Dr. Margaret Herridge, MSc. MD, FRCPC, MPH, FCCP, is a Professor in the Department of Medicine, a Senior Scientist in the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and Research Director for the University of Toronto Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine. She is Director of the CIHR funded national RECOVER ICU Care Continuum Program and the Grace RECOVER Program for Chronic Critical Illness. She is co-lead of CANCOV (Canadian multi-Centre 5-year follow-up of patients/caregivers after COVID-19) and is a recognized international content expert on patient and caregiver outcomes after critical illness.

She has received several national and international research distinctions including the Dr. F. Marguerite Hill Lecturer (2015), Honorary Member of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (2016), Lifetime Achievement Award in Critical Care from the American Thoracic Society (2018), the University of Toronto Eaton Scholar Researcher of the Year Award (2019), the Deborah Cook Mentorship Award from the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group (2020), is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2021), recipient of the CIHR-Canadian Critical Care Society Distinguished Lecturer Award in Critical Care Sciences (2022) and is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Critical Illness Outcomes and the Recovery Continuum.

Dr. John Sheehan is a Consultant Radiologist whose expertise transcends medical imaging, reaching into the vanguard of digital health innovation and transformative healthcare leadership. With fellowships at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, John's clinical acumen is matched by his strategic roles at Blackrock Health, Dublin, Mobile Medical Diagnostics (MMD), and xWave Technologies.

As a regular invited keynote speaker, John addresses pivotal topics around healthcare and technology, including data, cybersecurity, and the legal and ethical dimensions of medical practice. This role underscores his position as a thought leader, influencing the discourse on how technology can be harnessed to advance healthcare while navigating its complexities with integrity.

Co-chairing the American Irish Medical Summit with Prof. Peter Naughton and the Digital Health Symposium at the UNGA in NY alongside Prof. Martin Curley,  John spearheads international healthcare dialogues. His leadership roles as Clinical Director at MMD, Clinical Advisor at xWave, and Vice Chair of Ireland's Digital Health Association with Prof. Curley, highlight his commitment to AI-driven diagnostic advancements and the betterment of community healthcare.

Inspired by visionaries like Michael Dowling, John champions a healthcare ethos centered on accessibility, equity, and integration. His contributions to MMD and xWave are a testament to his dedication to leveraging digital innovations to remove patient care barriers and drive transformative change.

John's leadership style is marked by an unwavering commitment to innovation and a solution-focused approach. He is deeply invested in mentorship, nurturing a culture of disruptive thinking and compassionate action among emerging healthcare professionals.

Balancing a demanding career with family life and personal passions in music, gardening, and photography, John exemplifies the synergy between personal well-being and professional excellence. As he navigates the evolving landscape of healthcare, his vision remains clear: to make healthcare not just a service, but a universally accessible and fundamentally equitable right.

Dr. Julie Highfield BSc, DClinPsy, CPsychol, is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Lead for Organisational Health in Adult and Paediatric Critical Care, Cardiff. She is the Director of Wellbeing for the Intensive Care Society. She specialises as a clinical psychologist in medical and health care settings, working with patients, their loved ones and the staff who care for them. She has worked in several settings including perinatal mental health, nephrology, cardiology, respiratory medicine and critical care. She contributes to several national guidelines and is a regular speaker at intensive care conferences.

In parallel to her psychology role, Julie is the Director of Wellbeing for the Intensive Care Society. She co-chairs the national group of psychologists in intensive care UK (PINC-UK). She also offers independent consultation work to other NHS Trusts in the UK. 

Julie works closely with staff in their experience of working in healthcare, as well as advising managers on matters of workforce wellbeing. Her role with the Intensive Care Society led to her leading a BMJ award winning UK wide wellbeing and leadership programme for UK intensive care professionals. 

Julie has played an active role with the British Psychological Society and was previously secretary for its Division of Clinical Psychology in Wales. She led the BPS team writing the National Guidance for Staff in the Coronavirus Pandemic, and co-authored BPS guidance on integrating psychologists into healthcare settings. She has also co-authored guidance from the Association of Clinical Psychologists for Post Event Team Reflections following incidents in healthcare. Julie has worked with the Welsh Assembly Government in various projects, including as the lead for Critical Care Workforce Task and Finish Group, and Modelling for Rehabilitation for patients post COVID-19, and the Wellbeing Conversation Tool. She has several peer reviewed publications, book chapters, and guidance in the field of psychology in healthcare, critical care, staff wellbeing, and leadership.

Dr. Peter Nydahl, RN, BScN, MScN, Nursing Research, University Hospital in Schleswig-Holstein Kiel, Germany

Peter worked on ICU for 30 years and always tried to start rehabilitation of patients as early as possible. He started studying nursing research beside his practical work and performed many interprofessional research projects. The focus of his work is on holistic critical care rehabilitation including early mobilization, delirium prevention and therapy, family integration, and ICU diaries.

He lives with his wife in Kiel, Germany, at the Baltic Sea, loves running in the morning and is proud dad of three children and super-proud granddad of five (yes!) grandchildren.

Prof. Joanne McPeake is Professor of Nursing in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Joanne is also a Professorial Fellow of Homerton College, Cambridge.  

Joanne leads a programme of research dedicated to improving outcomes for those who have been critically unwell, with a particular focus on how social inequalities influence healthcare access and outcomes. She is the Clinical Chair of the James Lind Alliance Research Priority Partnership for Sepsis in the UK and is the Evaluation and Research Lead for the Collaborative and Acute Illness Recovery Organisation (CAIRO), an international consortium of over 60 ICU recovery services.   

Joanne been awarded a Society of Critical Care Medicine Presidential Citation for services to the critical care community twice and was the first and only Nurse, to be awarded an American Thoracic Society Critical Care Assembly International Achievement award.

Prof. Sandra L. Kane-Gill, PharmD, MSc, FCCP, FCCM, is a tenured professor and interim chair of pharmacy and therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. She has secondary appointments in the School of Medicine, Clinical Translational Science Institute, Department of Critical Care Medicine, and Department of Biomedical Informatics. She also serves as faculty in the program for Critical Care Nephrology in the Department of Critical Care Medicine. In addition to her academic appointments, Dr. Kane-Gill is a critical care medication safety pharmacist in the Department of Pharmacy at UPMC.   

Her research focuses on effective approaches for the detection, prevention, and management of medication errors and adverse drug events with emphasis on drug associated acute kidney injury. Dr. Kane-Gill is the principal investigator for federally funded research from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Her work has been presented at numerous professional meetings and she has published over 300 articles and book chapters related to critical care and patient safety. Dr. Kane-Gill was recognized in the top 1% of scholars in the world writing about medication errors in 2021. She is a Past President (2022) of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM). 

Ms. Kate Tantam is a Specialist Sister in ICU in Plymouth.  Her role is to support patients, loved ones and staff pre and post ICU discharge.  She is a nurse researcher in rehabilitation after critical illness and the founder of the #Rehablegend campaign.   The campaign shares patient stories to share best practice, improve patient experience, support quality improvement and clinical research and raise awareness of the importance of rehabilitation for all.  Her work was recognised with a Parliamentary Award for care and compassion in 2019, National Patient Experience Award in 2019 and recently with an award for patient experience by the Intensive Care society.  Her work during 2020/2021 supporting patients with COVID saw her awarded with a British Empire Medal for services to improve patient experience.  She is the deputy chair of the National Rehabilitation Collaborative and is keen to develop national work to support recovery after ICU.