David Attwell

FRS, Jodrell Professor of Physiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University College London, UK. His lab is interested in signalling between neurons, glial cells (microglia, oligodendrocytes and astrocytes) and the vasculature, and in how the brain's energy supply is controlled and determines the computational power of the brain.

Marta Cortés-Canteli

Marta Cortes Canteli, Tenured Scientist at the Cajal Neuroscience Center of the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid, Spain. She leads the Laboratory of Neurovascular Research in Alzheimer’s Disease focused on understanding the Alzheimer’s procoagulant state and developing diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. She is also a Scientific Collaborator at CNIC, where she studies the impact of midlife cardiovascular risk factors and atherosclerosis on brain’s function in the PESA-Brain study.

Valentín Fuster

CNIC, Madrid; Mount Sinai, NY, USA, combines roles as General Director of the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) in Madrid and President of the Fuster Heart Hospital  and Physician-in-Chief at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York. His contributions to cardiovascular medicine have had an enormous impact on the treatment of patients with heart disease. He is an author on more than 1000 scientific articles in international medical journals and has published two leading books on clinical cardiology and research. He is the most highly cited Spanish research scientist.

Costantino Iadecola

Weill Cornell, NY, USA. Director and Chair of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute and the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine. His research focuses on the basic mechanisms of neurovascular function and on the cellular and molecular alterations underlying ischemic brain injury, neurodegeneration and other conditions associated with cognitive impairment. He has published over 390 papers in peer-reviewed journals and plays a leadership role in research organizations and funding agencies.

María Ángeles Moro

Full Professor, Neurovascular Pathology Group leader and Coordinator of the Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Brain Health Programme, CNIC, Madrid, Spain. Current President of the ISCBFM. Her lab is interested in the identification of pathophysiological mechanisms as diagnostic and therapeutic targets for stroke and vascular dementia, using translational approaches, and with a focus in immunothrombosis, aberrant neurogenesis and brain clearance. 

Andy Shih 

Group Leader at Seattle Children’s Research Institute’s Center for Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Associate Professor at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. His lab uses advanced optical imaging to study neurovascular function in the living brain. Their goal is to better understand how blood flows through the brain by watching and learning from model organisms. This can provide clues on the development and repair of key vascular functions, such as the blood-brain barrier.

Susanne van Velow

Prof Susanne J. van Veluw is a vascular neuroscientist who has dedicated her career to understanding the pathological underpinnings and disease mechanisms in cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), one of the most common forms of cerebral small vessel disease affecting the brains of older individuals.

In 2025, she moved to the UK as one of the new Group Leaders in the BHF-UK DRI Centre for Vascular Dementia Research at the University of Edinburgh. Furthermore, Prof van Veluw co-leads the Leducq Foundation Transatlantic Network of Excellence on Brain Clearance and currently serves on the board of the International CAA Association as vice-chair. 

Her translational research lab uses a range of complementary techniques and approaches, including in vivo MRI in patients, ex vivo MRI-guided histopathology in human brain tissue, and in vivo two-photon microscopy in mice to unravel the pathophysiology of microvascular injury in CAA with the goal to discover novel targets for much needed intervention strategies. 

Joanna Wardlaw

Chair of Applied Neuroimaging; Head of Neuroimaging Sciences and Edinburgh Imaging; Row Fogo Centre Director, University of Edinburgh, UK. Internationally recognised for work on the pathophysiology of cerebral small vessel disease and brain ageing, and the pathophysiology and treatment of acute ischaemic stroke especially thrombolytic therapy, and the use of imaging to diagnose acute stroke. She has published over 400 papers and been awarded several prizes and honorary fellowships in recognition of her work.