The event was granted 15 CME points by the Romanian College of Physicians.
The recorded sessions are available until May 15th.
Dear colleagues,
It is our special pleasure to invite you to participate at the new edition of the annual Hereditary Cardiovascular Diseases Course! The 10th edition of the event will take place in person on 20–21 March at Hotel Courtyard by Marriott Bucharest Floreasca (2A Dimitrie Pompeiu Boulevard), Romania.
The course is addressed to all physicians from the specialties of cardiology, pediatric cardiology, medical genetics, internal medicine, family medicine. The scientific sessions will be held by national and international experts well renowned in their fields, with extremely interesting and new topics.
The Hereditary Cardiovascular Disease Course is a scientific event carried out under the auspices of the Romanian Society of Cardiology, the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” Bucharest, the Expert Center for Rare Genetic Cardiovascular Diseases within the Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases “Prof. Dr. C. C. Iliescu”, as well as of the European Reference Network GUARD HEART.
In this way, we would like to invite all of you to participate at the 10th edition of the Hereditary Cardiovascular Disease Course, a scientific event of high medical scientific standing, which will add value to the professional horizon of all participants.
Looking forward to an exceptional scientific meeting,
Course directors:
Professor Ruxandra Jurcuț (Romania)
Professor Elena Arbelo (Spain)
Professor Iacopo Olivotto (Italy)
Course registration is now open! We invite you to sign up.
The number of available places is limited. Registration is open until 15 March 2026.
The electronic posters will be displayed throughout the entire duration of the course.
The top 5 submitted abstracts will be selected for two oral sessions with prizes, dedicated to highly relevant topics in cardiology:
⚡ Session 1: Cardiomyopathies
⚡ Session 2: Channelopathies and Sudden Cardiac Death
Dear colleagues,
We would like to invite you to actively participate with interesting clinical cases in the electronic poster section of the 9th edition of the Hereditary Cardiovascular Diseases course, which will take place online on March 20-22, 2025.
Abstracts will be uploaded following the button below, in English, with a maximum word count of 300 words, with the following format: title, authors and their affiliations, abstract structured in introduction, presentation and conclusions.
The new deadline for submitting abstracts is March 3rd, 2025. Only registered participants can submit an abstract. The abstracts will enter the evaluation process, at the end of which the authors will be informed about the acceptance or rejection of the submitted work.
The accepted abstracts authors will then submit a poster to be uploaded on the course website during the course duration and 1 month afterwards for all registered participants.
It would be an excellent opportunity to present your rare or special cases with international colleagues interested in the field!
Looking forward to your contributions,
Course co-directors: Ruxandra Jurcut, Elena Arbelo, Iacopo Olivotto, Bogdan A.Popescu
Dr. Robert Adam Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Prof. C.C. Iliescu, Bucharest Assistant Professor, Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases “Prof. Dr. C. C. Iliescu”, Bucharest PhD candidate, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest
Dr. Amin Ahmad Amsterdam University Medical Centers Dr. Amin obtained his MD degree (2007) and PhD (2012), both cum laude, from the University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands). Since 2016, he has been working as a clinical cardiologist and translational research scientist, specializing in genetic heart diseases, at Amsterdam University Medical Centers. Since 2017, he has also been involved in coordinating the European Reference Network for rare, low-prevalence, and complex cardiac diseases (ERN GUARD-Heart).
Dr. Dimitra Antonakaki Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens (Greece) Dimitra Antonakaki graduated with honors from the Medical University of Athens in Greece. She completed her Medical and Cardiology training and obtained her CCT in London. She subsequently subspecialized in Inherited Cardiac Conditions and multimodality Cardiovascular Imaging at Barts Heart Centre, London. During this time, she obtained a competitive scholarship from St George’s University of London to study the Sports Cardiology MSc and graduated with distinction. More recently, Dimitra has sat on the UK National Association of Inherited Cardiac Conditions (AICC) Council as the trainee representative. She has been a Consultant Cardiologist in Inherited Cardiac Conditions at the John Radcliffe University Hospital in Oxford. She is currently a Consultant Cardiologist in Inherited Cardiac Conditions, Cardiac MRI and Sports Cardiology at the National Heart & Lung Transplant Centre, “Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center” in Greece. In addition, Dimitra is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at St George’s University of London where she is the Lead of the Advanced Management and Genomics of Inherited Cardiac Conditions MSc module, and member of the Media Task Force of the ESC Council on Cardiovascular Genomics.
Assistant Professor Dr. Elena-Laura Antohi Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Prof. C.C. Iliescu, Bucharest Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest
Dr. Alessia Argiro Careggi University Hospital (AOUC), Florence (Italy) Cardiologist, PhD student in Clinical Sciences Dr. Alessia Argirò is an Italian cardiologist and PhD student specializing in cardiovascular diseases, particularly cardiomyopathies and related heart conditions. She is involved in clinical research and trials focused on inherited heart diseases like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and cardiac amyloidosis. In 2023 she conducted a research period in cardiology at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), USA, with focus on cutting-edge therapies.
Associate Professor Elena Arbelo Hospital Clínic in Barcelona; University of Barcelona Cardiac electrophysiologist at Hospital Clínic in Barcelona. Coordinator of the Genetic Heart Diseases and Sudden Arrhythmic Death Unit. Quality and Safety Coordinator within the Cardiovascular Institute. Clinical Professor at the University of Barcelona and a recognized researcher at the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS). Member of several committees of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), and the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS, United States). Member of the committees of several large-scale European registries for the collection of atrial fibrillation data and the implementation of clinical guidelines within these registries. Member of the Atrial Fibrillation Working Group of the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM). Part of the RightCare and LEAN management working groups at Hospital Clínic.
Dr. Alexandra Apostu Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Prof. C.C. Iliescu, Bucharest Cardiology resident at the Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases “Prof. Dr. C. C. Iliescu” and PhD student at “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest. She has a strong interest in cardiogenetics and cardio-oncology and is actively involved in numerous research projects.
Associate Professor Dr. Ana Maria Balahura Primary care physician - cardiologist and specialist in internal medicine at the Prof. Dr. Theodor Burghele Clinical Hospital in Bucharest, and Associate Professor at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest. With over a decade of medical practice in an emergency hospital and later in a cardiology clinic with research activity in the field of cardio-oncology, she has, in recent years, been involved in the diagnosis and care of numerous patients with oncological conditions and cardio-oncology-related complications. Cardiovascular involvement in oncology patients represents one of her main scientific interests, alongside multimodal cardiovascular imaging and arterial hypertension.
Professor Dr. Cristina Basso University of Padua, Padova (Italy) Cristina Basso is Full Professor of Pathology at the University of Padua, Padova, Italy. Cardiologist, Anatomo-Pathologist and PhD in Cardiological Sciences, she has conducted correlations of anatomo-clinical nature in the cardiovascular field, with translational approach for application in the clinical field. She is the Director of the Cardiovascular Pathology Unit, National Health System. Her research fields are sudden death, cardiomyopathies and myocarditis, coronary heart disease, pathology of arrhythmias and conduction tissue, heart tumors and valve diseases. As such, it is part of National and International Research Networks and coordinates the NorthEast Italy Veneto Region Network for Cardiovascular Pathology. She has been chair of the WG Development Anatomy and Pathology. She is member of ESC WGs Myocardial &Pericardial disease; Development Anatomy and Pathology; and Basic Science Council. She is President of the Association for European Cardiovascular Pathology-AECVP.
Professor Connie Bezzina Amsterdam University Medical Centre (AUMC), Amsterdam (The Netherlands) ACS - Cardiomyopathy and ArrhythmiaAffiliatie UvAAmsterdam Gastroenterology Endocrinology MetabolismFull Professor, Experimental Cardiology Connie Bezzina is a molecular geneticist with expertise in the genetics of cardiac arrhythmias. These arrhythmias can lead to sudden cardiac death. Her research focuses on identifying the underlying causes, particularly in families in which sudden cardiac death occurs at a young age. In her work, Bezzina has already identified several genes that can cause this life-threatening arrhythmia, ventricular fibrillation. This is of great importance for families affected by ventricular fibrillation, as it allows so-called affected family members to be treated preventively. Bezzina’s research also focuses on identifying the hereditary factors that increase the risk of cardiac arrhythmias in more complex heart diseases such as myocardial infarction and heart failure. Once these genetic factors are identified, many lives can potentially be saved. Bezzina has been affiliated with the Department of Experimental Cardiology at the Academic Medical Center (AMC) since 1997 in various roles, and since 2008 as Associate Professor. Previously, she worked at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Malta. Bezzina is a member of the editorial boards of Circulation Research, Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, and Europace. She has authored numerous publications, including papers in leading journals such as Nature, Nature Genetics, Circulation, and Circulation Research.
Ruth Biller ARVC-Selbsthilfe e.V. European patient advocacy group ERN GUARD-Heart Ruth Biller´s daughter died of sudden cardiac death in 2011 at the age of 14 without any previous symptoms. It took a year before she was diagnosed with ARVC (arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy), a rare genetic heart disease. Ruth Biller is chair and co-founder of ARVC-Selbsthilfe, a non-profit organisation for patients and families with ARVC/ACM. At European level as chair of the European Patient Advocacy Group in the European Reference Network ERN GUARD-Heart, and on international level as the new chair of the Cardiomyopathy Patient Council of Global Heart Hub, she is committed to helping those affected by rare heart diseases, and tackle their unmet needs by information, advocacy and networking to ensure optimal medical and psychosocial care, intensified research and better treatments. One of her major priorities is to prevent sudden cardiac death in other families.
Associate Professor Alida L.P. Caforio University of Padua, Padova (Italy) Associate Professor in Cardiology, Dept of Cardiac Thoracic Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padova, Italy. Fulfilled National Scientific requirements for Full Cardiology Professor. Education:- Medicine and Surgery Degree (honors), and Specialist Diploma (honors) in Cardiology, Pisa University; Ph.D. in the Faculty of Medicine, St. George's Hospital Medical School, University of London. Memberships/Committees: Italian Society of Cardiology-Member; ESC-Fellow; ANMCO-Fellow 2000; SIC -Nucleus Member 2008-2012 and SIC –Chair of the Working Group on: " Myocardial and pericardial disease" 2010-2012; ESC-Nucleus Member and Treasurer of ESC Working Group on "Myocardial and Pericardial Diseases " 2010-12 and Task Force on “Myocarditis”, Nucleus Coordinator, 2010-2012; ESC Chair, Working Group on "Myocardial and Pericardial Diseases " 2014-16;ESC EORP)-Long-term cardiomyopathy and myocarditis (LT-CMY) Registry Chair 2018 and current. H-index 44 (scopus author ID 7005166754).
Dr. Mihnea Casian St George's University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London (United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland) Mihnea Casian is a cardiology fellow in Inherited Cardiac Conditions Clinic, St. George’s University Hospital, London, and a PhD student of the Department of Cardiology in Bucharest (Prof. Dr. C. C. Iliescu; Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, Bucharest and Expert Center for Rare Genetic Cardiovascular Diseases). He is passionate about inherited cardiac conditions, sports cardiology and understanding sudden cardiac death. As he won a grant from the Romanian Society of Cardiology, he chose to train in Inherited Cardiac Conditions Clinic and Sports Cardiology at St. George’s University Hospital London, where his clinical practice and research activity revolve around athletes, individuals with cardiomyopathies and families of sudden cardiac death victims. Mihnea is part of the Media Taskforce of the ESC Council on Cardiovascular Genomics and EACVI HIT Education Taskforce.
Professor Dr. Philippe Chevalier Professor of Cardiology at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 Patients healthcare: Implementation and coordination of the National Reference Center for inherited cardiac conditions of Lyon since 2007. Implementation and co-coordination of the national Cardiogen network in 2015. Research: In 1989, Master degree in Cellular and Molecular Vascular Biology (University of Paris VII). In 1991, Research Fellow in Toronto (Hospital for Sick Children). From 1992 to 1994, Research Fellow at Columbia University (New-York, NY). From 2001 to 2009, Chief of the Digital-Quantitative ECG team at INSERM/ERM 107. From 2011 to 2015, Director of EA 4612 (UCBL/HCL). Since 2016, in charge of the Heart Group at INMG (Institute Neuro-Myogen). Teaching: Coordinator of the University Diploma in Rhythmology and Stimulation of Lyon since 2008. Coordinator of the College of Cardiology Rhône-Alpes from 2011 to 2014. Since 2005, organizer of the annual Lyon national arrhythmia meeting.
Dr. Philippe Charron National Referral Center for Hereditary or Rare Cardiac Diseases - University Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière Philippe Charron is Professor of medicine, Head of the National referral center for cardiac hereditary diseases and president of the scientific committee of the French association of patients “League against cardiomyopathy”. As a cardiogeneticist, he is also Team leader of INSERM/Sorbonne University 1166 unit dedicated to Genomics of cardiac diseases and a board member of ICAN IHU. He is also a board member of the ERN Guard-Heart (European reference network for rare heart diseases), former Chairman of the European EORP registry on cardiomyopathies (>3200 patients included), former president of the ESC working group on myocardial and pericardial diseases. He has coordinated or participated in various international research networks (ERA-CVD, UE-Horizon, FP7, Leducq transatlantic network for excellence), in various clinical trials and is a member of several scientific boards in the field of hereditary or rare heart diseases.
Dr. Adela Chiriță-Emandi, MD, PhD Adela Chiriță-Emandi is a Professor of Medical Genetics at the "Victor Babeș" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timișoara, Romania, and a Senior Consultant in Medical Genetics, the coordinator of the Timis Regional Center of Medical Genetics in "Louis Turcanu" Children's Hospital Timisoara. Her career bridges academic research and specialized clinical practice, with a focus on integrating genomic data into the management of rare diseases. With a decade of experience in cardiogenomics, she provides expert genetic testing, clinical evaluation, and multidisciplinary diagnosis for patients with rare cardiovascular conditions. Her commitment to international collaboration is reflected in her active roles within the European Reference Networks, including ERN-ITHACA and ERN-EYE. As a Habilitated Doctor, her research interests encompass genomic medicine in rare diseases, pediatric obesity, and nutrigenomics fields in which she has led numerous projects and published extensively in prestigious international journals.
Professor Lia Crotti University of Milan Bicocca, Milan (Italy) Since 2021, she is the Director of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit – Auxologico San Luca and, since 2013, she serves as Head of the Cardiomyopathy Center at San Luca Hospital, Milan. In addition, she is responsible for MAC channelopathies, where flecainide/ajmaline and mexiletine testing is performed, and she supervises diagnostic and research activities of the Cardiovascular Genetics Laboratory of the Center for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Genetic Arrhythmic Disorders (Director: Prof. Peter J. Schwartz). Between 2011 – 2015 she also worked as a visiting professor and group leader in the Cardiovascular Research Area at the Helmholtz Zentrum, Munic and, between 2003 and 2013 she was Head of the outpatient clinic and Molecular Cardiology Laboratory at San Matteo Hospital, Pavia (Director: Prof. Peter J. Schwartz). From the very beginning of her career, Professor Crotti has worked in collaboration with international centers and has undertaken numerous research periods abroad. She has Conducted research activities at the Department of Human Genetics of the Helmholtz Zentrum, Munich (2011-2015) and at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, as part of a project funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (2002-2007).
Dr. Juan Ramon Gimeno Blanes Virgen de la Arrixaca University Clinical Hospital, Murcia (Spain) Dr. Juan R Gimeno is the coordinator of the reference Inherited Cardiac Disease Unit at the Hospital Clinico Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca in Murcia from 2003 (CSUR and ERN accredited). Specialization in Cardiogenetics and Interventional Cardiology. He is associate professor of Internal Medicine- Cardiology at the Universidad de Murcia, Spain. His main research interest includes: clinical predictors of outcomes in various cardiomyopathies and channelopathies, development of strategies for sudden death prevention, genotype-phenotype studies, identification of new candidate genes associated with inherited conditions of the heart and animal model development. Dr. Gimeno´s group has participated in several national and international consortiums and clinical trials in the field. He has co-authored over 140 papers in international, peer-reviewed journals (h-index 39).
Dr. Tiina Helio Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki (Finland) Tiina Heliö is adjunct professor of cardiology, specialist in internal medicine and cardiology and currently chief physician at the Heart and Lung Center, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. She is responsible for the cardiology outpatient clinic and leads research group Inherited Cardiomyopathies. She graduated in medicine at the University of Helsinki in 1987, started research work on the genetics of hyperlipidemias at prof. Humphries' laboratory, London, in 1988, received MD PhD in 1992, became specialist in internal medicine in 1998 and in cardiology in 2002, adjunct professor of internal medicine in 2002, FESC in 2010 and adjunct professor of cardiology in 2013. Dr. Heliö has been clinical lecturer in internal medicine and cardiology and cardiology consultant at the University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital. She has been a nucleus member and web-editor of the ESC WG on Myocardial and Pericardial Diseases and has contributed to the EORP registry.
Professor Dr. Adina Ionac Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timișoara Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Timișoara Primary care physician in Internal Medicine since 1999 and primary care physician in Cardiology since 2003, with certification in transesophageal and advanced echocardiography since 2004. PhD in Medicine, Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timișoara (2001). Areas of medical, educational, and research interest include coordination of postgraduate courses in transthoracic, transesophageal, and advanced echocardiography, as well as vascular ultrasound, courses addressed to resident physicians and specialists. She is an active member of professional medical societies in her field of expertise: the Romanian Society of Cardiology, the European Society of Cardiology (FESC since 2024), the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging, and the American Society of Echocardiography.
Prof. Dr. Ruxandra Jurcuț is a senior consultant cardiologist at the Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases “Prof. Dr. C. C. Iliescu” and a full professor at “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest. She is the coordinator of the Center of Expertise for Rare Genetic Cardiovascular Diseases. She has been actively involved in the field of cardio-oncology for over 15 years. She completed a Master’s degree in Medical Imaging at the Catholic University of Leuven, with a thesis focused on the use of advanced echocardiography for the detection of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity. Prof. Dr. Jurcuț has published several scientific articles in this field and initiated and coordinated the Cardio-Oncology Course starting in 2018.
Professor Juan Pablo Kaski, MD (Res) FRCP FESC Juan Pablo Kaski is Professor of Pediatric Inherited Cardiovascular Medicine at the UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science, where he leads the UCL Centre for Pediatric Inherited and Rare Cardiovascular Diseases, and Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), London, UK. He is the Director of the GOSH Centre for Inherited Cardiovascular Diseases. He leads an internationally-recognized research program in the field of pediatric cardiomyopathy, having established a unique clinical cohort and the only UK bioresource for pediatric inherited cardiovascular disease, with the aim of stratifying disease phenotypes and identifying novel therapeutic targets. He is Secretary/Treasurer of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Council on Cardiovascular Genomics and sits on the Executive Board of the ESC Cardiomyopathy and Myocarditis Registry Programme. He has also served as Chair and Secretary of the Association for European Paediatric Cardiology (AEPC) Working Group on Genetics, Basic Science and Myocardial Disease. He leads an international paediatric HCM consortium of over 65 centres, which was responsible for the development of the first sudden death risk prediction model for childhood HCM. He chaired the Task Force for the 2023 European Society of Cardiology Cardiomyopathy Guidelines.
Dr. Giuseppe Limongelli – MD, PhD University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” Cardiologist and Associate Professor of Cardiology at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli,” where he coordinates the second-level Master’s program in Rare Diseases, Director of the Regional Coordination Center for Rare Diseases of the Campania Region and the Cardiovascular Rare Diseases Unit at Monaldi Hospital, AORN dei Colli. He is a member of the National Committee for Rare Diseases, serving as the CRUI (Conferenza dei Rettori delle Università Italiane) representative. In line with the National Plan for Rare Diseases 2023–2026 and Law No. 175/2021, he works as a clinician, educator, and institutional figure to promote multidisciplinary training for healthcare professionals and caregivers, based on a “culture of suspicion” for rare diseases, and to advance an integrated and holistic model of patient care. He is a member of the National and International Guidelines and Position Paper Committees. He is Editor in Chief of Cardiogenetics (and associated editor or member of the board of peer review journals. He is Member of the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).
Dr. Michelle Michels Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam (The Netherlands) A cardiomyopathy cardiologist with main interest in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Michelle Michels was appointed associate professor in 2021 and is Head of the Center of Expertise for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease at the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam. She is a current member of the European Reference Network Guard Heart. Dr Michels completed her medical degree magna cum laude at the Catholic University Leuven in Belgium and her doctorate at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She completed her internal medicine residencies at University Hospital Gasthuisberg in Leuven, and Stuyvenberg Hospital in Antwerp. Her cardiology residency and staff cardiologist appointments were at the Thoraxcenter ErasmusMC in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She has authored and co-authored peer reviewed publications for, amongst others, Netherlands Heart Journal, European Heart Journal, JACC Cardiovasc Imaging, EuroIntervention, The Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, and JACC Heart Failure.
Lecturer Dr. Sebastian Militaru Lecturer, Consultant Cardiologist, expert in advanced cardiac imaging, with European Level 3 certification in Cardiac MRI and Cardiac CT.
Dr. Gabriela Neculae Final-year cardiology resident at the “Prof. Dr. C. C. Iliescu” Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases (IUBCV), with clinical and research activity within the Center of Expertise for Rare Genetic Cardiovascular Diseases, under the supervision of Prof. Ruxandra Jurcuț, MD, PhD. Her interests focus on the evaluation and management of patients with inherited heart diseases, with particular emphasis on infiltrative myocardial diseases, as well as cardio-oncology patients. She is a PhD candidate at “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, under the coordination of Prof. Ruxandra Jurcuț, MD, PhD, with the research topic “Effectiveness of modern therapies in cardiac amyloidosis: the role of multimodality imaging.” Winner of the Romanian Society of Cardiology Research Fellowship (2024), she completed a 12-month fellowship at the Reference Center for Amyloidosis, CHU Henri Mondor, Créteil, France, under the supervision of Prof. Thibaud Damy.
Professor Dr. Iacopo Olivotto University of Florence, Florence (Italy) Prof. Iacopo Olivotto is Head of the Cardiology Unit at Meyer University Children Hospital, Head of the Cardiomyopathy Service at Careggi University Hospital, and Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Florence, Italy. Over the last two decades, his main clinical and research interests have included various aspects of cardiomyopathies, with special focus on the translational investigation of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Prof. Olivotto has pioneered the design and execution of randomized clinical trials in genetic cardiomyopathies, including the seminal Explorer HCM (as the lead authors) and Sequoia HCM trials involving cardiac myosin inhibitors for symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathies. He has co-authored over 400 papers in international, peer-reviewed journals. Prof. Olivotto is a co-founder of The Sarcomeric Human Cardiomyopathy Registry (Share), ICON (International CardiomyOpathy Network), and the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Medical Association.
Lecturer Dr. Sebastian Onciul Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest Cardiologist / European Level 3 Certification in Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance; certified in transesophageal echocardiography Dr. Sebastian Onciul, Lecturer at Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, specializes in non-invasive imaging diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. He was awarded a European Society of Cardiology fellowship, which allowed him to undertake one year of training in the United Kingdom in the field of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. He is a member of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging and co-editor of the Pocket Guide to Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) / European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI).
Dr. Theo Pezel MD., PhD., FESC Lariboisiere APHP Site of Saint Louis University Hospital, Paris (France) Cardiologist specialized in Multimodality Cardiovascular Imaging and Acute Cardiac Care in Lariboisiere University Hospital (Paris ) with a strong focus on Artificial Intelligence applications in cardiovascular medicine. Scientific director of the "MIRACL.ai core laboratory" for centralized expert analysis of multimodality imaging with a consortium of seven French experts centers , which bridges clinical expertise and cutting-edge technology to drive innovation in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment strategies using imaging. Coordinator of the "CESAR" Emergency Cardiology Unit in Lariboisiere University Hospital, a high-acuity cardiac care facility integrating real-time multimodal imaging, rapid diagnostics, and advanced decision-support tools using AI to improve patient outcomes. Member of the European Society of Cardiology where he is currently Course Director of the EACVI-ESC Certification “Artificial Intelligence in Cardiovascular Imaging”.
Professor Dr. Bogdan Alexandru Popescu Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Prof. C.C. Iliescu, Bucharest Bogdan A. Popescu is Professor of Cardiology at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila" in Bucharest, Romania. He is head of the Cardiology Department and director of the echocardiography laboratory at the Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Disease "Prof. C. C. Iliescu" in Bucharest. He published more than 200 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals having a Hirsch index of 50 and published more than 25 book chapters and books in cardiology and cardiac imaging. His main fields of research interest are on myocardial function/heart failure, valvular heart disease and cardiomyopathies. He has been an invited lecturer at major congresses in Europe, USA, Canada, Asia, Australia, South America. He is Past-President of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (2016-2018) and President of the Romanian Society of Cardiology (2020-2023). He is also Chair of the EORP Committee of the ESC and served as a Board member of the ESC (2016-2018, 2020-2022).
Professor Dr. Vincent Probst University Hospital of Nantes, Nantes (France) After he studied medicine at the faculty of Lille, he went at the University of Nantes before obtaining his medical thesis in cardiology in 2000. At the end of his internship he spent a year at Baylor College of Medicine working on the genetic aspects of arrhythmogenic dysplasia of the right ventricle. After his return to France, he worked on cardiovascular genetics and more particularly on degenerative conduction disorders, identifying the first gene involved in this pathology. He then worked on the genetics of valvular pathology with the identification of the first gene for mitral valve prolapse (FLNA) and the first large families of aortic stenosis. His work enabled him to defend his science thesis in 2003. He then became professor of cardiology in 2005 and continued his work on the genetics of sudden death, leading to the establishment of the first reference center for rhythmic diseases in France in 2004 and later the first reference center for unexplained sudden death.
Dr. Alexandros Protonotarios University College London, London (United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland) Dr Alexandros Protonotarios has graduated from the University of Crete Medical School in Greece in 2013. He is currently a PhD student at the Institute of Cardiovascular Science, University College London and also a clinical research fellow at the Inherited Cardiac Diseases unit at Barts Heart Centre. His clinical and research interests are focused on Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy.
Dr. Cristina Rădulescu Pediatric cardiology specialist Specialized in cardiology and pediatric cardiology, she holds European certification in echocardiography for congenital heart diseases and a PhD in medical sciences. She completed one year of training in the United Kingdom at a center of excellence for patients with congenital and genetic heart diseases, through a scholarship awarded by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
Professor Jose Fernando Rodriguez Palomares University Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona (Spain) He graduated in 1999 from the University Miguel Hernández (Alicante, Spain) with an Extraordinary Award Bachelor of Medicine. He performed the cardiology and imaging training at Vall Hebrón Hospital (Barcelona, Spain). Later, he did a research fellowship at the Department of MRI and Cardiac-CT at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago. Illinois. the USA). He pursued a Ph.D. in CMR at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and a Masters in Healthcare Management at the University of Barcelona (UB). He is currently the Director of the cardiac imaging department at Vall Hebron Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine at the UAB. He is, also, member of the European CMR Accreditation board. Finally, he has also participated in many important activities for the EuroCMR Section (abstract chair in CMR 2018, program chair in EuroCMR 2019 and abstract chair in EACVI 2020.
Dr. Georgia Sarquella Brugada Hospital Sant Joan de Deu, Barcelona (Spain) I am a specialist in pediatric arrhythmias, family cardiology and sudden death at the Cardiology Department of the SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital, as a member of the Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology Unit. For a number of years I was an attending physician in congenital heart diseases at the Hôpital Necker Enfants Malades and at the Hospital Européen George Pompidou, in Paris. I have also worked at the General Hospital of Catalonia, the Sant Bernabé Hospital in Berga, and at the Sports Cardiology Group of FC Barcelona. I am a member of a number of different associations, including the Association for European Pediatric Cardiology (AEPC), where I have been a member of the scientific committee and training committee, and of the Spanish Pediatric Cardiology Society. I am also a lecturer in Sports Medicine at the Sant Cugat High-Performance Centre (CAR)-University of Barcelona at the University of Girona, at the Pompeu Fabra University, at the Université Paris Descartes in Paris and at the Université de Montréal (Canada). My goal is to make my patients' lives as normal as possible, whatever illness they could have. Training
Professor Dr. Eric Schulze Bahr PhD University Hospital Munster - UKM, Muenster (Germany) Institute for Genetics of Heart Diseases (IfGH), Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University Hospital Münster (UKM), Germany Prof. Dr. med. Eric Schulze-Bahr studied medicine at the Georg August University of Göttingen, the Medical Faculty of the Charité at the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA. He completed his habilitation under Prof. Dr. Günter Breithardt, former chairman of the Congenital Heart Defects Competence Network, at the University Hospital of Münster on the subject of "Molecular Genetics of Hereditary Cardiac Arrhythmias". The internist, who specializes in human genetics, heads the cardiac genetics department and the special outpatient clinic for patients with genetic heart diseases at the Institute for the Genetics of Heart Diseases, which specializes in familial forms of cardiac arrhythmias, heart muscle diseases and heart defects as well as genetic factors that can lead to sudden cardiac death. Eric Schulze Bahr is co-editor and reviewer of various cardiovascular journals and a member of the National Action Alliance for People with Rare Diseases (NAMSE).
Dr. Robert Sepp MD, PhD DSc Professor (Associate) at University of Szeged, Hungary Clinical Cardiologist at Cardiology Center, University of Szeged Dr. Sepp has been involved as a coordinator for the Expert Centre on Congenital Heart Diseases associated with European reference networks. His research interests include heart failure, hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies, molecular cardiology, echocardiography, and emergency cardiac care. Dr. Sepp has a substantial publication record with over 120 research papers in cardiovascular medicine, focusing on both clinical and translational cardiology topics.
Dr. Ioana Sus Adult and pediatric arrhythmia specialist, working at Emergency institute for Cardiovascular Disease and Transplantation Târgu Mureș, Romania
Professor Dr. Jacob Tfelt-Hansen Rigshospitalet - Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen (Denmark) Jacob Tfelt-Hansen is Professor and Senior Consultant at the Department of Cardiology, The Heart Centre, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark and Department of Forensic Genetics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1999, defended his doctoral dissertation in 2007 and is a board certified specialist in cardiology since 2012 with a sub specialization in sudden cardiac death, inherited heart diseases and intracardiac devices. He is a consultant cardiologist at the Department of Cardiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet. He is health representative in the EU, ERN network, for rare heart diseases Guard Heart. He is the national PI major multidisciplinary grant working with groups in London, Amsterdam, Milan, Paris, Oslo and Boston working towards an understanding the genetic and the mechanism and the epidemiology of sudden cardiac death and primary arrhythmias.
Asist. Professor Dr. Raluca Tomoaia Cardiology specialist at the Clinical Rehabilitation Hospital and Assistant Professor at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca, EACVI-certified in TTE, TOE, and CMR Level 3, with clinical and academic activity in advanced cardiac imaging, focused on the evaluation of patients with inherited cardiac conditions.
Dr. Antigoni Eleni (Adalena) Tsatsopoulou She is a pediatrician based in Naxos, Greece, and co-discoverer of Naxos disease, first described in 1986 with Dr. Nikos Protonotarios. Her work has contributed to the clinical and genetic understanding of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. She currently coordinates NAXCARE, the international clinical outcome registry for Naxos disease and related cardiocutaneous syndromes, under the auspices of the Hellenic Society of Cardiology.
Professor Dr. Radu Vătășescu “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Faculty of General Medicine Professor of Cardiology, Senior Consultant Cardiologist PhD in Medical Sciences Senior Consultant in Cardiology and Internal Medicine, with European certification in interventional electrophysiology and in cardiac pacing, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD), and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Prof. Dr. Radu Vătășescu is a Senior Consultant in Cardiology and Internal Medicine, with European certifications in Interventional Electrophysiology and in cardiac pacing, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD), and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), at SANADOR Clinical Hospital. Throughout his career, Prof. Dr. Radu Vătășescu has performed, as primary operator, approximately 3,500 pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantations, 800 cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) and conduction system pacing (CSP) procedures, including biventricular pacemaker combined with implantable defibrillator (CRT-D), 80 pacing/defibrillation lead extractions, and 5,000 radiofrequency ablation procedures, of which more than 1,500 involved complex arrhythmias (including scar-related atrial flutter, malignant ventricular arrhythmias in structurally diseased hearts, and arrhythmias associated with congenital heart disease).
Dr. Cristiana Voicu is a pediatric cardiologist at the “Marie Curie” Emergency Children’s Hospital, Bucharest, and Assistant Professor at the “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy. After completing fellowships in pediatric cardiology in Romania and Switzerland, her doctoral research focuses on pediatric cardiomyopathies and phenotype–genotype correlations using multimodal cardiac imaging.
Professor Dr. Arthur Wilde Amsterdam University Medical Centre (AUMC), Amsterdam (The Netherlands) I am a clinical Cardiologist and translational researcher with a focus in the area of electrophysiology, cardiogenetics and inherited arrhythmias. In Amsterdam University Medical Centers (location AMC), we were one of the first worldwide to start an outpatient cardiogenetic clinic. Over the years we have seen thousands of patients and families with inherited arrhythmia syndrome. They are at the basis of my Academic Research which is focused on inherited cardiac diseases which are associated with sudden cardiac death. Different aspects, including gene discovery, genotype-phenotype relationships and new treatment modalities have been and are being covered. Our cardiogenetic clinic in Amsterdam is one of the largest in Europe. Since 2017 I’m the coordinator of the European Reference Network GUARD-Heart (The ERN for rare cardiac diseases).
