Jacques Ohayon is Professor of Mechanics at the Engineering school Polytech, Univ. Savoie Mont-Blanc, France. From 1985 to 1988, he was visiting fellow at the Biomedical Engineering Branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda MD, USA. He received the 1998 Junior Prize of the French Biomechanics Society (SB) for his research on the biomechanics of the left ventricle. His current research focuses on the biomechanics of atherosclerotic plaque and the development of new clinical tools for imaging the elasticity of vulnerable plaques. From 2006 to 2007, he was visiting professor at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the NIH, USA. Jacques Ohayon was the Chairman of the SB, which also awarded him the Senior Prize in 2016 for his work on the biomechanics of coronary plaque rupture. In 2020, he was a visiting professor at Texas A & M University and conducted his research in the field of endothelial cell mechanobiology at the Houston Methodist Research Institute (HMRI). Since 2020, he is also Adjunct Professor of Cardiovascular Sciences at HMRI, Texas, USA. Gérard Finet is the Director of the Medical and interventional Cardiology Departments at the Cardiovascular Hospital Louis Pradel, Lyon, France. He received his MD in 1984 and his PhD in Biomedical Engineering and Intravascular Ultrasound Imaging in 1994 at the University Claude Bernard of Lyon, France. He joined the University of Lyon-1 in 1996 as a full Professor of Cardiology. The activities of Dr. Gérard Finet are dedicated to coronary IVUS imaging, coronary artery diseases and valvular diseases. In 1998, he was appointed head of the Interventional Cardiology Department at the Cardiovascular Hospital Louis Pradel. In 2000 he was an invited senior scientist at the Intravascular Ultrasound Imaging and Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories, Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC, USA. He is known internationally for his pioneering works performed at the University of Lyon, INSERM and Hospices Civils de Lyon on: 1) Multiple plaque ruptures in acute coronary syndrome, 2) Fractal nature of the coronary vascular trees, and 3) Sequential proximal optimizing technique in provisional coronary bifurcation stenting. He has published more than 170 peer-reviewed articles in these fields. Roderic I. PETTIGREW is the CEO of the EnHealth and Executive Dean for EnMed at Texas A&M University and Houston Methodist Hospital. In 1977, Dr. Pettigrew received his Ph.D. in applied radiation physics from the Department of Nuclear Engineering at MIT. In 1979, he received his M.D. from the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami. From 2002 to 2017, he was the founding Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the NIH. Prior to his appointment at the NIH, Dr. Pettigrew was Professor of Radiology, Medicine (Cardiology) at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, Professor of Bioengineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Director of the Emory Center for MR Research at the Emory University School of Medicine. He is known internationally for his pioneering work at Emory University involving four-dimensional imaging of the cardiovascular system using magnetic resonance (MRI). His current research focuses on integrated imaging and predictive modeling of coronary atherosclerotic disease. Dr. Pettigrew has been elected to membership in the US National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Inventors. He has also been elected a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences, India. Other awards include Phi Beta Kappa, the Bennie Award for Achievement at Morehouse College, the Most Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Miami (1990), the Hall of Fame of the Miller School of Medicine, the Pritzker Distinguished Achievement Award of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the Distinguished Service Award of the National Medical Association, the Pierre Galletti Award of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, the Inaugural Gold Medal Award of the Academy of Radiology Research, the Distinguished Service Award of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, the Spirit of the Heart Award of the Association of Black Cardiologist, and the Gold Medal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
