The nominees were evaluated and two winners selected by a Judging Panel of three world-renowned cardiologists.
Chairman: M. John Chapman, B.Sc. (Hons), Ph.D., D.Sc., FESC, Research Professor at the Medical Faculty of the Pierre and Marie Curie University, (UPMC), in Paris, Director Emeritus of the Dyslipidemia and Atherosclerosis Research Unit of the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) at the Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital in Paris, France, and Past-President of the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS).
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M. John Chapman B.Sc. (Hons), Ph.D., D.Sc., FESC, Research Professor at the Medical Faculty of the Pierre and Marie Curie University, (UPMC), in Paris, Director Emeritus of the Dyslipidemia and Atherosclerosis Research Unit of the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) at the Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital in Paris, France, and Past-President of the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS). As President of EAS from 2009 to 2013, he actively supported the development of new Joint Guidelines for the Management of Dyslipidemia with the European Society of Cardiology. Together with Prof. Henry Ginsberg, he spearheads the EAS Consensus Panel initiatives and Consensus Papers; this initiative has focused to date on Lipoprotein Lp(a), on atherogenic high triglyceride/low HDL dyslipidemia as a major cardiovascular risk factor, on the underdiagnosis and undertreatment of familial hypercholesterolemia, on the genetics of hypertriglyceridemic states, and on plant sterols and stanols in the management of dyslipidemia and prevention of cardiovascular disease; these Consensus Paper publications have achieved worldwide visibility. A current EAS Consensus Panel is focused on intolerance to statin therapy.
Professor Chapman undertook his undergraduate studies at Aberdeen University, Scotland and at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, University of London. He subsequently trained in Cardiovascular Lipidology at the Cardiovascular Research Institute of the University of California Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA and at the Gladstone Foundation for Cardiovascular Disease in the same city.
John Chapman is Associate European Editor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics and a member of the Editorial Board of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, Atherosclerosis, Vascular Pharmacology, Future Lipidology and Current Medical Research and Opinion. He has authored numerous publications and book chapters and has presented plenary conferences worldwide. In 2012, an authoritative treatise on High-Density Lipoproteins, entitled HDL: Structure, Metabolism, Function and Therapeutics, and co-authored by Dr. Anatol Kontush and Prof. Chapman, was published by Wiley.
Professor Chapman serves on several international Advisory Boards and on Steering Committees of clinical intervention trials aimed at development of novel therapeutic approaches to attenuate dyslipidemia and atherosclerotic vascular disease.
In 2009, he received a Distinguished Career Award from the International Atherosclerosis Society for his contributions to the field of HDL biology. In 2011, Professor Chapman chaired the Gordon Research Conference on Atherosclerosis in Newport, RI, USA, and in 2010 and 2011, was awarded Prizes for Scientific Excellence by INSERM. Professor Chapman is Laureate of the European Lipid Science Award for 2014. Present research interests are focused on (i) the intravascular metabolism and pharmacological modulation of atherogenic apoB-containing lipoproteins, and (ii) the structure, molecular composition and functionality of HDL particle subpopulations in the atherogenic dyslipidemias, and (iii) the development of new anti-atherosclerotic therapeutics for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Thomas F. LÜscher, MD, FRCP, Professor and Chairman of Cardiology at the University Heart Center, Zurich and Director of Center for Molecular Cardiology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.
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Thomas F. Lüscher MD, FRCP, Professor and Chairman of Cardiology at the University Heart Center, Zurich and Director of Center for Molecular Cardiology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Professor Lüscher has studied Medicine at the University of Zurich and obtained his training and board certification in Internal Medicine, Clinical Pharmacology and Cardiology at the University Hospital of Zurich, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA and the University Hospital of Basel. He has been Professor of Clinical Pharmacology in Basel (1992 -1994) and Professor and Vice-Chairman of Cardiology in Bern (1993-1996). He is a clinical and interventional cardiologist with a broad research interest in endothelial function, lipids, hypertension, atherosclerosis, acute coronary syndromes and heart failure. He is among the 0.5% most cited scientists, published over 500 original research papers, edited textbooks such as the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine and received many research awards. Currently, he also serves as editor-in-chief of the European Heart Journal.
Chris J. Packard, CBE, Ph.D., FRCPath, D.Sc., FRCP(Gla), FRSE, Director of Research and Development of the NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (NHSGGC), Honorary Professor of Vascular Biochemistry at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
Professor Chris J. Packard CBE, Ph.D., FRCPath, D.Sc., FRCP(Gla), FRSE, Director of Research and Development of the NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (NHSGGC), Honorary Professor of Vascular Biochemistry at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Additionally, he works as a Consultant Clinical Scientist at the Department of Biochemistry, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde.
Over his career Professor Packard has focused on research into coronary heart disease, its causes, treatment and prevention. Particular interests have included cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism and how it is affected by diets and drugs, also large scale clinical trials of lipid lowering agents such as statins.
More recently his field of research has widened to include investigations of emerging risk factors for coronary heart disease, and the consequences of social deprivation on health and wellbeing.
As one of the main investigators of the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study (WOSCOPS) and the Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER), Professor Packard helped establish the evidence base for statin use in CHD prevention. These trials provided confidence that statins are beneficial in primary prevention and in older adults, and revealed a consistency of treatment effect that encouraged their widespread use and changed the practice of medicine worldwide.
Professor Packard was principal investigator of the Study Psychological, social and biological determinants of ill health (pSoBid), a multi-disciplinary epidemiological study of the psychosocial and biological determinants of ill health and premature CHD in the east end of Glasgow. It revealed that factors such as adverse circumstances in childhood and personality traits were associated with ill-health and reduced wellbeing in adults living in deprived communities.
Professor Packard is a member of the Scottish government Life Sciences Advisory Board (LiSAB) and a number of other government committees. As one of the four NHS Research Scotland R&D Directors that form the NRS Strategy Board, he works with the Chief Scientist Office to set the framework for clinical research in Scotland.
Outside the laboratory, Professor Packard is active in local and national initiatives to promote health and wealth gains from medical research. He was founding chairman of NEXXUS, the West of Scotland Bioscience Network, which promoted community building and knowledge exchange between life sciences industry, academia and the NHS. Currently, he is representing the NHS in a Glasgow City Council led initiative to promote economic growth in the life sciences sector and co-development opportunities between the Health Board and industry. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in June 2014.