Member 2021-2024

Chair 2021-2024

Dr. Juan B. Grau is the Director of Cardiac Surgery at the Valley Hospital in alliance with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Professor of Surgery at The University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Dr. Grau completed his residency in general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery at New York University School of Medicine. He has served as a cardiothoracic surgeon and faculty member at NYU, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University system, and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. His clinical interests include advanced coronary revascularization using arterial grafting and off-pump approaches with non-touch technique of the ascending aorta, advanced aortic and mitral valve repair techniques, surgery for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and adult congenital surgery. Dr. Grau has developed several translational research programs and institutional biobanks that have been funded by the National Institute of Health by blending clinical knowledge and expertise with the tools of basic science to find new approaches to clinically relevant programs. He is currently the co-chairman of AATS Foundation Research Committee and Chairman of EACTS Translational Research and Surgical Sciences Task Force.

Member 2021-2024

Payam Akhyari graduated as MD at the Hannover Medical School, Germany in 2003, accomplished his training in cardiac surgery at the University Hospitals of the Hannover Medical School, University of Heidelberg, University of Jena and University of Duesseldorf (Germany), including training in general and vascular surgery at academic hospitals in Hannover. He accomplished experimental studies on tissue engineered myocardium at Hannover Medical School in parallel to his studies for the medical program in 1999 and 2000 and was a stipend fellow of the Biomedical Science Exchange Program at the University of Toronto, Cardiovascular Research Center in Toronto Canada (academic year 2000

Member 2021-2024

Dr. Ferrari is Associate Professor of Surgery with a secondary appointment in Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University. He is leading the Cardiothoracic Research Program and The Columbia Biobank for Translational Science for the Department of Surgery. He leads a translational research program aimed at understanding the physiology and mechanobiology of valve disease, myocardial injury, aortic diseases, and biomedical devices. His diverse team of scientists includes PhD student (in BME), postdoctoral fellows, and general or cardiothoracic surgery residents. Dr. Ferrari is chair of the Early Career Development and Mentorship Committee for the International Society for Applied Cardiovascular Biology (ISACB). He is a voting member of the Columbia Medical Center Faculty council. He serves as a standing member, on the MPPA NIH Study Section and on several national and international agencies. His research is supported by multiple NIH R01s from NHLBI.

Member 2023-2026

Dr Miia Lehtinen is a last year resident in the cardiothoracic surgery training program of University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital. Miia completed her PhD training in 2015 in University of Helsinki: in her PhD thesis she studied the effects of bone marrow cell treatment on myocardial infarction in a randomized clinical trial. For this work, Miia received the award of the best medical thesis of the year in 2015 by the Finnish Medical Association. Between 2014 and 2018, Miia undertook a postdoctoral research period in the Karolinska Institute in Sweden studying embryonic stem cell treatment for myocardial infarction with professor Kenneth Chien. Currently, Miia's research focuses on nuclear medicine and computed tomography imaging, and the ways we can use these imaging modalities to understand the pathophysiology of ischemic heart disease, optimize surgical treatment of patients with ischemic mitral regurgitation and assess effects of pulmonary endarterectomy in chronic pulmonary hypertension.

Member 2021-2024

Dr. Bernd Niemann is the senior physician in charge of cardiac surgery at the Clinic for Cardiac, Children's Heart and Vascular Surgery. From the clinical focus on heart failure therapy and myocardial dysfunction, he addresses translational research projects in myocardial remodeling and therapeutic reverse remodeling. Here, the application and multicenter international evaluation of the clinical results of mechanical cardiac support systems on the one hand, and direct myocardial therapy addressing on the other hand, are a special focus. Aging itself, metabolic dysregulation, obesity and diabetes mellitus as well as pathogenic organ interactions offer therapeutic additive approaches that can improve the perioperative outcome of cardiac surgery patients. The working group includes clinical university physicians and natural scientists. Dr. Niemann is a member of the DGHTHG, the DGK and the EACTS, editor of The Thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon reports and supports the promotion of young talent through course management on behalf of the DGTHG and within the framework of the DGTHG-DFG junior academies. His research is supported by industrial funding, DFG-funding and funding of the German Heart Foundation.

Member 2023-2026

Dr. Phillippi is the UPMC Pellegrini Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery and Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery with Tenure at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She serves as the Vice Chair for Cardiac Research and Director of Postdoctoral Research in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Dr. Phillippi holds a secondary faculty appointment in the Department of Bioengineering in the Swanson School of Engineering and is member faculty with the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She serves as Principal Investigator (PI) and Scientific Director of the Cardiac Research Laboratory. Dr. Phillippi leads a research team of vasa vasorum enthusiasts with the goal of leveraging basic science discoveries in cell and matrix pathophysiology to develop less invasive and preventative treatments for cardiopulmonary diseases. Using a combination of in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo models, there is a focused interest on the role of perivascular progenitor cells, adventitial matrix biology, and pericytes in (patho)physiological vasculogenesis and angiogenesis, and tissue-engineered models of human cardiovascular disease. Most of her team’s work leverages a human vascular tissue and cell bank comprised of over 1,000 unique patient specimens amassed through collaborative partnerships with cardiothoracic surgeons. Dr. Phillippi is PI on an active NIH R01 award, a pending R01 (percentile 11), a completed R56 award (2015-2016), and Co-I on an R01 award from NHLBI (2012-2018 and 2020-2025). She is PI on an active award from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Health CURE Program (2021-2025). She has authored or co-authored 48 peer-reviewed original research articles and 4 review articles and 4 perspectives and commentaries. Her publications have garnered >4000 citations with an h-index of 34 (Google Scholar). Dr. Phillippi’s work in developing vascular extracellular matrix hydrogels led to issued patents in the United States (#11,406,736), Europe (#3402876), and Australia (#2017207015). Dr. Phillippi is wholly committed to research mentoring of surgeon scientists, basic scientists, and bioengineers. She serves as the Co-Program Director for a new NHLBI-funded T32 program in Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Training aimed at training the next generation of academic cardiothoracic surgeon scientists as independent researchers and collaborators versed in team science. She has mentored or co-mentored 5 early career surgeon scientists and 6 PhD post-doctoral fellows, 35 undergraduates, and 15 high school students, many of whom continued in academic roles or were inspired to pursue advanced degrees. Dr. Phillippi is a member of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. She is an Associate Editor with Science Advances, of the Science family of Journals with AAAS (2014-present) and a reviewer for the journals Stem Cells, Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, Acta Biomaterialia, Cardiovascular Research, Journal of Biomechanics, Journal of Clinical Investigation-Insight, and several others. Dr. Phillippi is heavily involved with the International Society for Applied Cardiovascular Biology (ISACB), serving as the society’s Secretary and a member of the Executive Council. She was the founding chair of the ISACB Webinar Committee and personally organized and moderated over 25 individual virtual events since 2014 featuring over 45 speakers. Dr. Phillippi also serves on the ISACB Women’s Leadership Committee. She is a member of the Executive Committee for the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and chairs the Planning and Budgeting Committee for the School of Medicine. Dr. Phillippi is currently serving a 4-year term on the NIH Biomaterials and Biointerfaces Study Section as a chartered member and has previously served on review panels for the American Heart Association and other international entities. Dr. Phillippi has dedicated her career to research at the intersection of cardiothoracic surgery, basic science, and bioengineering. This rich experience enables her to provide and practice strategies and formulae for success in forging and managing interdisciplinary research partnerships, finding joy, and thriving academically with trainees and faculty at all career levels.

Member 2021-2024

Marten Szibor, MD (male, b. 1971) is a clinician scientist with strong expertise in molecular genetics and physiology, particularly mitochondrial biology, and the use of alternative respiratory enzymes such as alternative oxidase (AOX) to challenge disease paradigms. After completing his doctorate in 2001 and postdoctoral fellowships in Germany and Switzerland, he was appointed as a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim, Germany. In 2013, Marten moved to Helsinki, Finland, to join Howy Jacobs' lab as a senior researcher to further expand the field of AOX research based around mouse models he had created in Bad Nauheim. In 2019, Marten relocated to Germany and has since been a researcher at the Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery at Jena University Hospital. Marten is an active member of the German Society for Gerontology and Geriatrics (DGGG), the German Physiological Society (DPG), the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) and the German Cardiac Society (DGK).

Member 2021-2024

Piergiorgio Tozzi, MD, works at the Lausanne University Hospital and School of Medicine (CHUV-UNIL), Switzerland as senior cardiac and vascular surgeon, professor of cardiac surgery and director of the laboratory for surgical research and surgical education. His research interests are end-stage heart failure and artificial heart, mitral repair, aortic dissection and new educational tools for teaching cardiac surgery.