Archives: Faculty

Ms Ashvini Menon graduated as a medical doctor at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad. In 2021 she completed her Cardiothoracic training and graduated as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. She has trained in both cardiac and thoracic surgery within the United Kingdom and New Zealand. After finishing her postgraduate training in Thoracic Surgery, Ashvini has focused on developing the navigation bronchoscopy pathway and is currently the lead surgeon for navigation bronchoscopy procedures at the University Hospital Birmingham.

Dr Furák is the Head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary. He is a general and thoracic surgeon. He performs both minimally invasive and open procedures, mostly VATS lobectomies and thymectomies. His clinical research program is the spontaneous ventilation thoracic surgery: both non intubated (NITS) and intubated (SVI) methods. He has PhD and habilitation. He performed his postgraduate program in Toronto General Hospital, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Zakopane Hospital Poland, Pulmonary Hospital in Shanghai, and at Yale University in New Haven. He is a Fellow of European Board of Thoracic Surgery.  Currently he is the president of the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS).

Enrico Ruffini is Full Professor of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Torino, Italy. He is the Chief of the Thoracic Surgery Unit in Torino, Italy since November 2018. He is the Director of the Thoracic Surgery Residency Program at the University of Torino, Italy.

He is involved in the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons, formerly as Councillor (2012-2013) and officer in the role of Director of the ESTS annual meeting (2014-2017), and from 2019 to 2021 as ESTS president.  In the ESTS, he has also been the chair of the ESTS thymic working group until 2020.

He served the ITMIG as secretary general for the years 2012-2014 and as member of several ITMIG committees.

He has been a member of the Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee – Thymic domain (SPFC-TD) of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) for the years 2012-2016.  He is currently the Chair of the Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee – Thymic domain (SPFC-TD) of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) for the years 2017-2024.

He is a reviewer for the following journals: European Journal of Cardio-thoracic Surgery, Journal of Thoracic Oncology, Lung Cancer, Journal of Thoracic Disease.

He contributed to several textbooks on thoracic surgery and he is author or coauthor of 268 indexed journal articles, with an H-index of 51 (source: Scopus).

Agnes Pasquet graduated in 1991 as a medical doctor at the Université catholique de Louvain. In 1997 she graduated as cardiologist and completed a PhD thesis in 2003 . After her training in cardiology, she spend 2 years of postgraduate training at the Cleveland Clinic and came back to Saint Luc Hospital Université Catholique de Louvain.  She is actually associate Professor and “chef de clinique” in charge of the echocardiography lab. Main area of interest are valve disease, aortic disease and adult congenital heart disease

Matteo Pettinari graduated in 2003 as a medical doctor at the Università degli Studi di Milano. In 2008 he graduated as a cardiac surgeon at the same university and in 2010 as general surgeon at the Katholiek Universiteit Leuven. After finishing his residency in cardiac surgery, Matteo completed his training at the Universiteit Ziekenhuis Leuven. He was appointed as cardiac surgeon in 2013 at the Ziekenhuis oost Limburg, Genk,  till June 2013. Currently, he is Cardiac Surgeon at the Cliniques Universitaire Saint Luc in Brussels. His areas of interest are minimally invasive coronary and heart valve surgery, aortic reconstructive surgery and tricuspid valve surgery.

Cristiano Amarelli graduated in 1998 as a medical doctor at the Second University od Maple. In 2003 he graduated as a cardiac surgeon. After finishing his residency in cardiac surgery, John completed his training focused on aortic valve surgery, aortic surgery and Transplantation and MCS that gradually becomes his main interest. Currently, he is a Staff Surgeon at the Monaldi Hospital, Azienda Ospedaliera dei Colli and Adjunct Professor at the Vanvitelli Faculty of Medicine for the residency course in Cardiac Surgery on the Mechanical Circulatory Support. His areas of interest are Myocardial Preservation, Clinical implementation of LVADs in the local program and dono allocation in Heart Transplant. During the last 10 years he worked with ESOT to develop an European network for Cardiothoracic transplant professionals (ECTTA) and with the ASAIO becoming editor of the Journal and Board of Trustees. He is active reviewer for many Journals and Meetings in the field.

Alain Poncelet graduated in medicine at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) in 1992 and trained in general surgery, transplantation surgery and cardiac surgery at the Catholic University of Louvain & Harvard Medical School (1992-1997). After a Transplantation Research Fellowship in Boston (1995-1997), he completed his cardiac surgery fellowship in Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc (CUSL)-Brussels (1997-1999) where he was appointed as Consultant Surgeon since 1999. He subsequently obtained a Postgraduate degree in Advanced Studies in Health Sciences at UCL (2006-2008) together with a Pediatric Cardiac Surgery degree at Paris V University (2009).

Dr Poncelet specialized in surgery for congenital heart disease in children and adults. For many years, he has ensured international collaborations in the care of children with congenital malformations (humanitarian missions, international sectors, additional training in congenital surgery).

In adult pathology, he specialized in heart failure surgery, transplantation and mechanical support. He has been co-director of the cardiac transplantation unit at Cliniques Saint Luc since 1999. His scientific interests include, among others, transplant immunology, congenital valve repairs, myocardial protection and cell/tissue engineering.

Prof. Dr. Farhad Bakhtiary is a renowned cardiac surgeon known for his pioneering work in the field of minimally invasive cardiac surgery. As Director of the Clinic for Cardiac Surgery at the University Hospital Bonn, he has been at the forefront of the further development of cardiac medicine since June 2021. Prof. Bakhtiary began his medical career with a fascination for the intricacies of the human heart. He completed his medical studies at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, where he also qualified as a specialist and habilitated in cardiac surgery. He expanded his career at the Heart Center Leipzig. From 2017 to 2021, Prof. Bakhtiary was Director of the Clinic for Cardiac Surgery at the NRW HELIOS Heart Center at Witten/Herdecke University. Prof. Bakhtiary, who has a diverse educational and cultural background, can look back on a career marked by remarkable successes.

His notable contributions to cardiac surgery are in the area of minimally invasive techniques that are reshaping traditional cardiac surgery and cardiology techniques. Prof. Bakhtiary envisions a future where cardiac surgery is associated with minimal disruption, shortened recovery times and improved patient outcomes. His innovative focus is on expanding minimally invasive cardiac surgery, developing and utilizing the latest innovations in techniques and technologies.

His commitment goes beyond surgical expertise and encompasses a vision for comprehensive patient well-being. Prof. Bakhtiary focuses on patient-centered care and strives to individualize treatments to achieve optimal, pain-free recovery. He has put his extensive experience, which spans thousands of operations and more than a hundred scientific publications in the most prestigious journals, into practice.

Chiara Romei graduated in 2007 as a medical doctor at the Pisa University. In 2012 she graduated as a Radiologist with specific experties in thoracic radiology and in 2017 obtained her PhD in Clinical Physiopathology at Pisa University. After finishing her residency, Chiara completed her training focused on automatic software in interstitial lung disease at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester) and on chest MRI at the Erasmus Centre (Rotterdam). Currently, she works as medical doctor at 2nd Radiology Unit in Pisa University Hospital. Her areas of interest are automatic softwares in lung imaging and chest MRI.

Elena Roselló-Díez graduated in 2008 as a medical doctor at the Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain. In 2014 she finished her residency in cardiac surgery at Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain, where she has been working since then. In 2016 she passed the European Board of Cardiothoracic surgery exam. She obtained her Philosophical Doctor title about mitochondrial genetics and postoperative atrial fibrillation in 2017, and her master’s degree in “Research methodology in Health Sciences” one year later. In 2021 she obtained her master’s degree in “Health management and direction”.

Since October 2021 she is co-responsible of Research and Professional training at her department, which includes supervision of Cardiac surgery residents as a tutor. She is also the coordinator of the Aortic valve repair Program at her hospital. During 2023 she has performed the Francis Fontan Fund Fellowship in “Aortic root and valve repair”.

In 2015 she started to collaborate in Cardiac surgery classes in the Medical School at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and became a medical associate teacher in 2020. She is also a collaborative teacher in two Nursing Masters since 2015 at the Nursing University School at Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau.

Her areas of interest are aortic valve repair, aortic surgery, mitral valve repair, transcatheter aortic valve implantation, circulatory support devices, research, and teaching.