Scicchitano Pietro
University of Bari, Italy

Zhonghua Sun
Curtin University, Australia

Waksman R
Washington Hospital Center, DC, USA

Grube E
University Bonn, Germany

Ian Menown
Director of Invasive Cardiology, Craigavon Cardiac Centre, United Kingdom

Dr Ian Menown is Consultant Cardiologist and Director of Invasive Cardiology at the Craigavon Cardiac Centre, Northern Ireland, and is President of the Irish Atherosclerosis Society. He received his medical degree from the Queens University of Belfast, before completing an interventional fellowship at Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, BC, Canada. He obtained a postgraduate doctorate of medicine, the Purce medal and JD Williams prize for research in improving early detection of acute coronary syndromes and has been elected to Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. Dr Menown is an active clinical trialist, serves on the editorial board of several cardiology journals and has published numerous papers and scientific abstracts in fields including acute coronary syndromes, cardiovascular risk and application of novel stent coatings in the clinical setting.

Virmani R
CVPath Institute, Inc., MD, USA

Dr Virmani has received numerous awards and honors for her work in cardiovascular pathology. She currently serves as Medical Director of the CVPath, Institute, Inc. in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and also as Clinical Professor of Pathology at Georgetown University, University of Maryland, and Vanderbilt University. She most recently served as Chairperson for the Department of Cardiovascular Pathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. She received her medical degrees from the Lady Hardinge Medical College, in New Delhi, India. Dr Virmani has research interests in vascular pathology with special reference to developing technologies and animal models for the study of in-stent restenosis and of late with regards to drug-eluting stents. Another focus of her studies includes mechanisms of atherogenesis with emphasis on sudden coronary death and plaque vulnerability. Her group is also actively engaged in the study of cell-based therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Dr Virmani has published extensively with over 400 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. She also has edited seven books and written over 100 book chapters. Dr Virmani is on the editorial review board of several scientific publications, which include Circulation; Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology; and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, among others.

Dieter R
Loyola University, IL, USA

Dr Dieter joined the Cardiovascular Medicine Section of The Medical College of Wisconsin (WI, USA) as the Director of Vascular Medicine after completing an advanced fellowship in Vascular Medicine and Peripheral Vascular Interventions at Georgetown University/Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC. He is now at Loyola University Medical Center. As the Director of Vascular Medicine, he specializes in the management of patients with complex vascular diseases. He manages patients with strokes, mini strokes (transient ischemic attack [TIA]), and those at risk for having strokes, in particular those with carotid artery blockages requiring angioplasty/stenting or those with holes in the heart (patent foramen ovale [PFO]). He also specializes in blockages in the arteries to the kidneys (renal artery stenosis), which can lead to high blood pressure or kidney failure. In fact, Dr Dieter has published on new and potentially safer methods to treat blockages in the renal arteries. Dr Dieter performs minimally invasive abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (endograft) and has extensive training in the management of patients with claudication (pain in the legs when walking) as well as taking care of patients with critical limb ischemia and non-healing ulcers (leg sores) - particularly in patients with diabetes. Furthermore, he is board certified in interventional cardiology and specializes in angioplasty and stenting of the heart arteries (coronary arteries) and the treatment of heart attacks (myocardial infarctions). Dr Dieter has written over 40 journal articles, eight book chapters, is on the editorial board of five medical journals, and lectures internationally on cardiovascular diseases.

Nanjundappa A
University of West Virginia, WV, USA

Dr Nanjundappa is Associate Professor of Medicine and General Surgery at West Virginia University School of Medicine, Charleston, West Virginia, USA. He is a Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology, Vascular Medicine and Endovascular Medicine. Dr Nanjundappa teaches and practices cardiology and vascular medicine. Dr Nanjundappa is author of more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and textbook chapters. A frequent National and International guest lecturer, he serves on the editorial boards of eight journals including: Angiology; Interventional Cardiology (Associate Editor); and The Internet Journal of Endovascular Medicine (Chief Medical Editor). Dr Nanjundappa has participated in several important NIH Clinical Trials including: CLEVER and CORAL. Other clinical trials include CAPTURE, CREST, HERCULES, MOBILITY and CHOICES.

Shapiro LM
Addenbrooke\'s Hospital, UK

Park AJ
Asan Medical Center, Korea

Abizaid A
Instituto Dante Pazzanese de Cardiologia, Brazil

Stables R
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, UK

Dr Rod Stables (MA [Cantab] DM [Oxon] BM BCh [Oxon] FRCP [Lond]) is a Consultant Cardiologist at The Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital (www.lhch.nhs.uk). He trained in cardiology in Oxford and at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London. His specialist Interests include: coronary angioplasty and stenting; myocardial infarction and angina; hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; and noncoronary interventional cardiology including aortic and peripheral intervention. His clinical interests and research include clinical research in coronary intervention and acute coronary syndromes; outcomes analysis and assessment of quality in clinical practice; clinical trial design, analysis and reporting; and non-surgical intervention in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Savage MP
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia PA, USA

Poddar KL
Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, USA

Dr. Kanhaiya Lal Poddar is a physician researcher dedicated to field of cardiovascular intervention research and presently associated with cardiovascular department at Cleveland Clinic, USA. He received his medicine and research degrees from Medical College, Kolkata (India) and thereafter from School of Medicine, Korea University, respectively and has earned international recognition by his research work in field of cardiovascular intervention in South Korea and thereafter at Cleveland Clinic, USA. He is widely published with around 25 peer reviewed original articles and contributed to scientific knowledge through book chapters in the field of intervention. His work has immensely contributed to cardiovascular science which is evident from numerous citations across various national and international cardiovascular research works. He has also presented his work at renowned cardiology meetings/conferences across the globe. His research interests includes cardiovascular pharmacology, cardiovascular interventions, outcomes associated with cardiovascular interventions/devices/ICD implantation and others.

Kaur K
University of Michigan, USA

Kuljeet Kaur is a research investigator at the University of Michigan. After finishing her PhD from the University of Manitoba in 2006, she joined the University of Michigan as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology where she was involved in understanding the role of G proteins in cardiac physiology and pathophysiology. After finishing her postdoctoral training she joined the Center for Arrhythmia Research at the University of as Research Investigator. Her research focuses on understanding the electrophysiological and molecular effects of cytokines and growth factors, such as TGF beta and PDGF. She has published 20 peer reviewed research articles, four book chapters and number of abstracts. Her published work has have been cited more than 540 times further suggesting the importance of work performed.

Avula UMR
University of Michigan, USA

Dr. Avula obtained his MD in India and is currently a research fellow at Center for Arrhythmia research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. Under his mentor, Dr. Jerome Kalifa, his work primarily focuses on the exploration of the mechanisms and pathophysiology of atrial fibrillation by implementing several experimental models such as atrial ischemia and persistent atrial fibrillation. Dr. Avula?s work also includes developing a novel cell selective arrhythmia ablation method based on the principle of photodynamic therapy. Dr. Avula has presented his work at multiple International conferences and is the recipient of Young Investigator Cardiovascular Research Award (presented at Kansas City Heart Rhythm Symposium, Kansas City, KS) consecutively for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015. He co-authored a book chapter, editorials and publications in peer-reviewed international journals and is also a reviewer of several international journals.

Zhao YT
University of Michigan, USA

My research is focusing on the regulation of calcium signaling that controls cardiac function in normal and pathological conditions. Specifically, I am using multidisciplinary techniques to investigate the mechanisms of catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, an inherited arrhythmia associated with the mutation of several calcium handling proteins (mainly cardiac ryanodine receptor). My studies also include other cardiac diseases that associate with calcium mishandling.

Lu Y
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA

I have been involved in cardiovascular research for more than ten years. One aspect of my current work is focused on the role of transcriptional regulation in cardiovascular diseases. My work is recognized for published studies on highlighting the role of kruppel-like factor 15 (KLF15) and kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) in pathophysiology of aortic aneurysm, atherosclerosis and restenosis, as well as in cardiomyopathy. The other aspect of my current work is on the metabolic regulation in physiological and pathological status, in cardiovascular system, as well as in metabolic organs.

Bloom HL
Emory University School of Medicine, USA

Dr. Bloom is an Associate Professor of Medicine with Emory University and Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology for the Atlanta VA Medical Center. Research interested include: infection in CEID (Cardiac Electronic Implantable Devices), risk stratification for SCA (Sudden Cardiac Arrest), and the impact of Autonomic Dysfunction on Arrhythmia and syncope.

Dendramis G
University Hospital Paolo Giaccone, Palermo, Italy

Dr. Gregory Dendramis is a cardiologist expert in arrhythmology, cardiac electrophysiology and pacing at the Cardiovascular Division of the University Hospital of Palermo, Italy. He is author of many international scientific publications in the field of cardiac arrhythmias, electrophysiology, cardiac pacing, and cardiac catheterization. He is Editor and main author of the book entitled ?Brugada Syndrome: Diagnosis, Clinical Manifestations, Risk Stratification and Treatment?, published by Nova Science Publishers and with co-authors Professors Charles Antzelevitch and Pedro Brugada. His research has contributed to the expansion of current understandings of ischemic causes of Brugada Phenocopy with the publication of the first documented case in the world of Brugada Phenocopy due to an anomaly in the coronary circulation. His contribution is one of the main in a series of world expert opinions on various Brugada Phenocopy topics (http://www.brugadaphenocopy.com/experts-opinions.html).

Pérez AML
Hospital Clínico Universitario, Spain

I am graduate in Biochemistry and Doctor of science by the University of Murcia (Spain). I obtained the Extraordinary Award of Doctorate in 2012. My investigative work has focused on the characterization of the molecular mechanisms related to to the cellular death induced for Ca2+ after the cardiac isquemia. One of my initial targets was the functional characterization of the enzyme Ca2+-ATPasa of Sarcoplasmic Reticulum (SERCA 2a) using cardiac microsomal extracts obtained using muscle of the hind legs of rabbit. An interest aspect was the identification and characterization the effects of differents drugs -with effect on this carrier of Ca2+- that able to have clinical application. Also, my studies have been directed to study the implication of this stress, in the isquemia of myocardium and its contribution to programmed cellular death (apoptosis). In the year 2009 I began to be employed like postdoctoral investigator at the group of Clinical Investigation and Traslacional Cardiovascular, inside the University Hospital Virgin of the Arrixaca in Murcia (Sapin), led by Domingo Pascual Figal, MD; PhD. Here I have taken part actively in projects of national and international ambience. Using two Post-doctoral contracts, Juan de la Cierva in 2010 and Sara Borrell in 2014, I have continued the investigative line initiated in my predoctoral stage. Together with the scientific production and the important contributions in the clinical area, especially in the field of heart failure and biomarkers, joins the effort during the past five years to develop an animal model of heart failure, which has served as a platform. Currently, I am responsible for the development, management and planning of all the group projects related to animal models. This effort has resulted in several research projects. Therefore, at present my work has a clear vision traslational, and a clear mission. To develop research with applicability to the clinic and bi-directional translator from the laboratory to the patient.

Algazzar AS
National Heart Institute, Egypt

Nair SU
University of S Florida Morsani School of Medicine, USA

Kalathingathodika S
Govt.Medical College, Kozhikode, Kerala, India

Wilensky R
University of Pennsylvania, PA, USA

Veith F
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, OH, USA

Dr Veith graduated from Cornell University Medical School with Honors before completing an internship at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York and his residency training at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr Veith achieved success with his pioneering work in lung transplantation. It was in the 1970s and 1980s that Dr Veith\'s attention turned toward vascular surgery with an emphasis on lower extremity revascularization procedures and the endovascular graft repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms. His group was the first to perform an endovascular aneurysm repair in the United States. Dr Veith has held positions in every national vascular society and many international ones. In 1995 he was elected President of the Society for Vascular Surgery, the most prestigious society in the field. He has been a leading advocate for the recognition of vascular surgery as a true and distinct specialty and is the past Chairman of the American Board of Vascular Surgery. Dr Veith held positions as Chief of Vascular Surgery and Interim Chairman of Surgery at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine for many years. In the last five, he has held The William J. Von Liebig Chair in Vascular Surgery and has been the Vice chairman of the Department of Surgery. Throughout his career he has received numerous awards and honors as a leader, outstanding teacher and innovator in Vascular Surgery. He is now Professor of Surgery and The William J. von Liebig Chair in Vascular Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic for whom he also Chairs the annual VEITHsymposium meeting in New York City and Professor of Surgery at New York University Medical Center. Specialty areas include: Endovascular Surgery; Limb Salvage Surgery; Endovascular Aneurysm Repair and Definition of Vascular Surgery as a Distinct Specialty.

Thourani V
Emory University School of Medicine, USA

Satler L
Washington Hospital Center, DC, USA

Lowell Satler, MD, is Medical Director of the Cardiovascular Training and Educational Center and Director of Coronary Interventions at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC. Dr. Satler was one of the key physicians in the launch of the Structural Heart Disease Program, which advocates the use of percutaneous techniques to treat valvular disorders when standard surgery is not recommended. In collaboration with Children\'s National Medical Center, he developed the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program -- the only program in the region designed to follow patients with congenital heart defects from birth to adulthood. This program is fully staffed by congenital heart cardiologists to meet stringent requirements for multidisciplinary care. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Satler is an active investigator and serves as principal investigator for 21 interventional cardiology research protocols to improve patient outcomes in the treatment of coronary artery disease, congenital heart disease, carotid artery diseases, and other conditions. In collaboration with AT&T, Dr. Satler developed CodeHeart, a wireless application that allows physicians to view ECGs and participate in real-time videoconferencing over a secure network. This technology was designed to improve heart attack diagnoses in the field, but can be used in all aspects of medical care to facilitate communication between experts and remote locations, thus enhancing treatment provided by first responders and shortening patient waiting time for treatment. Dr. Satler writes and publishes extensively on the topic of invasive cardiology. His repertoire includes more than 300 scholarly publications in peer-reviewed journals and nearly 400 abstracts. In addition, he serves on the editorial boards of several cardiology journals, including the Journal of the American College of Cardiology,Catheterization and Cardiovascular Intervention, and the Journal of Invasive Cardiology. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Cardiovascular Diseases and Interventional Cardiology. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, the American College of Cardiology, the American Medical Association, the American Heart Association, and the American College of Physicians. Dr. Satler earned his medical degree from Albany Medical College in New York. He completed a residency in Medicine at Albany Medical Center and a Cardiology Fellowship at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, AL.

Ramana R
Heart Care Centers of Illinois, IL, USA

Dr Ravi Ramana graduated from the University of Michigan with Class Honors in 1998. He received his medical degree from Midwestern University in 2002 when he was also named Internal Medicine Student of the Year. Subsequently, he completed his internal medicine residency, cardiovascular medicine fellowship and interventional cardiology fellowship at Loyola University Medical Center where he served as Associate Chief Resident and Chief Fellow. Dr Ramana specializes in coronary diagnostic and interventional procedures using both standard and newer adjunctive techniques and technology. He is board-certified in cardiovascular medicine and nuclear cardiology, certified in the interpretation of cardiac CTA, and board-eligible in interventional cardiology. He has been extremely active in clinical cardiolovascular research while publishing 12 peer-reviewed original manuscripts and two comprehensive book chapters in cardiovascular medicine textbooks. Dr Ramana has presented at national cardiovascular meetings including TCT, AHA and SCAI. Furthermore, he is currently an invited staff reviewer of six cardiovascular medicine journals. His current interests include the emerging technologies of bioabsorbable stents and percutaneous therapies for structural heart diseases.

Popma JJ
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, MA, USA

Jeffrey Popma, MD, is the Director, Innovations in Interventional Cardiology and a Senior Attending Physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. He was also Director of Interventional Cardiology, Director of the Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Training Program, and Director of the Angiographic Core Laboratory at Brigham and Women\'s Hospital from 1998-2007. Dr Popma received his BA in Economics from Stanford University, and received an MD with highest distinction from Indiana University School of Medicine. He completed his internship, residency, chief residency and fellowship at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He also completed an interventional cardiology fellowship at the University of Michigan. Dr Popma is the Past President of the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Intervention. He is currently the Co-Chair of the ACC Interventional Council and Chairman of the ACC Cardiac Catheterization Committee. Dr Popma sits on the editorial boards of several publications, and reviews for several cardiology periodicals. Dr Popma has focused his recent activities on teaching and education curriculum for Interventional Cardiology Training Programs. Dr Popma recently co-authored the Interventional Cardiology Section for the American College of Cardiology Self Assessment Program (ACCSAP6) and was an Associate Editor for the American College of Cardiology Interventional Cardiology Self Assessment Program (CATHSAP-III). He was also author of the chapters on \"Cardiac Catheterization and Intravascular Ultrasound\" and \"Percutaneous Coronary and Valvular Intervention\" in Braunwalds Heart Disease (7th Edition). Dr Popma has over 300 peer reviewed manuscripts published. Dr Popma also directs the BWH Angiographic Core Laboratory principal investigator for over 50 ongoing multicenter device studies. Over the past 15 years, these trials have included a broad array of new technology, including bare metal stents, drug eluting stents, distal protection devices, total occlusion devices, and carotid and peripheral revascularization procedures. These trials have been submitted to the FDA and resulting in the approval of these devices in the USA.

Roever L
Federal University of Uberlandia, Brazil

Dr. Leonardo Roever was graduated in 2002, had his specialization in Unifesp (2003), Master\'s degree in Health Sciences from the UFU (2008). Editor-in-Chief of Research Topics: Cardiac Remodeling: New Insights in Physiological and Pathological Adaptations of Frontiers in Physiology in Switzerland, Special issue entitled: Coronary Artery Disease (Journal of Cardiovascular Diseases & Diagnosis) and Atherosclerosis and Risk Factors (Epidemiology:Open Access). Editor in Chief - Evidence Based Medicine and Practice. Academic Editor of Medicine (USA - Baltimore, Maryland - Impact Factor - 5.723). Executive Editor of Atherosclerosis: Open Access. Editorial board member of the Journal of Epidemiology, Internal Medicine, Translational Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases & Diagnosis, Emergency Medicine and others. Reviewer journals such as Circulation, European Heart Journal, JACC, JAMA Internal Medicine, Stem Cells, Nature (EJCN), Stroke, Neurology, Chest, Critical Care Medicine, Americ an Journal of Sports Medicine and others. Ad Hoc is the American Heart Association (AHA-USA) and the National Institute of Health (NIH-USA). The total of publications comprises 51 articles in journals specialized as an author and/or co-authored and 18 abstracts in conference proceedings. He has experience in health care, with emphasis in Cardiovascular Research acting on the following topics: network meta-analysis, atherosclerosis, ectopic adiposopathy, biomarkers, inflammatory markers, metabolic syndrome, coronary artery disease, cardiovascular prevention, clinical epidemiology, clinical research, biostatistics, aging and development of new diagnostic and therapeutic methods.

Moses JW
Columbia University Medical Center, NY, USA

Mehran R
Columbia University Medical Center, NY, USA

Dr Roxana Mehran, Joint Chief Scientific Officer of the Clinical Trial Center at Cardiovascular Research Foundation and Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, is internationally recognized for her work in complex data analysis and outcomes research within the field of interventional cardiology, and for her experience and expertise in working with the FDA. In addition to founding a highly regarded academic research organization (ARO) within the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, she is also a widely published author in the most respected cardiovascular journals, and has authored and co-authored a significant number of books and book chapters. Dr Mehran has been an invited speaker at international medical conferences such as EuroPCR, EST, ACC/i2, and has served as Course Co-Director of the annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) for the last 15 years. Dr Mehran completed her training in internal medicine at the University of Connecticut before continuing her studies in cardiovascular medicine and interventional cardiology at the Cardiovascular Institute at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

Holmes DR
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, MN, USA

Fitzgerald PJ
Stanford University Medical Center, CA, USA

Gimelli G
University of Wisconsin, WI, USA

Giorgio Gimelli is An Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at UW School of Medicine and Public Health, Dr. Gimelli?s interests include percutaneous left ventricular assist devices in high-risk interventions and carotid stenting.

Fasseas P
Medical College of Wisconsin, WI, USA

Dr Fasseas received his medical degree from the University of Turin, in Turin, Italy, and completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA. Following residency he completed his cardiology fellowship at Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, PA in 2001, and his interventional cardiology fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, in 2002. Following fellowship, Dr Fasseas joined the cardiology faculty at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and was the director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory at the Milwaukee VA Medical Center from 2003 to 2006. He has also completed training in Vascular Medicine and peripheral vascular interventions.

Clavijo LC
University of Southern California, USA

Dudley J
Science Applications International Corporation, USA

Bates MC
West Virginia University School of Medicine, WV, USA

Dr Bates is a Professor of Medicine and Surgery at West Virginia University School of Medicine, Charleston Division. He is an Alpha Omega Alpha, (A?A) graduate of West Virginia School of Medicine and completed his internal medicine residency at the Robert C Byrd Health Sciences Center where he received the Sara and Pauline Maier Foundation Academic Achievement Award and the Dean\'s Prize for academic excellence. After serving as Chief Internal Medicine Resident, the West Virginia University School of Medicine Class of 1989 selected him to receive the WVU Faculty teaching award for excellence. Dr Bates did his cardiology fellowship at the University of Kentucky and was retained as a clinical scholar in interventional cardiology between 1991 and 1992. Subsequently, he completed a peripheral interventional vascular medicine fellowship at the William Dorros - Isadora Feuer Interventional Cardiovascular Disease Foundation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (University of Wisconsin) under the direction of Dr Gerald Dorros. Since 1993, Dr Bates has held several academic appointments and currently is the senior scientist for cardiovascular research at the CAMC research institute. He also is the Co-Director of the CAMC Vascular Center of Excellence. Dr Bates is a member of many medical societies and has authored several book chapters and numerous manuscripts while remaining active on several journal editorial boards. He has been involved in medical device innovation for two decades and holds several patents in the areas of embolic protection, gene therapy, stem cell implantation, regenerative therapy, nanotechnology, spinal cord injury, catheter design and drug delivery. He is the founder of several medical start-up companies including: San Francisco Science, ArteriA, BAFF (Bates Floating Filter), TransDerm technology, Medical Dynamics, ReVasc, Global Stem Cell Solutions, Transcatheter Solutions and NeoSeed. He currently is the CEO and founder of a translational research company (Nexeon MedSystems, Inc.)

Das P
University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, TN, USA

Bass TA
University of Florida, FL, USA

Mario CD
Royal Brompton Hospital, UK

Sievert H
CardioVascular Center Frankfurt, Germany

Dr Horst Sievert is the Director of the CardioVascular Center Frankfurt, Sankt Katharinen, and the Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiology and Vascular Medicine of the Sankt Katharinen Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. He is also an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine/Cardiology at the University of Frankfurt and works part-time at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington DC, USA. Dr Sievert received his medical degree at the University Frankfurt, Germany. After training in internal medicine, nephrology and intensive care medicine, he completed a fellowship in cardiology and vascular medicine under the direction of Dr Martin Kaltenbach. He became Director of the Department of Interventional Cardiology and Angiology of the Heart Center Rotenburg in 1990, Senior Consultant at the Bethanien Hospital in Frankfurt in 1993 and Director of the CardioVascular Center Frankfurt, Sankt Katharinen in 2003. He has been the PI of a number of clinical trials and has authored more than 140 manuscripts and 600 abstracts in peer reviewed journals, 80 books and book contributions. He has also delivered more than 800 invited lectures around the world. Dr Sievert has personally performed more than 25,000 PCIs and 8000 peripheral angioplasties. However, his activity in the cath lab is focused on highly specialized noncoronary interventions for patients with congenital, structural and valvular heart disease including percutaneous valve implantation and valve repair as well as peripheral diseases like carotid disease or aortic aneurysms among other conditions. Dr Sievert was the first to close the left atrial appendage percutaneously. He has the largest experience worldwide in catheter closure of heart defects in adults and gets referrals from all over the world.

Rostock T
University Hospital Eppendorf, Germany

Thomas Rostock, MD, works at the Department of Electrophysiology of the University Heart Center, University Hospital Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. His clinical emphasis is the interventional treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. His research interests focus on the pathophysiological/electrophysiological mechanisms and new interventional treatment options of cardiac arrhythmias, particularly in the field of atrial fibrillation.

Scheinert D
University of Leipzig, Germany

Erbel R
University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Raimund Erbel graduated from the University Düsseldorf in 1973, and completed his thesis on the subject of \"Intramyocardial Pressure Measurements\". Prof. Erbel has been a Professor of Medicine and Director of the Department of Cardiology at the West-German Heart Center Essen since 1993. He is also on the Editorial Boards of Interventional Cardiology and the European Heart Journal, and is the Principal Investigator on numerous clinical trials. Prof. Erbel has published more than 1000 papers, and his major research interests include coronary arteriosclerosis, microtechniques in cardiology, noninvasive coronary imaging, clinical epidemiology, aortic dissection, infective endocarditis, pulmonary hypertension, myocardial bridging and percutanous aortic valve implantation.

Hamm CW
Director of Cardiology Department, Kerckhoff Klinik GmbH, Germany

Vahanian A
Hospital Bichat, France

Schiele F
Université de Franche Comte, France

Chevalier B
Institut Jacques Cartier, Massy, France

Porto I
Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Italy

Maisano F
Ospedale San Raffaele, Italy

Macaya C
University Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Spain

Dr. Carlos Macaya Miguel; Head of Cardiology Department at the Hospital Clínico San Carlos and Professor of Cardiology at the Universidad Complutense, Madrid. Currently, President Elect of the Spanish Society of Cardiology and Vice-President of the National Commission of Cardiology in the Ministry of Health. He served as a Cardiologist at both; Las Palmas, Gran Canaria from 1979 to 1983 and at Residencia Sanitaria, Granada from 1983 to 1985 where he carried out techniques in cardiology intervention including Balloon Aortic Valvuloplasty. He published the Stent Implantation in the non-protected left main coronary segment (Am J Cardiol, 1992). In 2007, after 3 decades of dedication to improvement of Coronary Angioplasty and Therapeutic Cardiac Catheterisation procedures in Structural Cardiac Diseases involving Congenital Heart Disease and Valvular Pathology, Dr. Macaya received The Rey Jaime 1 award for his professional dedication to Medical Research from H.M. Don Juan Carlos, Spain. Dr. Macaya is principal investigator and member of several steering committees that carry out numerous relevant clinical trials, is a Board member of severalscientific journals and author/co-author of more than 400 original articles. He continues as; coordinator of the chapter: \"Percutaneous, Surgical Revascularization and Cardiac Transplantation\" of the Comprehensive National Plan for Ischaemic Heart Disease and member of several Scientific Cardiology and Medicine Societies in Spain, Latin America, and the International Committee of the American College of Cardiology.

Alfonso F
Cardiac Department, Hospital Universitario de La Princesa, Spain

Eeckhout E
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Switzerland

Eric Eeckhout graduated in 1984 from the medical school of the Free University of Brussels, Belgium. He was trained as a cardiologist with a particular interest for interventional cardiology until 1991 at the University Hospital of this Medical School. From 1991 onwards, he joined the cardiology division of the University Hospital CHUV in Lausanne, where he became director of the catherization laboratory in 1999. His academic affiliation is Associate Professor of Cardiology at the Medical School of the University of Lausanne. His clinical interests are in the broad field of interventional cardiology: valvular heart disease, percutaneous treatment of congenital heart disease in the adult, acute coronary syndromes and coronary physiology. He has a particular interest for the topic of complications during coronary intervention. In this respect, he co-founded and pursued the coronary complications course in Lausanne from 1998 onwards. He is a member of the congress programme committee of the European Society of Cardiology. At present, he is also the coordinator of the interventional cardiology programme of the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology. He is also the co-chair of the popular FOCUS sessions at the European Society meeting.

Van Domburg R
Erasmus Medical Centre, The Netherlands

Ron T van Domburg studied Mathematical Statistics at the Delft University, graduating in 1980. Since then he has been employed at the Thoraxcenter of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam. He started as a statistician/scientific system manager at the Departments of Epidemiology and Clinical and Experimental Information Processing, and during the first years he developed computer programs in order to collect data. Among them, he developed a software program to generate patient discharge letters at the Coronary Care Unit, the Medium Care Unit, Catheterization Laboratory, cardiothoracic surgery departments and outpatient clinic. Attached to this letter program, a dedicated database was developed to collect the baseline characteristics and other clinical relevant data. Between 1984 and 1987 he developed a database management system, named CLINT. This software program was a predecessor of programs such as Dbase and Access, and is still used and is working throughout the hospital network. In 1998 he defended his PhD thesis entitled \"Long-term survival and predictors of mortality in coronary heart disease\". Since then, his work was moved from the ICT towards clinical epidemiology. Today, he is statistical and epidemiological consultant for the cardiovascular clinicians. Furthermore, he is supervising many thesis fellows in Cardiology and Vascular Surgery, and he is training and teaching medical and psychological students. Also, he is chairman of the Works Council. His professional interests include coronary angioplasty, coronary bypass surgery, acute coronary syndromes, heart transplantation, heart failure, ICD implantation, vascular disease, stroke and psychology, with a special interest in long-term outcome (such as 20 yrs after AMI, 25 yrs after PCI, 30 yrs after CABG), drug-eluting stents and psychosocial factors as prognostic predictors of mortality.

Van Sambeek M
Catharina Hospital, The Netherlands

Marc RHM van Sambeek was born on December 7, 1958 in Veldhoven, The Netherlands. He graduated in 1986 as an MD from the Catholic University in Nijmegen. From 1986-1988 he served as a medical officer in the Dutch Army and worked during this period in the Military Hospital in Utrecht as a resident in Surgery and Urology. In 1989 he started his surgical training in the Sint Franciscus Hospital and finished his surgical training in the University Hospital Rotterdam in 1995. From 1995 to 1997 he received advanced training in Vascular Surgery in the University Hospital Rotterdam and became a senior staff member of the Department of Surgery in 1996. He received his PhD from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam in 1998 on the subject: Intravascular Ultrasound and Peripheral Endovascular Interventions. In 2003 he became head of the section of Vascular Surgery in the University Hospital Rotterdam. Since January 2008 he has worked as a consultant vascular surgeon in the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven. Dr van Sambeek is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Endovascular Therapy, Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery, and Vascular Surgery, is a founding member of the Dutch Endovascular Forum, a founding member of the International Society of Vascular Surgery and a member of the International Society for Endovascular Specialists, European Society of Vascular Surgery, board member of the Dutch Society of Vascular Surgery, board member of the European Association for Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions and deputy editor of the Journal EuroIntervention. His research topics are mainly concentrated around peripheral endovascular interventions and peri-operative care.

Sianos G
Erasmus Medical Centre, The Netherlands

Bax JJ
Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands

Professor Jeroen Bax is both Director of non-invasive imaging and Director of the echo-lab at the Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands. His main interests include: clinical cardiology, heart failure, cardiac resynchronization therapy and the application of all different imaging modalities to these clinical fields. Professor Bax has authored numerous papers and holds several positions in national and international scientific organizations. He was President of the ESC congress program committee for 2007-2008; and also serves on many editorial boards of different journals, including being an Associate Editor for the Journal of American College of Cardiology and Heart.

Minar E
Medical University Vienna, Austria

Chi-Hang RL
National University of Singapore, Singapore