Rachel Cahalane is an Irish Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions postdoctoral research fellow working between the labs of Dr. Elena Aikawa at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, USA, and Dr. Laoise McNamara at the University of Galway, Ireland. A biomedical engineer by training, Rachel has previously worked in the structural imaging and mechanical characterization of calcified and thrombotic cardiovascular tissues at Limerick, Ireland, and Erasmus MC, The Netherlands. Her current research project is developing and using multi-scale, cross-species proteomic techniques to investigate the mechanisms of bioprosthetic heart valve degeneration.

Busra Cangut is a medical doctor from Turkey. She pursued her postdoctoral fellowship, master’s degree, and general surgery intern year at Mayo Clinic. During her postdoctoral fellowship in a basic science lab, she focused on the connection between oxidative stress and the initiation of atherosclerosis, as well as the expansion of calcified lesions in advanced atherosclerotic plaques. On the clinical side, she concentrated on different aortic bioprostheses and their durability. Currently, she is developing novel cardiac imaging technologies, such as PET/MRI and 4D flow MRI, for specific valve pathologies at Mount Sinai Hospital. She is also preparing for her board certification in cardiovascular imaging. She aspires to become an academic cardiac surgeon with a comprehensive understanding of cardiothoracic surgery, encompassing basic science, clinical, and imaging aspects for a holistic grasp of the field.

Daniel Chaparro is a Colombian-born biomedical engineering PhD candidate at Florida International University working under the guidance of Dr. Joshua Hutcheson. His research interests revolve around understanding baseline differences in aortic valve leaflet composition and loading environment that may contribute to the sexually dimorphic and asymmetric onset of aortic valve disease. He believes the Young HVS initiative will serve as a springboard for young researchers to start necessary multidisciplinary collaborative efforts to combat heart valve disease globally.

Cassandra Clift is a third-year post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Elena Aikawa at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA, USA. Her research background is in developing novel mass spectrometry-based techniques to probe the extracellular matrisome, N-glycome, and epigenome of clinically available tissues and biofluids. I apply these techniques to uncover the molecular mechanisms of aortic valve stenosis. I am passionate about connecting with members of the heart valve society to foster collaborations and help create an inclusive community. See you at HVS2025!

Dewy van der Valk Dewy is a medical doctor, currently practicing as a non-resident doctor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Amsterdam University Medical Center, The Netherlands. She is currently in the final stage of her doctoral research, supervised by Carlijn Bouten at Eindhoven University of Technology, where she studies calcification in materials for in situ heart valve tissue engineering. The development of knowledge in translational medical science and technology, as well as clinical practice aids in her ambition to bridge the gap between these fields. She wants to bring together young clinicians and scientists within the HVS community, to create a platform that enables clinical translation of scientific advances.

Valentine Vetter is a joint-supervision PhD student at TU/e and Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH), Harvard Medical School (HMS). After completing the first two years of her PhD in Boston under the supervision of John Mayer at the Cardiac Surgery Department of BCH/HMS and Robert Langer at MIT, she continued the second half of her PhD in Eindhoven within Cell-Matrix Interaction for Cardiovascular Tissue Regeneration under the supervision of Carlijn Bouten and Anthal Smits. Her research focuses on fabricating tissue-engineered heart valves and improving our understanding of host-material interactions for in situ tissue-engineered heart valves. In this regard, she has been fabricating, investigating, and comparing several types of scaffolds, including decellularized and electrospun heart valve scaffolds, in bioreactor and sheep models. She is excited to be part of this inspiring group of heart valve professionals and to support young professionals in their growth and development within our community.