Member 2020-2023

Chair 2020-2023

Dr Mario Gaudino is the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Professor in Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine - New York Presbyterian. He completed his undergraduate studies and earned his medical degree in Rome, Italy at the University of Rome, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery in 1994. He subsequently completed his residency in 1999 at the same University and joined the faculty there in 2000 where he remained until 2014, when he joined the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine. He completed an Advanced Cardiovascular Aortic Aneurysm Surgery Fellowship in 2016 and was recruited to stay on staff as Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery. In 2017, he was elevated to the position of Professor in Cardiothoracic Surgery and Attending Cardiothoracic Surgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. In addition to his clinical expertise, Dr. Gaudino is currently the Director of Translation and Clinical Research in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Throughout his academic career, Dr. Gaudino has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed journal articles along with numerous book chapters. He is currently the lead investigator of an international, randomized, controlled trial which aims to determine the optimal strategy for coronary artery bypass surgery (the ROMA trial). He has given expert presentations at national and international meetings to share his exquisite knowledge of coronary artery bypass surgery and the use of multiple arterial grafts. He currently serves as the Chair of the Coronary Artery Surgery Task Force of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery.

Member 2020-2023

Member 2020-2023

Member 2022-2025

Torsten Doenst is Professor of Cardiac Surgery and Chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Jena, Jena, Germany. He is an established expert in minimally-invasive cardiac surgery and complex valve and coronary surgery. He received extensive training in the surgical and the basic science field at the University of Texas in Houston, USA, the University of Freiburg in Germany and the Toronto General Hospital in Toronto, Canada. He was the first cardiac surgeon being elected into the most prestigious individual funding programs of the German Research Foundation (DFG, Emmy-Noether and Heisenberg programs) and was appointed full Heisenberg-Professor of cardiac surgery at the University of Leipzig in 2007 where he became senior surgeon at the Leipzig Heart Center in 2006. In 2010, he took the chair in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Jena, Germany. There he developed an internationally competitive academic cardiac surgery program. His team has initiated and participated in many prospective randomized trials. He advances the field through the development of new surgical techniques (e. g. in mitral and tricuspid valve surgery) and he proposed together with other experts a new concept for the treatment mechanisms of CABG and PCI that is able to explain most controversies. In addition, he is providing yearly literature reviews on cardiac surgery and promotes scientific qualification of the young. Most recently, he established a DFG-supported network for research and clinical trials in Germany (GermaN HeaRTS). Together with colleagues, he has conducted several DFG supported “young surgeon academies” to enhance research in cardiac surgery.

Member 2022-2025

Piero Farina graduated from the Catholic University of Rome, Italy, in 2009. Following completion of his training in Cardiac Surgery in 2015 at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, he was a Fellow in Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery at the Arrixaca Hospital in Murcia, Spain until 2017. After serving as Cardiothoracic Registrar at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in Dublin, Ireland in 2018 and 2019, he returned to Rome. In 2022, he became a Fellow of the European Board of Cardiothoracic Surgery (FEBCTS). Dr Farina is currently a Staff Surgeon at Gemelli Hospital in Rome, where he mostly deals with patients with ischemic heart disease. He is also Adjunct Professor of Cardiac Surgery at the Catholic University in Rome.

Member 2020-2023

Member 2020-2023

Dr. 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.

Member 2022-2025

Member 2020-2023

Jennifer S. Lawton, MD, is the Richard B. Darnall Professor of Surgery, Chief of the Division of Cardiac Surgery, Director of Cardiac Surgery Research Laboratory, Vice Chair for Faculty Development, Department of Surgery and Cardiac Surgeon-in-Charge, Johns Hopkins Hospital. Lawton’s research interests include intraoperative myocardial protection (specifically, the use of ATP-sensitive potassium channel openers) and myocyte response to stress, heart disease in women, and treatment for aortic dissection. Her clinical interests parallel her investigative interests in that she performs coronary revascularization (emphasis on multiarterial grafting), valvular heart disease, the surgical treatment of aortic disease and acute type A aortic dissection. She is a member of multiple organizations including the ASA, the SCS, and a fellow of the ACS. She has served on various committees in the AATS, STS, STSA, EACTS, and is former President of the WTS. Dr. Lawton was elected as a fellow of the AHA in 2014 and has served as an abstract grader since 2005, is on multiple committees including Chair Nominating Committee CVSA Council; and Chair of the AHA ACC

Member 2020-2023

Member 2022-2025

Sigrid Sandner graduated from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, in 1999. Following a research fellowship in transplant immunology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital - Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School from 2000 to 2003, Dr. Sandner completed her clinical training in cardiac surgery (2011) and vascular surgery (2016) at the Medical University of Vienna. Currently, Dr. Sandner is an Associate Professor of Surgery at the Medical University of Vienna and Director of the Coronary Revascularization Program at the Department of Cardiac Surgery, Vienna General Hospital - Medical University of Vienna.