FACULTY 

Pamplona, Spain

Dr Sádaba graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of the Basque Country (Bilbao, Spain). During his training, he was awarded a Master’s Degree in Science by the University of Leeds. Subsequently he was awarded a PhD degree by the Public University of Navarra for his work on degenerative aortic valve disease. Dr Sádaba is currently Chief of Cardiac Surgery at the Navarra University Hospital and Associate Professor of Surgery at the Public University of Navarra in Pamplona (Spain).  He is Area Coordinator (Cardiovascular and Renal Diseases) at the Health Research Institute of Navarra (IdiSNA). His research interests have focused on the surgical pathology of the heart valves.

Philadelphia, PA, USA

Charlottesville, USA

Ourania Preventza MD is the George Minor Professor of Surgery, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Co-Director of Cardiovascular Surgery Service Line at the University of Virginia Health. Dr. Preventza is triple-boarded; American Board of Surgery, American Board of Surgery (Surgical Critical Care), and American Board of Thoracic Surgery. She is the immediate Past President of the International Society of Endovascular Specialists 2021-2023(ISEVS), and an MBA holder from Brandeis University in Boston. She is a world expert in aortic disease, and she is the Co –chair of the 2022 ACC/AHA guidelines on aortic disease. She has co –authored more than 200 articles in peer review journals.  Her interest includes education, health outcomes research, aortic surgery, heart valve surgery, new technologies and cardiovascular disease and women.

Cascavel, Brazil

Dr Rui Almeida is a Full Professor and a  Dean of the Medical School of University Center Assis Gurgacz. He has held leadership roles in many professional societies, including past presidencies such as his tenure as President of the Brazilian Society of Cardiovascular Surgery and World Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons; actually he is President elected of the Latin American Association of Cardiac and Endovascular Surgery. Dr Almeida's research includes his work on creating experimental models for studying aortic valve homograft’s and the clinical application of bileaflet mechanical heart valves in aortic positions, as well as left ventricle remodeling surgery and structural heart Diseases.

Buenos Aires, Argentina 

Dr Javier Ayarragaray is a professor of cardiac surgery at the University of Buenos Aires. He is the current Vice-President of LACES, and a Past President of the Argentine Society of Angiology and Cardiovascular Surgery and of the Argentine College of Cardiovascular Surgeons (Colegio Argentino de Cirujanos Cardiovasculares). He is fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the Argentine Association of Surgery, the Society of Heart Valve Society, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and the Society of Vascular Surgery.

 Aalst, Belgium

 Filip Casselman is the co-director Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at the OLV Clinic in Aalst, Belgium.  His interests include minimally invasive surgery (robotic and videoscopic), valvular reconstructive surgery, percutaneous valve replacement and arrhythmia surgery.  Filip is the Chair of the EACTS Acquired Cardiac Disease Domain and is actively involved in cardiac clinical research.  He has participated in multiple multicenter trials (including Syntax trial, Partner and Prevail trial, etc). He is (co)author of more than 140 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has given more than 300 presentations at international meetings.

Philadelphia, USA

Dr Stephanie Fuller is an attending surgeon in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is a board certified in thoracic surgery and congenital cardiothoracic surgery. She has leadership positions at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association. Her research interests include adult congenital heart disease, neurodevelopmental outcomes, and other quality of life outcomes after heart surgery.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Dr Vadim Kotowicz  is a Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery Department at The Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Argentina. Board Certificate in General Surgery, Cardiovascular Surgery. He was trained in Herzzentrum Leipzig in minimally invasive Cardiac Surgery. Dr. Kotowicz is the Director of Cardiac Surgery of the Argentine College of Cardiovascular Surgery and also has a leadership position in the STS/EACTS Latin American Surgery Conference Task Force. His Primary Discipline is Adult Cardiac Surgery, minimally Surgery, especially MItral, Tricuspid and Aortic Valve Disease treatment.

Barcelona, Spain

Dr. Pomar is a Senior Consultant in Cardiovascular Surgery and Director of the Cardiothoracic Transplantation Program at the Hospital Clinico de Barcelona. He also is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Barcelona Medical School. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and presented more than 600 papers and lectures at meetings around the world. Dr. Pomar is a Past President of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery.

Rome, Italy

Dr Lorenzo Galletti is Director of the Cardiac Surgery Department and of the Clinical Area of Fetal, Neonatal and Cardiologic Sciences at the “Bambino Gesù ” Hospital in Rome. He received his medical degree from the University of Pisa, his board in cardiothoracic surgery and his PhD from the University of Rome. His field of interest is Congenital Heart Surgery both in Pediatric and Adults, as well Heart Transplantation and mechanical support in children and adults with congenital heart disease. .  

Lausanne, Switzerland

Dr Patrick Myers is a consultant cardiac surgeon at CHUV - Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland. He is a former secretary of the European Board for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, and now serves as Secretary General of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, president of CTSNet and international director of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. His areas of interest are multiple arterial coronary artery bypass grafting, evolving transcatheter techniques to treat structural heart disease, HOCM and critical appraisal of clinical trials and their discussions on social media.
 

Montevideo, Uruguay

Professor Victor Dayan is the current president of the Uruguayan Society of Cardiology. He completed his PhD at the University of the Republic of Uruguay and a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Toronto. Additionally, he was certificated in Surgical Leadership at Harvard University. Dr. Dayan has been the author of over 70 peer-reviewed articles, 40 of them indexed at Pubmed. He is an active member and associate editor of the American Association of Thoracic Surgery and of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery

Atlanta, GA, USA

Dr Thourani is the Marcus Chairman of Cardiovascular Surgery and Director of the Marcus Heart Valve Centre for Piedmont Heart Institute in Atlanta, GA, USA. He is the current Treasurer of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the Past President of the Heart Valve Society, International Society of Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery, Southern Thoracic Surgical Association, and South Atlantic Cardiovascular Society.  Dr Thourani has extensive expertise in structural heart disease and valve surgery, specifically minimally invasive mitral surgery and transcatheter aortic, mitral, and tricuspid valve replacement.  He is the PI or steering committee of 12 trials on the management of valve disease.

Bogota, Colombia

Dr. Sandoval is the Director of the Institute of congenital Heart Diseases at the Fundación Cardioinfantil Instituto de Cardiología in Bogotá, Colombia. He is also a Professor of Surgery and Director of the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Programme at the Universidad del Rosario, also in Bogotá. He served as the Secretary of the World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery and is a Past President of the Sociedad Latina de Cardiología y Cirugía Cardiovascular Pediátrica. He has authored more than 200 scientific publications and edited three cardiology textbooks.

Florida, USA

Dr Umaña is recognized as an expert in mitral and aortic valve repair. He was the co-inventor of the Mitraclip, as well as other minimally invasive techniques. He has given hundreds of lectures at hospitals, academic meetings and seminars throughout the world, and regularly travels across Latin America teaching mitral and aortic valve repair. He has authored and co-authored several book chapters and articles on aortic root surgery, novel techniques of mitral valve repair, and cardiac tumors. Dr Umaña is an active member of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and the Heart Valve Society. He is co-founder and co-director of the STS/EACTS LatAm Cardiovascular Surgery Conference.

Ohio, USA

Dr. Pablo F. Ruda Vega is a thoracic surgeon in Cleveland, Ohio and is affiliated with University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. He received his medical degree from University of Buenos Aires and has been in practice for more than 20 years. Dr. Pablo F. Ruda Vega has expertise in treating heart valve surgery, heart bypass surgery, among other conditions