Organizing Committee
Biography
Hermann Reichenspurner is currently the Director of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery and Medical Director of the University Heart Center at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf. He received his surgical training at the Universities of Munich, Cape Town, South Africa, and Stanford University, USA. The University Heart Center specializes on modern and less invasive treatment of heart diseases, including endoscopic valve surgery and catheter-based operations and interventions. Another focus is the interdisciplinary treatment of patients with terminal heart and lung failure. Dr. Reichenspurner is Past President of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation and the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery.
Research Interest
Heart and Lung Transplantation & Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery
Biography
Giuseppe Di Pasquale has his expertise in Division of Cardiology. He is currently the Director of the Division of Cardiology of the Maggiore Hospital, Bologna, Italy. He were president of several Italian Scientific Societies: Cardiological Italian Working Group “Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology†for 2000-2003; Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists (ANMCO) for 2004-2006; Italian Federation of Cardiology (FIC) for 2007-2010; The Italian Stroke Forum for 2011-2013. He has published 450 scientific publications (impact factor 550; H index 31) and 4 books. He is the Member of the Scientific Board and referee for numerous national and international Journals of cardiology and vascular neurology, Member of the Steering Committee of multicenter clinical studies and of International Advisory Boards on atrial fibrillation, thrombosis, and heart failure. Speaker at more than 950 scientific appointments consisting of national and international congresses.
Research Interest
Cardiology, Heart Failure, Vascular Biology, Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis
Biography
Dr Fausto Rigo, FESC is the Head of Division of Cardiology in dell Angelo Hospital, Mestre-venice Italy. And director of UOC cardiology in Ospedale dell Angelo.
Research Interest
Cardiology Hypothermia, Positron Emission Tomography, Cardiovascular Interventions
Biography
Gino Gerosa is Professor of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Padova Medical School. He is currently Chief of the Cardiac Surgery Division. and Director of the heart transplant and mechanical circulatory support programme at Padova University Hospital. Professor Gerosa performed the first Italian robot enhanced coronary bypass on beating heart in 2001 and one of the first worldwide stem cell transplantation for post-ischemic cardiomiopathy in 2002.He also performed the first italian implantation of the Cardiowest TAH in 2007 and the first in man implantation of a complete mitral ring off pump on beating heart in 2016. He is a member of the Italian Society of Cardiac Surgery, EACTS and AATS. He is coauthor of more than 350 publications and several book’s chapters.
Research Interest
Cardiac Surgery, Cardiomiopathy
Biography
Stephan B. Felix is chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine B, University Medicine Greifswald, Germany. He focuses on basic and clinical research on the disturbances of the cellular and humoral immune system in heart failure and inflammatory cardiomyopathy. Thereby novel methods of immunoprofiling, molecular biology, nanotechnology, and OMICs technologies are applied for studies of the pathophysiology of inflammatory cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, and heart failure development. In addition, clinical studies are performed with interventions in the immune system of patients with dilated and inflammatory cardiomyopathy. also performs preclinical and clinical studies on diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure. In the field of epidemiology and studies with patient cohorts he is involved in characterization of cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular diseases by means of molecular genetics and deep molecular phenotyping.
Research Interest
Cellular and humoral immune system in heart failure, Inflammatory cardiomyopathy and Heart failure development
Biography
Otto A. Smiseth is Professor and Head, Division of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Diseases at Oslo University Hospital. He is Past Chair European Society of Cardiology Education Committee. Dr. Smiseth is specialist in Cardiology and has training from Norway, San Francisco USA and Calgary and Vancouver, Canada. His main research interests are pathophysiology of heart failure with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction, heart failure due to left ventricular dyssynchrony and cardiac imaging.
Research Interest
Pathophysiology of heart failure with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction, heart failure due to left ventricular dyssynchrony and cardiac imaging
Biography
Louis Boisanté was former head of clinic-assistant of the hospitals of Paris. He was Former Chief of the Department of Internal Medicine, Niedercorn Hospital, Luxembourg. He worked as Former guideline coordinator for the European Society of Cardiology and also a Member of the French, Luxembourg and European societies of cardiology. He served as Member of the ethic commission of the French Society of Cardiology. He was Vice President of the Medical Section of the Chamber of expert in Luxembourg.
Research Interest
Cardiology
Biography
Since 1980 Professor Dhavendra Kumar has pursued a career in Medical Genetics in the United Kingdom. In 1990 he became a Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Genetics. He is a Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics (FACMG) and as well as Royal Colleges of Physicians of Ireland & London and The UK Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health. In his current role as Consultant in Clinical Genetics at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff University, United Kingdom, his special interests include Clinical Cardiovascular Genetics and Genomic Medicine. He has authored and co-edited ‘Clinical Cardiovascular Genetics- Principles & Practice’, ‘Oxford Specialist Handbook on Inherited Cardiac Disease’ and a monograph on the ‘Molecular Biology of Chronic Heart Failure’. He is the Founding Editor in Chief for the new open access journal- ‘Genomic and Molecular Cardiology’. His contributions to genomic medicine include ‘Genomics and Clinical Medicine’, ‘Genomic Medicine-Principles & Practice’ and ‘Medical and Health Genomics’.
Research Interest
Clinical Genetics, Inherited Cardiac Disease, Molecular Cardiology
Biography
Graduated in Medicine from Universidade Federal Fluminense in 1980; Fellowship in Medical Clinic in 1981/82 and in Cardiology in 1982/84 at Hospital Naval MarcÃlio Dias; Specialist in Cardiology from the Brazilian Society of Cardiology in 1992; Civil physicist in the navy since 1985 and the city Hall of Rio de Janeiro since 1987; Researcher from CNPq in 1981, 1987/89; President of CMS Necker Pinto Study Center in 1996; Mastership in Cardiology by Universidade Federal Fluminense in 2001; Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support Course by the Brazilian Society of Cardiology and American Heart Association in 2001 and 2005. Awards: "Academia Nacional de Medicina/Amil" in 2004, 2005 and 2011, and "ABRAMGE de Medicina" in 2004. Certificate from Cleveland Clinic as an international visitor doctor in the Dept: Nuclear Medicine in june of 2005 (USA). International visitor doctor in the Harley Street Healthcare Clinic and Chase Farm Hospital in London in July of 2006 (UK). PhD in Cardiology by Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro in 2012.
Research Interest
Cardiology
Biography
Dr. M Reza Movahed received his MD from Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Germany Residency at U of Rochester, his cardiology training at U of South Caroline, and interventional cardiology at Yale University. He is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona. He has over 200 peer reviewed publications. He has been Director of Cath lab and Nuclear Cardiology at UC Irvine and Director of Coronary Care Unit and Medical Director of Cardiac Transplantation at the U of Arizona. In May 2012, he was appointed as CareMore Regional Cardiology Director. He is world-renowned for his coronary bifurcation classification known as “The Movahed Classificationâ€, for “ Movahed’s sign†for RV overload and reverse “Movahed Maneuver for improvement of stent deliverability in vein grafts. He has patent for a device for removal of contrast from coronary sinus and a device that can measure cross sectional lumen of a vessel.
Research Interest
Nuclear Cardiology, Cardiac Transplantation, coronary sinus
Biography
Dr Cappato is Principal Investigator for X-VERT (eXploring the efficacy and safety of oral rivaroxaban OD compared with that of dose-adjusted oral VKA for the prEvention of caRdiovascular events in patients with non-valvular aTrial fibrillation scheduled for cardioversion) and VENTURE-AF (randomized, open-label, actiVe-controlled multi-cENTer stUdy to evaluate the safety of Rivaroxaban and vitamin K antagonists in subjects undergoing cathEter ablation for Atrial Fibrillation) studies. Dr Cappato is also leading investigator of a patient-based worldwide atrial fibrillation ablation survey. He is the co-inventor of the sub-cutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator. He frequently serves as an invited speaker at major international meetings. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, and is on the editorial board of numerous Cardiology Journals.
Research Interest
Supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias, Transcatheter radio-frequency
Biography
Chim Lang Lang is Professor of Cardiology at the University of Dundee, Scotland. He trained in cardiology and clinical pharmacology in the UK and the USA where he was a Merck International Fellow in Clinical Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University, Nashville and a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University, New York. His research takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the understanding of pathophysiology and pharmacogenetics of cardiovascular diseases and the development of treatment strategies in patients with cardiovascular diseases. He leads an integrated cardiovascular research laboratory dedicated to the study of cardiac/vasomotor regulation. These techniques are applied towards translational research and the development of biomarkers/novel treatment strategies in patients with cardiovascular diseases. He is Editor-in-Chief of Cardiovascular Therapeutics. A wide range of funding bodies including the British Heart Foundation, MRC, Chief Scientist Office, Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland and the European Commission funds his research.
Research Interest
Clinical pharmacology,Pharmacogenetics of cardiovascular diseases, Cardiovascular Therapeutics
Biography
Mario MARZILLI has been Professor and Chairman of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cardiothoracic Department of Pisa University Medical School (Italy) since 2007. He is also Director of the Post-Graduate School of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Pisa (from 2010). Mario Marzilli graduated in Medicine and Surgery with full honors at Pisa University Medical School in 1971 and started as a Research Fellow of the Italian National Research Council in Pisa. He began his academic career as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Pisa University Medical School in 1977 and progressed to Associate Professor of Clinical Physiology and Internal Medicine in 1986. From 2000 to 2006, Professor Marzilli was Full Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Chairman of the Postgraduate School of Cardiology at the University of Siena, and visiting Professor of Cardiovascular Research at the Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit (Michigan, USA) in the years 1977-78. Mario Marzilli is a member of several scientific societies, including the Societa Italiana di Cardiologia, European Society of Cardiology, American College of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association. His research is focused on coronary pathophysiology, interventional cardiology, ischemic heart disease, acute myocardial infarction, clinical pharmacology and hypertension. He has published more than 450 scien-tific papers and has edited books on invasive cardiology, coronary physi-ology, and cardiovascular therapy. Professor Marzilli reviews papers submitted for publication to Italian Heart Journal, European Heart Journal, Heart, Journal of the American Col-lege of Cardiology, Circulation, Basic Research in Cardiology, International Journal of Cardiology, and American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs.
Research Interest
Cardiothoracic, Cardiovascular Medicine, Clinical Physiology, invasive cardiology
Biography
Stefano Ghio obtained his medical degree (cum laude) from the University of Pavia School of Medicine at 23 years-old in 1982, and specialised in Cardiology at the University of Pavia School of Medicine, Pavia in 1987. Since then, he has been working in the Division of Cardiology of Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy. Currently, he is chief of the Heart Failure and Pulmonary Hypertension Unit. Dr Ghio has authored or co-authored more than 170 papers in indexed medical journals including topics such as pulmonary hypertension, cardiac resynchronisation therapy, cardiac imaging techniques in heart failure and cardiomyopathies. Dr Ghio is the coordinator of a regional network on pulmonary arterial hypertension in Regione Lombardia, Italy. Dr Ghio is Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology since 1991.
Research Interest
Cardiology, Heart Failure, Pulmonary Hypertension, Cardiomyopathies, Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy, Cardiac Imaging Techniques
Biography
Prof. Ehud Goldhammer has his expertise in exercise physiology and cardiac rehabilitation, and heart failure patient's rehabilitation in particular. His passion for improving the health and wellbeing of coronary artery patients led him to establish (1982) the first cardiac rehabilitation center in the northern part of Israel, encouraging women, elderly, old people, and minorities to join cardiac rehabilitation programs. Since the establishment of this cardiac rehabilitation center, he tried to promote exercise programs for heart failure patients. Prior to the late 1980s, cardiac enlargement, decreased left ventricular systolic function and heart failure were considered absolute or relative contraindications to exercise training, however he tried already in the early 1980s to persuade cardiologists and general practitioners to refer heart failure patients to exercise programs in contrast to previous treatment strategies that involved restriction of physical activity and bed rest for all stages and forms of heart failure.
Research Interest
Cardiac rehabilitation, Heart failure, Exercise Physiology
Biography
Robert Gasser has his expertise in ischemic heart disease and is specialized in Interventional Cardiology. His experimental scientific work has been dedicated to ischemic heart failure (ion channels, molecular Cardiology). He received his MD from the University of Innsbruck in 1985 and his PhD from Oxford University (UK) in 1991. He was founder and Managing Editor of the Journal of Clinical and Basic Cardiology since 1997, has been associate Professor of Cardiology at the University of Graz since 1998 and full Professor since 2008. Currently he holds the position as Chairman of the University Heart Center of the University.
Research Interest
Interventional Cardiology, Ischemic Heart Failure
Biography
Marco Picichè (MD, Ph.D.) graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Florence in 1995 and completed his cardiac surgery residency at the Tor Vergata University of Rome in 2000, both summa cum laude. He held regular teaching appointments at the university of Montpellier school of medicine, obtained certification by the French Board in cardiac surgery (Paris, 2007), earned his research master in surgical science (Paris, 2007), and received a university diploma in vascular surgery (Paris, 2007). In May 2009 he had the honor of opening the 44th Congress of the European Society for Surgical Research with a lecture on ‘‘The history of surgical research.’’ In September 2011 he received a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) in therapeutic innovations from Paris-Sud University. He is the Editor in Chief of the book : « Dawn and evolution of cardiac procedures : research avenues in cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology » (Springer-Verlag publishing house, September 2012). He patented a new surgical instrument. Currently he is a cardiac surgeon in Italy.
Research Interest
Cardiac surgery, Interventional cardiology
Biography
Amir A. Sepehri has received his B.S.E.E. from Auburn University, USA and his PhD from ‘faculté polytechnique de mons’ (Mons University, Belgium), on digital audio signal processing. He has worked on a special research program on ‘Computerized Screening of Congenital Heart Disease’ for 16 years. The program was aimed toward obtaining a special diploma known as ‘l’Agrégation de l'Enseignement Supérieur’ in the same university. The result of his research work is formulated as Arash-Band method and it is internationally patented. Based on Arash-Band method: unique processing method in murmur characterization, a robust device for automated screening of children’s congenital heart diseases, known as POUYA-Heart is developed and it is now available as a diagnostic medical device. POUYA-Heart is the first Intelligent phonocardiograph for CHD and CCHD screening. He has several publications on congenital heart diseases screening, detection and cardiac murmurs. He is currently director of CAPIS biomedical R&D department.
Research Interest
Congenital heart diseases.
Biography
Walid M Hassan is the Director in Cardiovascular Center of Excellence International Medical Center Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (November 2012- Present). He is the Consultant Interventional Cardiology Virginia Cardiovascular Center (January 2015-present). He is the Editorial Board and Reviewer for 35 International Journals 600 Published Articles/ Abstracts/ Presentations.
Research Interest
Cardiovascular Medicine, Interventional Cardiology
Biography
Zdeněk Gütter, PhD has his expertise in healthcare innovations based on information and communication technologies including eHealth with main focus on cardiology. This covers tools for assessment of technologies and telemedicine services, implementation and evaluation of impacts. He is particularly involved in research in the area of telemedicine applied to healthcare of patients with chronic diseases, including heart failure. He coordinates programs and EU projects for the Czech National eHealth Center (NTMC) of the University Hospital Olomouc (UHO).
Research Interest
Cardiology Healthcare Innovations.