Chair 2023

Past President 2021-2022

Mark Hazekamp is currently chief of the congenital cardiothoracic surgery programme of University Medical Centers of Leiden and Amsterdam in the Netherlands and a professor at Leiden University. After graduating from Leiden medical school in 1982 he spent several years in general surgery in Spain and the Netherlands before training as a cardiothoracic surgeon in Leiden. He has a special interest in arterial switch, double switch, Ross and Nikaidoh operations promoting long-term follow-up studies in the field of congenital heart surgery. More basic research interest is focused on homograft valve tissue engineering and on 4D flow MRI to study circulatory energy loss after surgical procedures. Organizational work has focused on public reporting of surgical outcomes and quality improvement programs in the field of congenital heart surgery.

Immediate Past President 2022-2023

Friedhelm Beyersdorf received his medical degree at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1981. His work was driven by a research stay at the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he worked with Gerald Buckberg on crucial work on blood cardioplegia of the heart, which is now the standard cardioplegia at most cardiac surgery centres. He was appointed full professor at the Clinical Centre of the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Germany in 1994 for cardiovascular surgery. Friedhelm has been a member of the Council of the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgery (EACTS) since 2002 and was elected Editor-in-Chief from 2010 to 2020. Between 2009 and 2011 Friedhelm was President of the German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (DGTHG). In 2013, he was appointed "Membre correspondant étranger de l'Académie nationale de Médecine". In 2000, he was awarded the title of Professor honoris causa by the University of Marilia (Brazil) and in 2008 he was awarded an honorary doctorate (Dr. h. c.) by the National University of Laos (Ventiane). Friedhelm holds more than 700 publications and patents.

Immediate Past President 2023-2024

Secretary General 2022-2025

Patrick Myers is a consultant cardiac surgeon at CHUV - Lausanne University Hospitals in Switzerland and appointed Privat Docent at the Geneva University Medical School. After finishing medical school in Geneva, Patrick completed his cardiovascular surgery residency at the Geneva University Hospitals. He served as senior fellow in adult cardiac surgery at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and then as fellow in cardiac surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital. He was appointed instructor in surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital & Harvard Medical School, before returning as attending surgeon in adult and congenital cardiac surgery in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was named associate of the chief of cardiac surgery. Since 2017, he has focused on adult cardiac surgery in his private practice in adult cardiac surgery in Geneva and serves as consultant cardiac surgeon at CHUV Lausanne. He serves as secretary of the European Board for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. His areas of interest are multiple arterial coronary artery bypass grafting, evolving transcatheter techniques to treat structural heart disease, HOCM and critical appraisal of clinical trials and their discussions on social media.