Ferhaan Ahmad, MD, PhD, FRCPC, FAHA, FACC, received an MD at McGill University, followed by postgraduate clinical training at McGill University, Baylor College of Medicine, and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital leading to board certifications in internal medicine, cardiology, and nuclear cardiology. He subsequently earned a PhD in human genetics from Baylor College of Medicine and completed a Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral fellowship in mouse genetics at Harvard Medical School. After 10 years on faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, he was recruited to the University of Iowa as a tenured Genetics Cluster Chair Associate Professor.

Dr. Ahmad directs a laboratory conducting basic and translational research into the genetic and genomic mechanisms underlying inherited cardiovascular disorders, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He has chaired the AHA Scientific Statement on the Establishment of Specialized Clinical Cardiovascular Genetics Programs, authored the chapter on cardiovascular genetics in the American College of Cardiology Self-Assessment Program (ACCSAP), and serves on several AHA and NIH committees. He also serves as the Director of the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Training Program at the University of Iowa and as Senior Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Alejandro de Feria, MD, is an assistant professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a cardiovascular fellow at the University of Pennsylvania where he earned advanced training in echocardiography and underwent a dedicated year of training in inherited heart disease and cardiovascular genetics. He practices as a clinical cardiologist in the Inherited Cardiovascular Disease program. Dr. de Feria’s professional work and passion is centered on inherited forms of heart disease, with a focus in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM). He has an interest in using multimodality imaging to advance both medical and invasive approaches to treating HCM. His current work is focused on creating a heart team approach to septal reduction therapy as well as the integration of novel myosin inhibitors in the treatment of HCM.

Dr. de Feria received his MD from Vanderbilt University. He completed his internal medicine training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania for his cardiovascular medicine training. He has been an active member of the American Heart Association, having been a member of the 2022 AHA Roundtable on HCM. He is also actively involved with the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association (HCMA), a patient-led organization dedicated to improving the lives of those with HCM.

Rakesh Gopinathannair, MD, MA, FAHA, FHRS, is currently director of Cardiac Electrophysiology Laboratories at the Kansas City Heart Rhythm Institute, professor of medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia and adjunct associate professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Dr. Gopinathannair is the immediate past chair of the American Heart Association Electrocardiography and Arrhythmias Committee and Heart Rhythm Society Communications Committee. He is also a member of the AHA Clinical Cardiology Council Leadership Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, AHA Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Science Advisory Group, and served as EP program chair of the Committee for Scientific Sessions Programming (CSSP) for the AHA in 2021 and 2022. He also serves as Planning Committee Chair for AHA Spotlight Series on Atrial Fibrillation.

He serves as associate editor for Heart Rhythm Case Reports and as section editor for Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology. Dr. Gopinathannair has served as a writing group member and peer-reviewer for AHA/ACC/HRS and AHRQ guidelines and writing committee chair for AHA Scientific Statements.

Katie Halbmaier, DNP, ARNP, FNP-BC, is a nurse practitioner at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and lecturer at the University of Iowa College of Nursing. She practices in outpatient general cardiology, heart failure and cardiovascular genetics clinics. Over the past five years, she has helped grow and manage a Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association (HCMA) Center of Excellence. She also teaches genetics to undergraduate and graduate nursing students. One of her goals is to improve access to and knowledge of diagnosis and guideline-directed care in patients with nonischemic cardiomyopathies, including HCM.

Amy Marzolf, CRNP, MSN, is a Senior APP at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where she has worked for the last 15 years. She is currently the lead APP in the Penn Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease where she works with a comprehensive team of MDs, NPs, RNS, and genetic counselors to clinically manage cardiomyopathies that are genetically mediated. They are a recognized Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center of excellence actively trying to advance the clinical care of HCM patients.

Joshua Hermsen, MD, is a congenital heart surgeon at American Family Children’s Hospital and an associate professor of surgery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a graduate of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, and The Medical University of South Carolina. He completed his cardiothoracic surgical training at the University of Washington and his congenital fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Dr. Hermsen also has an active surgical practice for patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. He has an interest in 3D printing for planning and operative rehearsal of septal reduction surgery.