Gerard A. Marchal is a PhD candidate in Dr Carol Ann Remme’s group in the Department of Experimental Cardiology at Amsterdam UMC. He is currently finishing his PhD thesis, which focuses on the complexity of the cardiac sodium channel NaV1.5 and its regulation and role in various diseases, as well as the impact of NaV1.5 dysfunction on embryonic development and the aging heart. Following his PhD, Gerard aims to continue exploring the mysteries of cardiac electrophysiology. During his free time, he enjoys travelling, hanging out with friends, following sports and playing board games. He can be found on Twitter: @GA_Marchal.

Dr Aylina Glasenapp is a veterinarian and researcher at Hannover Medical School. She completed her doctoral training in Translational Cardiovascular Molecular Imaging in the Departments of Nuclear Medicine and Experimental Radiology. The study published in this issue was the focus of her doctoral research project, developing and evaluating the use of early imaging markers of inflammation and fibrosis to predict ventricle remodeling in pressure overload heart failure and response to ventricle unloading. After completing her training, she has continued her research career at the Central Animal Facility of Hannover Medical School.

Dr Huairui Shi earned his PhD at Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan in 2016. He continued his postdoctoral research at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, where he found that the death mode of cardiomyocytes was very special after hypoxia/reoxygenation, with typical characteristics of multiple bubble-like protrusions formed. His current research focuses on the relationship of pyroptosis and other cardiovascular diseases.

Dr Yang Gao is a doctoral candidate in Cardiology at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University. He earned his undergraduate degree in Clinical Medicine from Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2016. He is interested in cell death and inflammation in coronary artery disease and has participated in the research published in this issue since 2016.

Dr Li-Heng Yin earned her BS in Veterinary Medicine (2012) followed by an MS in Clinical Veterinary Medicine (2015) at Jilin University in China, under the supervision of Dr Guo-Wen Liu. She earned her PhD in physiology and pathophysiology at Paris-Saclay University in France, under the supervision of Dr Ana-Maria Gomez. She obtained the data presented and discussed in this issue in during her PhD, where she mainly worked on exploring the mechanism of CPVT by mutations in the RyR2. Now she is endeavoring to search for novel antiarrhythmics in the same laboratory, hoping to contribute to the protection of CPVT patients. In her spare time, she loves sports and travelling with her family.

Dr Alexandra Zahradnikova Jr. earned her MS in Animal Physiology and Ethology from the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia and her PhD in Animal Physiology from the P.J. Safarik University in Kosice, Slovakia. She obtained the data presented and discussed in this article during her post-doctoral research at the laboratory of Ana-Maria Gomez at INSERM, France. Currently, she is PI at the Biomedical Research Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Her main focus is calcium and organelle signaling in cardiac myocytes, using confocal microscopy and molecular biology techniques. She is also a breed advisor for the Czechoslovakian Wolfdog Breeder’s Club.

Dr Fernanda Bosada is from Chihuahua, Mexico and is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Dr Vincent Christoffels’ group at Amsterdam UMC. She graduated with a BS from the University of Nevada, Reno where she was a McNair Scholar, and she earned her PhD at the University of Oregon with Dr Kryn Stankunas. Her research interests focus on better understanding the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that underlie cardiac disease. Fernanda is also passionate about the advancement of women and underrepresented individuals to increase diversity in STEM fields. Beyond the lab, she enjoys sports and traveling with her husband.

Dr Min Xie earned his undergraduate degree from Shandong Medical University in China and later joined the PhD program at the Debakey Heart Center at Baylor College of Medicine. After he earned his PhD, Dr Xie pursued his clinical training at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He also pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in Dr Joseph Hill’s lab. There, in a large animal study, he discovered that histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition induces autophagic flux and protects the rabbit heart from reperfusion injury. Together with Dr Geoffrey Cho, he discovered that inducing autophagy specifically using a Tat-Beclin peptide, obviating potential off-target effects of HDAC inhibition, also reduces reperfusion injury (as detailed in this issue). In 2015, after completing his training, Dr Xie established his own independent lab at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. As a physician-scientist, he continues to pursue his fundamental research while providing clinical care to cardiac patients.

Dr Geoffrey Cho is a general cardiologist and faculty member at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. He is board-certified in cardiology, cardiac CT, nuclear cardiology, adult echocardiography and internal medicine. He completed his cardiology fellowship at UCLA and received his internal medicine training and MD from UT Southwestern, where he started medical school at age 19.

Dr Cho’s prior work focused on autophagy in cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury while his current research has transitioned more clinically to cardiac imaging, particularly utilization of artificial intelligence in cardiac CCTA. He is an ACC Young Investigator Award Finalist, Northwestern Cardiovascular Young Investigators Competition Finalist and AHA Southwest-Affiliate Fellowship Grant Award recipient.

When he’s not working, he enjoys working out at the gym, tennis, classical music, violin, piano, watching Japanese variety shows, traveling, autism outreach and spending time with family.

Dr Kaushik Amancherla is currently a cardiology fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He earned his MD at the University of Illinois at Chicago and completed his internal medicine residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Osler Medical Training Program. With the encouragement of nurturing mentors, he recently became passionate about genomics/transcriptomics. His current research focus is on understanding immune-cardiac interactions in heart transplantation and inflammatory heart disease. He will soon begin further training in advanced heart failure and transplantation cardiology to further his career as a physician-scientist. He can be found on Twitter @KAmancherla.

Dr Juan Qin is a research fellow in Dr Moslehi’s Lab at Vanderbilt. She is passionate about basic mechanisms in cardio-oncology and pathogenesis of myocarditis, hoping to identify novel therapies to treat patients. In the Moslehi Lab, her research is multifaceted, and sits at the interface of Cardiology, Oncology, Immunology and Biology. Juan earned her PhD in Cell Biology and Cancer Biology from Nankai University in 2017. During her three years of postdoctoral training at UCLA, she focused on understanding cardiac repair after injury. When not in the lab, she enjoys the outdoors and making latte art. She can be found on Twitter @JuanQinMed.