterson is an associate editor of The Journal of Clinical Investigation and the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, and serves on the editorial board of many other biomedical journals. He is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of University Cardiologists, the Association of American Physicians and the American Clinical and Climatological Association. Dr. Patterson is the founder of Enci Therapeutics and Clavé Biodesign. He received his MBA from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and was appointed associate dean for medical entrepreneurship at UNC in 2010. In 2012 he received the Judah Folkman Award in vascular biology and is currently the president of the Association of Professors of Cardiology.

Dr. Benza is an internationally renowned clinician and research scientist in heart failure, cardiac transplantation, mechanical circulatory support and pulmonary hypertension, and has been a key contributor to many clinical trials in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Currently, Dr. Benza is an Advisory Board Member of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Vascular Interventions/Innovations and Therapeutic Advances Program. He also serves as Professor of Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and at Drexel University College of Medicine, and is James Magovern Chair for Cardiovascular Research at Allegheny General Hospital. Dr. Benza was named Physician of the Year by the Pulmonary Hypertension Association in 2013, and has served on multiple boards, committees and councils related to his work on pulmonary vascular diseases. He is a funded investigator for the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association, and has published more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals, in addition to several book chapters. Dr. Benza earned an MD from the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville. He performed his internship and residency at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Professor Hamlin attended Western Reserve University, and earned a bachelor’s degree, doctor of veterinary medicine (DVM), master’s degree and doctorate at The Ohio State University. Among his many honors, he received a career development award from the National Institutes of Health, and was a Mahanna Scholar and past President of the Central Ohio Chapter of the American Heart Association. He received the distinguished teaching award and distinguished lecture award at Ohio State. He joined Ohio State’s faculty in 1960 and is currently the Stanton Youngberg Professor of Veterinary Medicine (physiology/pharmacology) and a Professor in the department of veterinary biosciences, the department of biomedical engineering and the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute. He is the past President and Chair of the board of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. Professor Hamlin’s publications include more than 300 articles on cardiovascular physiology/pharmacology, safety pharmacology/clinical veterinary cardiology, 28 chapters in textbooks and, in addition, he has served on the editorial board of 21 journals. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Sydney (Australia), Cambridge University (England), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), Azabu and Tokyo Universities (Japan), the Universities of Madrid and Cordoba (Spain), the University of San Paolo (Brazil), the University of Uppsala (Sweden), the University of Zurich (Switzerland), the University of Parma (Italy) and numerous universities in the U.S. Professor Hamlin’s primary interests are comparative cardiology and cardiovascular physiology/pharmacology, safety pharmacology, physical diagnosis and pulmonary mechanics.

Dr. Mammen is an expert in advanced heart failure, ventricular assist devices and heart transplantation. He has a special interest in neuromuscular cardiomyopathy – heart failure caused by neuromuscular disorders – and serves as the Medical Director of UT Southwestern Neuromuscular Cardiomyopathy Clinic, which he founded in 2010. It remains one of only a handful of dedicated neuromuscular cardiomyopathy clinics in the U.S. Dr. Mammen is one of only 500 cardiologists in the nation who is board certified in advanced heart failure/transplant cardiology. In addition, Dr. Mammen is the Director of Translational Research for the Advanced Heart Failure Program and investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying heart failure. The goal of his molecular cardiology laboratory is to develop novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of patients with heart failure. Dr. Mammen’s laboratory is funded through grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association.

Dr. White is a Professor of Medicine in pulmonary diseases and critical care, pediatrics, and pharmacology & physiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, NY, and Director of the University of Rochester’s pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) program. His research focuses on understanding the vascular biology of PAH, and providing better care to patients with a rare disease of the lung blood vessels and PAH. He has participated in major clinical trials for PAH medications, including tadalafil, treprostinil, bardoxolone and for rituxan in scleroderma-associated PAH, and provides leadership and development advice to biopharma companies including PhaseBio, United Therapeutics, Reata Pharmaceuticals, Gilead, Bayer and Celtaxsys. Dr. White earned his MD and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine residency and a fellowship in pulmonary/critical care at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Dr. Bhatt is a cardiologist, clinical trialist and internationally recognized expert on acute coronary syndromes, anti-platelet therapy, cardiovascular risk and clinical trial design. He currently serves as the Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is also a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Heart Letter. Earlier in his career, Dr. Bhatt was Associate Director of the Cleveland Clinic Cardiovascular Coordinating Center, and served as Chief of Cardiology at VA Boston Healthcare System. The author of more than 750 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Bhatt served as co-lead on three research projects that were listed in the 2014 American Heart Association / American Stroke Association top-ten advances in heart disease and stroke research. He is currently a trustee of the American College of Cardiology, and was selected by Brigham and Women’s Hospital as the 2014 Eugene Braunwald Scholar. Dr. Bhatt received an MD from Cornell University and a Masters in Public Health from Harvard University. He completed an internal medicine residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and fellowships in cardiology, interventional cardiology, and cerebral and peripheral vascular intervention at the Cleveland Clinic, where he also served as chief interventional fellow.

Dr. Pollack is an emergency medicine physician and Head of Jefferson Medical College Emergency Medicine. He was the lead investigator on the clinical development program for Praxbind^® (idarucizumab), a reversal agent for the anticoagulant Pradaxa^® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate), and lead author on two articles published in The New England Journal of Medicine on the Phase 3 Praxbind RE-VERSE AD™ trial. Dr. Pollack holds multiple roles at Thomas Jefferson University, including Director of the Jefferson Institute of Emerging Health Professions and Professor and Senior Advisor for Interdisciplinary Research and Clinical Trials, Department of Emergency Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College. Dr. Pollack was Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), Chief of Penn Emergency Medicine and Chairman of Emergency Medicine at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. Earlier in his career, Dr. Pollack served in various positions in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, and was Director of Emergency Medicine at Arizona Heart Hospital. Dr. Pollack has written more than 500 original research articles, chapters, and abstracts, and is a founding board member of the Hospital Quality Foundation. Dr. Pollack earned his MD from Tulane University School of Medicine.

Dr. Weitz is a Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and Executive Director of the Thrombosis and Atherosclerosis Research Institute. Board certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology, Dr. Weitz now focuses his clinical work in the area of thrombosis. He holds an endowed chair in cardiovascular research at McMaster University, which is funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. He also holds the Canada research chair (Tier 1) in thrombosis. Previously, Dr. Weitz was Vice-President of Research at the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. He has been the recipient of several awards, including the Special Recognition Award in Thrombosis from the American Heart Association in 2011, the Innovator Award from McMaster University in 2010, the Jack Hirsh Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement from McMaster University in 2008 and the Research Achievement Award from the Canadian Cardiovascular Society in 2006. Dr. Weitz is a member of the American Federation of Medical Research, the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, as well as a fellow of the American Heart Association, American and European Colleges of Cardiology, American College of Chest Physicians and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He is the author of more than 500 peer-reviewed publications and 60 book chapters, and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology.