Elena Osto is a physician scientist. She trained as MD and board-certified cardiologist at the University of Padova, Italy, where she also obtained a Ph.D. in cardiovascular science (2007-2010). Her research focuses on the pathophysiology of vascular dysfunction and atherosclerosis in dysmetabolic conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Her research projects explore the multi-organ crosstalk in cardio-metabolic disease, combining a multidisciplinary approach with a strong translational aspect. Elena Osto was awarded prestigious career grants (“Forschungskredit”, a Fellowship of the University of Zurich; first the "AMBIZIONE" followed by the “PRIMA” Fellowship of the Swiss National Science Foundation, which allowed her to establish her independent research group in 2015. Dr. Osto is the Head of the research group on Cardio-metabolic disease at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry (University and University Hospital of Zurich) and is affiliated with the Laboratory of Nutritional Research (ETH Zurich). Her group maintains successful collaborations with the Institute of Veterinary Physiology (University of Zurich, led by Prof. Dr. Thomas Lutz), the Department of Cardiology (University Hospital of Zurich, led by Prof. Dr. Frank Ruschitzka) amongst others. Dr. Osto has earned merits and awards in the field of cardio-metabolic disease for instance the Cardiovascular Biology Prize of the Swiss Society of Cardiology in 2009 and 2015; the Swiss Lipid Research Award of the Working group on Lipids and Atherosclerosis (Swiss Atherosclerosis Association) in 2016; the Research Award of the Union of Vascular Societies of Switzerland and the Scholar of the Italian Society of Cardiology in 2018. In May 2018 the University of Zurich awarded Elena Osto the Venia legendi as senior lecturer in the field of Cardiology. She has received the title of Fellow and is currently also Nucleus Member of the Working Group on Atherosclerosis and Vascular Biology of the European Society of Cardiology.