Member 2020-2023

Chair 2020-2023

Ruggero De Paulis received his Medical Degree at the University of L’Aquila, Italy in 1982. He trained at the University of Torino, Italy, at the University of Paris, France, and at the University of Utah, USA, before starting his academic and surgical activity at the University of Rome, Tor Vergata in 1991 where he became Professor in 2002. Since 2006 he is the Director of the Cardiac Surgery Department at the European Hospital and currently Professor at the UniCamillus University of Rome. He has been EACTS President in 2018 2019. His areas of interest are aortic and mitral repair surgery, aortic root and arch pathologies. He is the inventor of the Valsalva graft and has designed a physiological band for mitral valve repair.

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 (fellow alumni) - 2020

Member 2020-2023

Chair 2020-2023

Davide Pacini graduated from the University of Bologna in 1993. He completed his Cardiac surgery residency training at the same University in 1998. Since 2000, he has been a staff surgeon at the S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital in Bologna. He is mainly interested in cardiac and aortic surgery. In 1998 he was the recipient of the C Walton Lillehei Award and in 2009 he received the Hans Borst Award. He is a Councillor of the Italian Society of Cardiac Surgery and an author of over 70 scientific papers and 4 book chapters. He is an active member of the Italian Society of Cardiac Surgery, the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. He is Full Professor of Cardiac Surgery at the Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna and Chair of the Cardiac Surgery Department in Bologna (S.Orsola Hospital).

International Councillor 2018-2021

Richard L. Prager, M.D. is the Richard and Norma Sarns Professor of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Michigan and recently completed 2 ½ years as Interim Department Chair. Dr. Prager received his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1967 and his medical degree in 1971 from State University of New York Downstate. His general surgery and thoracic surgery residencies were at the University of Michigan from 1971-1978, including a research year in the thoracic surgical laboratories. Dr. Prager began his cardiac and thoracic surgical career at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery returning to Ann Arbor in 1983 to join the Cardiac and Thoracic Surgical Group at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. Dr. Prager was the Medical Director of the HCFA Demonstration Project at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital and the Head of the Section of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery. In 1999, he moved to the University of Michigan as Professor of Surgery and Head of the Section of Adult Cardiac Surgery. Dr. Prager leads the Michigan Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons Quality Collaborative initiative and was an Inaugural Director of the University of Michigan’s Frankel Cardiovascular Center. He is the Past President of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and Past President of the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association. Dr. Prager is committed to the education of residents and fellows in Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery and is the former program director of the Thoracic Surgery Residency and Integrated Thoracic Residency at the University of Michigan, and held this position between 2009-20015. Dr. Prager’s ongoing interests are focused clinically in adult cardiac surgery and utilizing outcomes in all areas of adult cardiac surgery to create the platform for opportunities for improvement.

Councillor-at-large 2022-2025

Chair 2022-2025

Dr Rafael Sádaba graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of the Basque Country (Bilbao, Spain) and completed his basic and advanced training in Cardio-Thoracic Surgery at the Leeds General Infirmary and East Yorkshire Hospitals in the UK, and the Sir Charles Gardner Hospital in Perth (Australia). During his training, he was awarded a Master’s Degree in Science by the University of Leeds. Subsequently he was awarded a PhD degree by the Public University of Navarra for his work on degenerative aortic valve disease. Dr Sádaba is currently working in the Dept of Cardiac Surgery at the "Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra" in Pamplona (Spain), where he is Coordinator of Cardiovascular Research and Innovation, and Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Navarra. He is the former Secretary of the European Board of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. Dr Sádaba is a Fellow in Cardio-Thoracic Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. As member of the European Society for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, he holds leadership positions in this association as Council member, Chair of the Education Committee and Chair of the Francis Fontan Fund. He is also member of the Spanish Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, the Heart Valve Society, and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. He is Associated Editor of the journal “Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery” and lead clinician in the “Translational Cardiology Research Group” at NavarraBiomed Foundation. His research interests have focused on the surgical pathology of the aortic valve and myocardial regeneration therapy.

Member 2016-2020

Domain Chair 2020-2023

Chair 2020-2023

Member 2020-2023

Konstantinos Tsagakis graduated in 1998 as a medical doctor at the University of Vienna, Austria. After his basic medical practice, he moved 2001 to Germany as resident in cardiac surgery in Heart Center North Rhein Westphalia in Bad Oeynhausen and since 2004 in West German Heart and Vascular Center of the University Hospital of Essen. In 2009 he performed the board exams for cardiac surgery and he continued as staff surgeon in Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in Essen. His specialization focused on open and endovascular thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic repair and reconstructive aortic valve surgery. He habilitated as private lecturer in medical University of Duisburg-Essen in 2018. Currently, he is the Section Head of Aortic Surgery in the Department of Cardiac Surgery at the University Hospital of Essen.

Member 2020-2023

Eduard Quintana MD PhD is a cardiovascular surgeon and associate professor of surgery at the University of Barcelona Medical School – Hospital Clínic. He is the director of the residency and fellowship program in cardiovascular surgery. He is a coordinator and associate professor at Biomedical Engignering Degree at the University of Barcelona. Eduard is a board member of the EBCTS and chairs the Membership Examination of Cardiothoracic Surgery European Board Exam. His main clinical interests are aortic surgery, surgery for infective endocarditis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and cardiovascular surgery critical care.