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Connective tissue disease - task force

Members

Florian Schoenhoff

COUNCIL

Vascular Domain Chair 2023-2026

VASCULAR DISEASE DOMAIN

Chair 2023 - 2026

Connective Tissue Disease - Task Force

Chair 2020-2023

BIOGRAPHY

Florian Schoenhoff is an associate professor of surgery and consultant cardiac surgeon in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the University Hospital Bern, Switzerland. He received his MD from the University of Heidelberg, Germany and trained in cardiac surgery in Bern with a special focus on diseases of the thoracic aorta. He spent 2 years as a research fellow at Johns Hopkins University, USA, working on biomarkers in patients with connective tissue disorders. Florian is responsible for the Marfan clinics in Bern, seeing patients with connective tissue disorders and cardiovascular involvement, as well as patients with complex aortic disease in general.

Umberto Benedetto

Connective Tissue Disease - Task Force

Member 2020-2023

Wei Guo Ma

Connective Tissue Disease - Task Force

Member 2020-2023

Alessandro Della Corte

Aortic Valve including AV Repair - Taskforce

Member 2023-2026

BIOGRAPHY

Prof. Alessandro Della Corte achieved his Cardiac Surgery Specialty Degree in 2004 and PhD Degree in 2008 in Naples, Italy. He was appointed Assistant Professor in 2006 and Associate Professor in 2014. Since 2006 he has been working at the Adult Cardiac Surgery Unit of the Monaldi Hospital, Naples, Italy, with special interest in traditional and minimally-invasive surgery of the aorta (root, ascending, arch, descending thoracic) and aortic valve. He is co-author of more than 180 papers in international peer-review journals - including the 2018 AATS consensus guidelines for bicuspid aortopathy and the 2021 international consensus statement on nomenclature and classification of the bicuspid aortic valve -, 2 monographies and 3 book chapters, editor of an e-book on bicuspid aortopathy, and an internationally-renowned speaker at scientific meetings. Particularly, he has run both single-center and multicenter clinical and translational studies on the topics of bicuspid aortopathy and aortic dissection, and has co-organized both national and international scientific meetings on these topics. Other fields of research and publication included infective endocarditis, molecular mechanisms of aortic valve calcification, valve prostheses and their complications. He is currently running several national and international research projects, and is involved in several collaborations with national and international research groups (including the BAVCon, the GenTAC Alliance and the IAASSG). He has been a member of the EACTS Task Force for Connective Tissue Disorders and is currently active as member of the vascular domain and scientific board of the Italian Society for Cardiac Surgery and as a Faculty member of the EACTS Academy.

Kenji Minatoya

Connective Tissue Disease - Task Force

Member 2020-2023

Christian Etz

Cerebral and Visceral Protection - Task Force

Member 2020-2023

Bashi Velayudhan

Connective Tissue Disease - Task Force

Member 2018-2021

Miklos Polos

Connective Tissue Disease - Task Force

Member 2018-2021

Maximilian Luehr

VASCULAR DISEASE DOMAIN

Member 2023-2026

Connective Tissue Disease - Task Force

Member 2020-2023

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Maximilian Luehr graduated from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg School of Medicine in Germany in 2009. He started his cardiac surgery residency at the Leipzig Heart Center of the University of Leipzig under Professor Friedrich-Wilhelm Mohr (2010-2015). Dr. Luehr completed his training and started his professional career as a staff cardiac surgeon at the University Hospital of the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich under Professor Christian Hagl (2015-2020). In 2020, he moved to the Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery of the Heart Center Cologne. Although his professional interests comprise all aspects of cardiovascular surgery, his major academic and research interest focused on aortic surgery since 2005. In 2006, he completed a research year at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, USA, and studied experimental aortic surgery with his mentors Professor Randall B. Griepp and Professor Christian D. Etz. Since then he has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles. In 2019, he was elected to the board of directors of the German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (DGTHG).