Member 2020-2023

Chair 2020-2023

Manuel Castella is a cardiovascular surgeon, Head of the Cardiac and Vascular Surgery Department at the Hospital Clínic, University of Barcelona. Among all types of cardiac surgery, his main interest and fields of research are atrial fibrillation surgery and pulmonary thromboendarterectomy for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Manuel Castella has co-leadered trials in thoracoscopic AFib ablation and he is member of the ESC EACTS Committee for the development of the Guidelines for Atrial Fibrillation Management in 2016 and 2020. Since 2018, Dr. Castella is the Chairman of the Arrhythmia Surgery Task Force of EACTS. Other interest are port-access mitral repair and other types of minimally invasive surgery.

Member 2020-2023

Member 2020-2023

Thorsten Hanke, MD, Profoessor for Cardiac Surgery at the University of Luebeck, qualified from Free University Berlin in 1995. He was appointed Consultant Cardiac Surgeon to the University Clinic for Cardiac and Thoracic Vascular Surgery at the University Clinic Schleswig-Holstein, Luebeck, Germany in 2007. After this he has set up the cardiac surgery electrophysiology unit and arrhythmia services as well as the outpatient clinic of that clinic. In 2016, Prof. Dr. Hanke moved to the Asklepios Klinikum Harburg in Hamburg Germany and has started a new arrhythmia program in this hospital. His special as well as scientific research interests are in the treatment of atrial and ventricular arrhythmia's including concomitant and stand-alone cryo and radio frequency ablation.

Member 2022-2025

Dr B. Maesen started his training in Cardiothoracic surgery with a 4 -years fellowship at the electrophysiology lab of Maurits Allessie and Uli Schotten in 2006. Based on the research performed in this period, he obtained his PhD with a thesis on structure-function relationships of atrial fibrillation waves in goat and man. During his surgical traineeship he was trained in arrhythmia surgery by Mark La Meir. With his deep understanding of electrophysiology and manual skills, he was soon able to take over the hybrid AF ablation program and together with the electrophysiologist Laurent Pison and Justin Luermans and with the support of Harry Crijns, he developed an international highly acclaimed minimally invasive hybrid arrhythmia surgery program at Maastricht University Medical Centre. He became staff member in the Cardiothoracic department of the Maastricht University Medical Center in 2017 and is currently head of the Arrhythmia surgery program. He has set up a translational research program with focus on improving outcome in surgical AF management by better understanding of basic mechanisms and concepts. He supervises several PhD students and demonstrates his educational and managerial skills by helping other centers, both national and international, to start their own AF minimally invasive hybrid AF program. As an internationally-recognized expert in arrhythmia surgery, he is a frequently invited speaker and panelist on congresses. His international network includes all current and former well-known arrhythmia surgeons.

Member 2020-2023

Filip Rega works as cardiac surgeon since 2007 at the University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium, where he is appointed Head of Clinic. His areas of interest are valvular pathology and congenital heart disease with for both a special interest in electrophysiology. He is director of the Leuven surgical heart transplant program. He is also appointed Full Professor at the KU Leuven, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Leuven, Belgium.

Member 2022-2025

Prof Dr Sacha Salzberg is currently a Cardiac Surgery Consultant at Stadtspital Triemli, in Zurich, Switzerland. Sacha started his residency in Clinique de l'Europe at the Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, followed by two years in the department of surgery at the University Hospital Zurich. Sacha was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Mount Sinai Medical Centre in New York for two years after which he became Chief Resident and Attending Staff Surgeon at the Clinic of Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital Zurich. Sacha has held a number of Academic and Educational responsibilities, including as a Founding Member of the YSCS (under hospices of the Swiss Society), Examiner for OSCE Exams, a Member of the Adult Cardiac Domain at EACTS, and Chair and Founder of the Zurich LAA Management Course from 2014. Sacha is also the Founder of the Swiss Ablation, Heart & Rhythm Center AG.

Member 2022-2025

David Santer is attending cardiac surgeon at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, since 2018. He holds a PhD in vascular biology from the Medical University Vienna, Austria. Besides clinical and scientific efforts in concomitant surgical ablation, non-invasive 3D mapping and electrophysiology, he is responsible for the LVAD program at the University Hospital Basel.

Member 2020-2021

Member 2021-2023