Summary

Guest Speakers

Can Gollmann-Tepeköylü is an Austrian board-certified cardiac surgeon and Assistant Professor at the Department of Cardiac Surgery, Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria. He obtained a PhD in Molecular Cell Biology. Currently, he is doing an MSc in Statistics for Clinical Trials at the University College London after obtaining a Francis Fontan Fellowship. His research group is dedicated to translational and clinical research focusing on pathomechanisms of cardiovascular disease in order to develop new treatment strategies. The topics include myocardial regeneration, treatment of heart valve calcification and perioperative myocardial infarction. The pre-clinical research of the group led to several patents and successful Phase II and III trials in heart failure patients. He served as chair of the EACTS Residents Committee and member of the EACTS Heart Failure Task Force. Currently, he is Associate Editor of the EJCTS and ICVTS and host of the EACTS podcast “A Cut Above”.

Anders Jeppsson graduated from Linköping University in 1989 and completed his training in cardiothoracic surgery at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg in 1997. Following a research fellowship in cardiothoracic transplantation at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota 1997, Dr Jeppsson started as staff surgeon at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and become senior consultant in 2003. Dr Jeppsson defended his PhD thesis in 1998 and become associate professor in cardiothoracic surgery at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg in 2002. Since 2008 Dr Jeppsson has a full professorship at this institution and is also adjunct professor at University of Iceland. Dr Jeppsson has been chairman for the SWEDEHEART registry, secretary general for Scandinavian Association for Thoracic Surgery and deputy chair for Swedish Heart Association. Dr Jeppsson was chair for European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery’s Clinical Guideline committee 2017-2020.

Dr Bianca Rocca trained as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania (USA) and as a Haematologist at the Catholic University of Rome. She is Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC), Chair elected of the ESC Working Group of Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy, member of the ESC Committee for Practice Guidelines, has participated in Guidelines from the ESC, EACTS and EHA. Dr Rocca is Honorary Member of the Romanian Society of Cardiology, received acknowledgements from the ESC, is a member of the Editorial Board of highly-ranked journals, has co-authored over 200 publications, H-index 60. Scientific interests: antithrombotic drugs, haemostasis, precision cardiovascular pharmacology.

Stephen Fremes completed medical school at the University of Toronto in 1979 and then entered surgical residency in 1979 at the University of Toronto. Dr. Fremes completed general surgery residency in 1986 and cardiovascular and thoracic surgery residency in 1988. Dr. Fremes was a Research Fellow of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada from 1982 to 1984 during residency (MSc awarded 1984) and from 1988 to 1989 following residency, under the supervision of Dr. Richard Weisel. Dr. Fremes has been a staff surgeon at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre since 1989 and a Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto since 2001. His primary research interest has focused on improving patient outcomes following coronary surgery. Methodologies include clinical trials, large observational studies, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, guideline development and modelling.

Emily Pan is a cardio-thoracic surgery resident from Central Finland Hospital Nova and University of Helsinki, Finland. She obtained her MD and PhD from University of Turku, Finland. She then spent over two years working as a postdoc in MacRae lab in Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. Emily’s research interests lie in cardiovascular medications, aortic aneurysms and outcome researches.

Felix Nägele – Alongside my surgical training, I am pursuing a basic research Ph.D. in Molecular Biology focusing on ischemic cardiomyopathy and subsequent heart failure. This gives me the unique opportunity to perceive cardiovascular disease in a translational manner from bench to bedside. According to my perception, cardiac surgeons have the solitary opportunity to oversee all complex interrelationships in cardiovascular medicine. For me, the EACTS residents committee serves as a forum for a new generation and aspiring generation of future stakeholders who will shape the field of cardiothoracic surgery.