Professor Mark Caulfield (London, UK) is Vice Principal for Health at Queen Mary University of London and Director of the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) Barts Biomedical Research Centre at the same university.
Caulfield has made outstanding progress in identifying genes that increase susceptibility to cardiovascular disease. He shaped the scientific strategy for, and led the creation of, the "100,000 Genomes Project" for whole-genome sequencing, which involved more than 90,000 participants. Its results include the discovery of over 2,000 genetic regions that influence blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, helping to predict the risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. After clinical trials, some of these findings have changed clinical practice, including international protocols for the primary prevention of hypertension and heart attack. The project successfully met its ambitious goal of bringing the most advanced genomic technologies to the patient's bedside.
Professor Caulfield's philosophy has been to democratise access to clinical data and genome sequencing. He created a data centre that gave a coalition of more than 3,400 international researchers from 33 countries open access to the project's datasets. His commitment and vision have had a transformative impact: with the integration of the Genomic Medicine Service into the UK National Health Service, the United Kingdom has the first free genomic analysis system for diagnosis and precision medicine. The Genomic Analysis in Children Group and the Generation Study initiatives have led to a large-scale newborn screening programme using genome sequencing to identify and diagnose early potential avoidable harm in children, with the aim of reducing morbidity and mortality.

A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the IEEE and the Academia Europaea, he is Vice President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. His research on soft, compliant and variable-impedance actuators has paved the way for advances in humanoids, quadruped robots, medical robotics, haptics and exoskeletons. His laboratories gave rise to, among others, the iCub humanoid, WALK-MAN, which competed in the DARPA Robotics Challenge, and the HyQ hydraulic quadrupeds. He has also developed systems for laser microsurgery and rehabilitation. He is an Honorary Professor at universities in the UK and China. He has authored over 800 publications and more than 25 patents, which have led to five start-ups. He is Honorary Professor at the universities of Manchester, Sheffield, Bangor and King's College London in the UK, and at Tianjin and Soochow universities in China.
He has published over 800 scientific papers, received more than 50 awards at international conferences and events, and holds over 25 patents, some of which formed the basis for five start-ups.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the IEEE and the Academia Europaea. He is Vice President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.

A statistician and genetic epidemiologist, he studies the genetics of hormone-related cancers. Through large population and family studies, he has helped characterise key cancer susceptibility genes such as BRCA1, BRCA2, ATM and CHEK2. He has also identified hundreds of common variants in the non-coding genome and developed genetic risk scores. He led the Breast Cancer Association Consortium, which brings together more than 100 groups worldwide. He co-developed the BOADICEA model, built into the CanRisk tool and used internationally for genetic counselling and cancer prevention. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Born in Monza in 1961, he graduated in Medicine in 1986 and specialised in Neurology (1990) and Clinical Neurophysiology (1994). At San Raffaele he heads the Multiple Sclerosis Centre, the Centre for Alzheimer's and Related Diseases, and the Neuroimaging Research Unit. He studies the mechanisms that lead to the build-up of irreversible physical disability and cognitive impairment in various neurological diseases. He has authored more than 1,880 papers and is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurology. In 2001 he received the Rita Levi Montalcini Prize. A 2022 study named him the most influential author in multiple sclerosis research from 1945 to 2021.

He has taught and carried out research at Michigan State University for 52 years. For his contributions to pattern recognition, computer vision and biometric recognition, he is a member of several academies: the US National Academy of Engineering, the Indian National Academy of Engineering, The World Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors. He has received Guggenheim, Humboldt and Fulbright fellowships, as well as the IAPR King-Sun Fu Prize and the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award.

From 2010 to 2015 he was Scientific Director of the IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico in Milan. Until 2010 he directed the Angelo Bianchi Bonomi Haemophilia and Thrombosis Centre. He has been President of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis and the European Journal of Internal Medicine. He has authored more than 1,400 publications on haemophilia, von Willebrand disease, rare bleeding disorders, coronary artery disease and venous thromboembolism. He has an H-index of 138 (Scopus). His awards include the Robert Grant Medal (ISTH) and the Jean Bernard Award (EHA). Today his work focuses on polypharmacy in older people and on the health effects of pollution.

He chairs the European Commission's Mission Board for Cancer, the European Vaccination Mission and the Scientific Committee of the Human Technopole Foundation. He previously served as President of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italian National Institute of Health, 2015–2018) and as Italy's representative on the WHO Executive Board (2017–2020). During the Covid-19 pandemic he was scientific adviser to the Minister of Health. He has also chaired the World Federation of Public Health Associations and the European Public Health Association. He founded the National Observatory on Health in the Italian Regions (Osservasalute) and has authored over 400 publications. He was made a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2017) and in 2026 received ASPHER's Andrija Štampar Medal.

Maria Grazia Valsecchi graduated in Mathematics from the University of Milan and holds an MSc in Biostatistics from the University of Washington, Seattle (USA). She is Full Professor and Senior Professor of Medical Statistics at the University of Milano-Bicocca, where she was Dean of the School of Medicine and Surgery. Her research covers statistical methodology, the design and analysis of clinical trials, and survival analysis. She has coordinated many national and European research projects and organised several international conferences and specialist courses in biostatistics. Lead statistician for numerous international trials, particularly in paediatric oncology, she has authored 490 papers, has an H-index of 87, and has received prestigious honours, notably Honorary Life Membership of the International Biometric Society and of the International Society for Clinical Biostatistics.

Her research uses structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging to improve the diagnosis and treatment of white matter diseases of the central nervous system, with a particular focus on multiple sclerosis, vasculitis and migraine. Her institutional roles include Co-Chair of the MAGNIMS Steering Committee and of the European Academy of Neurology's Scientific Panel on Neuroimaging. She has authored more than 795 papers, has an H-index of 103 (Scopus), and is Associate Co-Editor for Europe and Africa of the Multiple Sclerosis Journal. She has been recognised among the women who changed the paradigm of MS research. Alongside her research she maintains an intensive clinical practice.

A physician and PhD, she is one of the world's leading authorities on antifungal immunity. Her research combines immunology, microbiology, pathology and systems biology to study how the body responds to fungi such as Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus. She has introduced innovative concepts in medical mycology: the pathogenic role of inflammation as opposed to protective tolerance, the contribution of dendritic cells to antifungal vaccines, and certain tryptophan catabolites as regulators of immunity and potential therapies. She currently studies the interplay between the mycobiome, the bacteriome and the mucosal immune system in conditions such as cystic fibrosis and haematopoietic stem cell transplantation, with the goal of developing personalised immunotherapies and microbiota-based strategies. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and holds an ERC Advanced Grant (FUNMETA).

He earned his PhD under Erwin Neher at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. He pioneered the identification of plant ion channels and clarified their role in stomatal movements and resistance to environmental stress. He studies how plants withstand drought, salinity, heat and rising CO₂ levels. He discovered a sodium transport protein now used to make wheat, rice and other crops more salt-tolerant. More recently he identified proteins that sense atmospheric CO₂. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the Leopoldina. His awards include the Khalifa Award (2019) and the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Prize (2022).

He works on intelligent control systems and mechatronics. He is a member of the Academia Europaea, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and the European Academy of Sciences. He is a Distinguished Fellow and President-elect of the International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), and a Fellow of the International Society for Condition Monitoring (ISCM), where he sits on the Management Committee. His honours include the ISCM Prize, the BINDT CM Innovation Award, the JSPS Research Award, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award and recognition as a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher in Engineering. He chairs the China-Europe Scientists Forum 2026 and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Huddersfield (UK) and Kyungpook National University (South Korea).

An architect and engineer, he trained at the Politecnico di Torino and the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, then earned an MPhil and PhD at the University of Cambridge. He lectures worldwide on smart cities. His work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, MoMA in New York, the Science Museum in London and the Design Museum in Barcelona. Time included two of his projects, the Digital Water Pavilion and the Copenhagen Wheel, among the "Best Inventions of the Year". Wired named him one of the 50 people who will change the world. He curated the Future Food District at Expo Milano 2015.

Amalia Gastaldelli graduated in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology from the University of Milan and earned a PhD in drug metabolism. An expert in pharmacology and pharmacokinetics, she works on metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. She is Associate Professor at the University of Milan, where she coordinates research and teaching. She has published numerous papers and takes part in national and international projects to develop new therapies.

A physician and doctor of public health, he became interested in disease prevention while studying Medicine at the University of Queensland, Australia. More than 40 years later, he is an internationally recognised epidemiologist and public health expert. He studies the causes and prevention of chronic diseases, especially breast cancer. The common thread of his work is translating research findings into clinical practice and public communication. Recently he has focused on integrating artificial intelligence models that use mammograms to accurately estimate breast cancer risk across diverse populations, making screening and risk management more personalised.

Dorret I. Boomsma is Full Professor and Head of the Department of Biological Psychology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where she earned her PhD and was previously assistant and then associate professor.
Professor Boomsma built a database of more than 75,000 twins in the Netherlands, which has been used for dozens of studies. For decades, the twins and their families have undergone periodic testing (DNA, blood and urine), providing a wealth of longitudinal data for statistical analysis. Her research has focused mainly on understanding the influence of heredity on various physical and mental illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, paediatric bipolar disorder and depression.
This work has been reported in more than 1,000 published papers and a book, and has earned Boomsma many awards. Twin studies offer a way to understand how genotype influences an observable trait (known as a phenotype). In short, identical (monozygotic) twins share the same alleles for 100% of their genes, while fraternal (dizygotic) twins have different alleles for 50% of their genes, since their parents have different genotypes. So if a trait (depression, for example) is present in one identical (monozygotic) twin, it is always present in the other too, whereas this is not the case for fraternal (dizygotic) twins. This shows that heredity plays an important role in causing that condition.
Boomsma pioneered the collection of a broad spectrum of data and biological material from thousands of twins, analysing it to determine the role of genetics in traits as varied as adult height, brain volume, intelligence, migraine, anxiety, drug addiction and a love of coffee. Her findings cover a wide range of behavioural traits, including the surprising discovery of a genetic component in feelings of loneliness, the fact that firstborns have a higher IQ than their younger siblings, and the growing influence of genetics on body weight as children get older.