Medical Researchers

Professor of Imaging Neuroscience/Wellcome Principal Research Fellow

Karl Friston is a theoretical neuroscientist and authority on brain imaging. He invented statistical parametric mapping (SPM), voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and dynamic causal modelling (DCM). His main contribution to theoretical neurobiology is a free-energy principle for action and perception (active inference).

Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Walter C. Willett, M.D., Dr. P.H., is Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Willett has focused much of his work over the last 40 years on the development and evaluation of methods, using both questionnaire and biochemical approaches, to study the effects of diet on the occurrence of major diseases. He has applied these methods starting in 1980 in the Nurses' Health Studies I and II and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

Professor of Medicine (Stanford Prevention Research Center), of Epidemiology and Population Health and, by courtesy, of Biomedical Data Science

John P. A. Ioannidis is a Greek-American physician-scientist and professor at Stanford University. His work focuses on improving research methods and practices, and he is known for his paper \"Why most published research findings are false.\" He holds multiple professorships and has received numerous awards for his contributions to clinical science and meta-science.

Senior Research Investigator and Professor of Thoracic Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute

Peter Barnes is a Senior Research Investigator and Professor of Thoracic Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute. He is highly cited in respiratory research, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was knighted in 2023 for services to respiratory science. His research focuses on cellular and molecular mechanisms of asthma and COPD.

Price-Evans Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom; Distinguished Professor at Aalborg University, Denmark

Professor Gregory Lip is the Price-Evans Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, and a Distinguished Professor at Aalborg University, Denmark. His research focuses on atrial fibrillation (AF), developing clinical risk scores like CHA2DS2-VASc and HAS-BLED, which are used in national and international management guidelines. He also developed the ABC (Atrial fibrillation Better Care) pathway, which is recommended in international guidelines and has been shown to reduce mortality and hospitalisation in AF patients.

Director, Division of Public Health Sciences; Niess-Gain Professor of Surgery; Associate Director of Prevention and Control, Siteman Cancer Center

Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH, is an internationally recognized leader in cancer prevention. As an epidemiologist and public health expert, he has a longstanding interest in the preventable causes of chronic disease, particularly among women. He also studies strategies to speed translation of research findings to equitable prevention programs that work.

Chief, Division of Preventive Medicine

Dr. JoAnn E. Manson is an endocrinologist, epidemiologist, and Principal Investigator of several research studies, including the Women’s Health Initiative Clinical Center in Boston. Her primary research interests focus on randomized clinical prevention trials of nutritional and lifestyle factors related to heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, as well as the role of endogenous and exogenous estrogens in chronic disease.

SA Professor at IFReC and concurrently RIMD

Dr. Akira graduated Osaka University Medical School in 1977 and received his Ph.D. from the same institution in 1984. He spent the period from 1985 to 1987 as a Research Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, California University. He was appointed as SA Professor at IFReC and concurrently RIMD in 2018.

Chair of Department of Nutrition, Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Frank Hu is Chair of Department of Nutrition, Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His major research interests include epidemiology and prevention of cardiometabolic diseases through diet and lifestyle, gene-environment interactions, nutritional omics and precision nutrition, and nutrition transitions in low- and middle-income countries. He has published a textbook on Obesity Epidemiology and over 1500 peer-reviewed papers.

Professor, Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact

Gordon Guyatt is a Professor of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster University. His profile contains areas of expertise, McMaster affiliations, contact information, and other links.

Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Senior Scientist at PHRI

Salim Yusuf is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine at McMaster University and a Senior Scientist at the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI). He founded PHRI in 1992 and led its growth to nearly 400 members, conducting over 50 research studies across 105 countries. His work has significantly advanced clinical practice and global health policies in cardiovascular diseases, stroke, diabetes, and infectious diseases.

Chair of Translational Medicine, Director and Founder of Scripps Research Translational Institute, Senior Consultant at Scripps Clinic, and The Gary and Mary West Chair of Innovative Medicine.

Eric Topol is the Executive Vice-President of Scripps Research, where he is founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. Clinically active as a cardiologist, he previously led Cleveland Clinic cardiology to become the leading heart center in the US.

Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Professor of Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research, Professor of Pathology, and of Developmental Biology

Irving Weissman is the Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Professor of Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research, Professor of Pathology, and of Developmental Biology at Stanford University. He also served as the Director of the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine from 2003 to 2022.