World Heart Observatory Management

Daniel José Piñeiro
Full Professor of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Immediate Past President, World Heart Federation
Former President, Inter-American Society of Cardiology
Former President, Argentine Society of Cardiology
Former Trustee, Board of Trustees, American College of Cardiology
Former Board Member, World Heart Federation
Former Roadmaps Liaison Officer, Science Committee, World Heart Federation
Prof. Daniel José Piñeiro has been a Full Professor of Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, since 2005. He is actively involved in several international organizations, having served as a Trustee on the Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology from 2018 to 2021, and as the Roadmaps Liaison Officer on the Science Committee of the World Heart Federation from 2019 to 2020.
Prof. Piñeiro has held significant roles within the World Heart Federation, including two terms as a Board Member from 2011 to 2013 and from 2017 to 2018. He was also a member of the Membership Committee of the American College of Cardiology from 2016 to 2017 and served as the Chair of the Assembly of International Governors from 2015 to 2017. He was the President of the Inter-American Society of Cardiology from 2011 to 2013 and the President of the Argentine Society of Cardiology in 2005.
He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the European Society of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association. Prof. Piñeiro graduated with honors in medicine from the University of Buenos Aires. His work encompasses academic and educational activities, as well as clinical practice, with a strong interest in Public and Global Health, which is evident through his involvement with WHF Roadmaps and roundtables.
Prof. Piñeiro regularly presents his research at international and national conferences and has an extensive publication record, including books, book chapters, and articles in both international and national journals. His publications include guidelines, consensus statements, white papers, and roadmaps focused on Global Health. He has received more than ten national and international awards in recognition of his contributions to the field.

Jagat Narula, MD, PhD, MACC, FRCP is currently the executive vice president and chief academic officer at UTHealth Houston. He works with the six deans and members of the UTHealth Houston leadership team to advance the academic mission and promote excellence in education and research. This includes leading a diverse team of faculty and administrators to oversee strategic planning and implementation of the university’s education and research platform. 

Dr. Narula after completing his cardiology fellowship training and PhD (Cardiovascular Immunology) from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, relocated to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School in 1989. At MGH, after cardiology, heart failure & transplantation, and nuclear cardiology fellowships and he joined the cardiology faculty. In 1997, he moved to Hahnemann University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, where he was Thomas J. Vischer Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Cardiology, Vice-Chairman of the department of Internal Medicine, and Director of Heart Failure & Transplantation Center. He subsequently joined University of California, Irvine School of Medicine (2003) as Chief of the Division of Cardiology, Associate Dean for Research, and Director of the Cardiovascular Center of the UC Irvine’s Douglas Hospital. He was also the Director of Memorial Heart & Vascular Institute, Long Beach Memorial Hospital, and Medical Director of the Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology in UC Irvine’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering. He moved to Mount Sinai as the Philip J. and Harriet L. Goodhart Chair in Cardiology, and the Director of Cardiovascular Imaging Program in the Mount Sinai’s Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute in 2011.

Dr. Narula has the unique distinction of being able to combine molecular and subcellular pathology and imaging with clinical imaging of the failing myocardium and high-risk coronary atherosclerotic plaques to develop novel strategies for prevention of cardiovascular disease and promotion of cardiovascular health in developed as well as developing countries. He has specifically contributed to two major areas including heart muscle cell apoptosis in heart failure, and lipid-rich atherosclerotic plaques that are susceptible to rupture and acute coronary events. He has brought novel experimental strategies to bedside and defined their applicability at the community level. He is currently actively involved in numerous population-based heart attack prevention programs including HAPPY [Heart Attack Prevention Program for You]. Based on his expertise in global medicine, he serves on the Advisory Council on Global Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences.

His research has been funded, in part, by the grants from National Institutes of Health. He is considered to be a true translationist and one of the infrequent investigators who has distinction of publishing in the best basic science and the best clinical journals including Science, Nature Medicine, PNAS, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Circulation and JACC. With more than 1000 original research publications or presentations to his credit and more than 35 books or journal supplements edited, Dr. Narula has been awarded as ‘the best young investigator’ on several occasions for his research contributions. His mentoring prowess is exemplified by the fact that 20 of his fellows, working in his research laboratory, have been awarded young investigator awards. He was recently awarded as the Best Educator as also the Innovator in Cardiovascular Medicine by the American College of Cardiology in the year 2012, and was honored as the Master of the American College of Cardiology in March 2013. He has just received the Distinguished Scientist Award 2015 from the American College of Cardiology.

Gregory A. Roth, MD, MPH, is a Professor in the Division of Cardiology and Adjunct Professor of Health Metrics Sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine. At IHME, he is Director for the Program in Cardiovascular Health Metrics.

Dr. Roth’s research focuses on global cardiovascular health surveillance, population health, and quality of care and outcomes for cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure, coronary heart disease, and pulmonary hypertension. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Helth, American Heart Association, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others.

I am appointed as a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Research at the National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh. My research focuses on the epidemiology and prevention of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), particularly cardiovascular disease.
After graduating with an MBBS in 1988 from Dhaka Medical College, I pursued further studies at Shiga University of Medical Science, Japan, where I worked as a graduate student and later as a postdoctoral researcher from 1991 to 1999. During this period, I was involved in research studies exploring the relationships between nutritional and other risk factors and cardiovascular diseases in the Japanese population.
After joining the National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute in 2004, I focused on generating epidemiological data on CVD and its risk factors in the Bangladeshi population. I conducted several population-based cross-sectional studies and worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office for Bangladesh as a National Professional Officer from 2007 to 2010. In this role, I coordinated the implementation of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA.
Currently, as the Program Director of the Bangladesh Hypertension Control Initiative (BHCI)—a joint initiative of the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and Resolve to Save Lives, USA—I lead a team of researchers and program managers providing technical support to strengthen hypertension management at the primary care level by implementing the WHO HEARTS package. Several implementation research projects, including clinical trials in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University and Resolve to Save Lives, have been conducted, with published results contributing to the effective implementation of hypertension control programs at the primary care level.
As Co-PI of the BELIEVE study, I am leading a cohort study of over 60,000 urban individuals to investigate emerging risk factors, including genetic factors, for CVD in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, UK.
I have a strong interest in teaching epidemiology and public health and currently teach clinical epidemiology and research methodology to postgraduate students at our institute and other public health institutions. As General Secretary of the Hypertension Committee of the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh, I coordinate hypertension screening and awareness activities, including initiatives to reduce salt intake for hypertension prevention and control. I was awarded the Norm Campbell Award for Population Blood Pressure Control by the World Hypertension League in 2023 and the WHO SEARO Regional Director’s Special Recognition Award for World No Tobacco Day in 2021.
I actively serve on various national committees focused on tobacco control, trans fatty acid reduction, and NCD prevention. Additionally, I am a member of the South-East Asia Regional Expert Group on NCDs (REG NCD) of WHO SEARO.

Mariachiara Di Cesare is a Professor in Population Studies and Global Health and Director of the Institute of Public Health and Wellbeing at the University of Essex. She has interdisciplinary work experience in both academia and international organisations. Her research in population health uses and integrates concepts, data and methods from demography, epidemiology, statistics, and social science. Her work focuses on the epidemiology and public health of obesity and undernutrition, inequalities in cardiovascular mortality and associated risk factors, bias in cardiovascular diagnosis, and the lived experience of people living with congenital heart conditions. She is member of the World Heart Observatory Expert Group at the WHF and member of the independent exert group of the Global Nutrition Report.

Dr Vilma Irazola is a cardiologist and epidemiologist. She is the Director of the Department of Research in Chronic Diseases at the Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy (IECS), an academic institution affiliated to the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is the Director of the South American Center of Excellence for Cardiovascular Health (CESCAS). She is also senior researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina (CONICET).
She is a recognized expert in Implementation Science. Her research and professional efforts concentrate on public health initiatives related to health promotion, cardiovascular health, diabetes, and aging.
Dr Irazola is the Director of the Master’s Degree Program in Clinical Effectiveness at the University of Buenos Aries, She is faculty of the Implementation Science School run by the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) and Visiting Professor at New York University Harvard University.

My professional goal is to be a leader in the care of persons with cardiovascular diseases as well as a champion in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases in Nigeria through the conduct of regular national registries and surveys, as well as efficient and effective health education and health promotion initiatives. I had my basic medical education at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. I commenced my postgraduate residency training in Medicine/Cardiology at the University College Hospital Ibadan, Nigeria which I completed in 2004 and took me to institutions such as King’s College Hospital in London (under the WHF Twin Centers Program) and the Heart Centre in Leipzig, Germany (under the DAAD training fellowship) I also have a Masters degree in Epidemiology and Medical Statistics as well as PhD in Medicine.

I teach Medicine/ Cardiology at the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Clinical Science, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, and I am also an Honorary Physician/ Cardiologist at University College Hospital Ibadan, Nigeria. In addition, I am also Bernard Lown visiting scholar at the TH Chan Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA, and an affiliate member of the Hatter Institute of Cardiovascular Research in Africa at the University of Cape Town South Africa. I am a past President of the Nigerian Cardiac Society (NCS) and currently chair the scientific committee of the Society. Between 2010-2015, I was the Honourable Commissioner for Health, in Abia State, Nigeria.
I have participated in several cardiovascular-related clinical trials such as THESUS, IMPI, CREOLE, RELY, REMEDY, INVICTUS, BAHEF, INTERSTROKE VERONICA studies etc. I am the Principal Investigator of the Ibadan HF project, the Ibadan AF Project, and the Nigerian AF Registry ; and coordinated the Nigeria HF Registry.
I have over 200 peer-reviewed publications in local and international journals and have written several book chapters on Cardiovascular Medicine. My research interests include Hypertension/ Hypertensive Heart Disease, Heart Failure, and Atrial fibrillation.
Currently, I represent the Dean of Clinical Sciences at the Postgraduate College, University of Ibadan, and am also the Postgraduate Coordinator, Department of Medicine, University of Ibadan.