The Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA

Jonathan Halperin is the Robert and Harriet Heibrunn Professor of Medicine at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York University and Director of Clinical Cardiology in the Zena and Michael A. Wierner Cardiovascular Institute at The Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Professor Halperin was awarded an MD from Boston University in 1975. He has previously served in various federal appointments which included the Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health where he was in the Data Safety Monitoring board for the clinical trial of aspirin and simvastatin in pulmonary arterial hypertension and in the clinical trial coordinating centre of the National Institutes of Health. He was the principal cardiologist who spearheaded the SPAF (Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation clinical trials). The trials were conducted in multiple centres where 3,600 patients and more than 100 investigators were involved. Currently, he is involved in several clinical trials with the objective of developing more effective drugs for the prevention of ischemia in a range of cardiovascular disease conditions.

Professor Halperin has authored a wide range of materials including over 100 peer-reviewed reports, books, chapters, guidelines and position statements, invited articles and reviews, clinical case reports, and abstracts. His numerous awards and honours include the Champion of Heart and Stroke, Master of the Society for Vascular Medicine, The Heart of New York Award, The Heart of New York Presidential Salute, Howard B. Sprague Research Fellowship Award, Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine Teaching Excellence, Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine Grand Rounds Award, Cardiology Fellows Society of Greater New York, The Simon Dack Award, The Jacobi Medallion, The Solomon R. Berson Memorial Award, John R. Murray Award, The University Hospital Chair and the Roland Jackson Memorial Medical Scholarship.

Dr. Raymond Wong is Honorary Clinical Associate Professor and Head of the Division of Haematology at the Department of Medicine & Therapeutics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also Consultant in the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong.

Dr. Wong received his medical degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and completed his training at Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong in Haematology and Haematological Oncology, Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Dr. Wong undertook his Blood and Marrow Transplantation Fellowship training at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas, USA and gained a Doctor of Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Wong has broad research interests with a special focus on the biological and therapeutic aspects of leukaemias, autoimmune haematological diseases, stem cell transplantation, bleeding and thrombosis. He served as the Chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Blood Transfusion and Haematology from 2004 to 2005. Dr. Wong is the author or co-author of over 100 peer-reviewed articles, published in international journals such as Blood, Circulation, JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine.