Wes Ely, USA

Dr. Ely is a subspecialist in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine who conducts patient-oriented, health services research as a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He is also a practicing intensivist with a focus on Geriatric ICU Care, as the Associate Director for Research for the VA Tennessee Valley Geriatric Research and Education Clinical Center.

Dr. Ely’s research has focused on improving the care and outcomes of critically ill patients with ICU-acquired brain disease (manifested acutely as delirium and acquired dementia following critical illness). He has built the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS) Center with over 90 research scientists at Vanderbilt and the TN Valley VA medical centers, and amassed thousands of patients into cohort studies and randomized trials that were used to build the methodology for ICU acquired brain disease research. His team developed the primary tool (CAM-ICU, translated into 30+ languages) by which delirium and health-related quality of life outcomes are measured in ICU-based trials and clinically at the bedside in ICUs worldwide.

Dr. Ely has been continuously federally funded (NIA and/or VA) for almost 20 years. He has over 400 peer-reviewed publications.

Fabio Guarracino, Italy

Head of the Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine and Director of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia and Intensive Care at Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria in Pisa, Italy. Active member of ESICM, ESA, EACTA, EACVI, SCA, SIAARTI. Board member of the Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, and other journals. Reviewer for several international peer-review journals in the field of intensive care, cardiothoracic anaesthesia, heart failure, echocardiography.

Main research interests are in echocardiography, acute heart failure and the design of intensive care pathways to improve the effectiveness of the patient journey. Invited speaker at international meetings, congresses and echocardiography courses.

Author of over 150 articles published in peer-review journals in the field of cardiothoracic anaesthesia, echocardiography, intensive care medicine.

Matthias Heringlake, Germany

Professor of Anesthesiology and Deputy Director of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia at the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University of Lübeck. He is German Representative of EACTA since 2014 and second speaker of the Working group in Cardiac Anesthesia of the German Society for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI) since 2013.

He has published more than 100 PubMed listed papers in the field of anesthesia and intensive care therapy with a focus on vasoactive drugs and monitoring, and has participated in the development of German guidelines for the use of intraaortic balloon counterpulsation and hemodynamic monitoring and therapy in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Recently he was co-investigator of the LEVO-CTS trial.

Dan Longrois, France

Dan Longrois, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. His activities since 2008 are in Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital (Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris), Paris, France. He trained in anaesthesiology and intensive care and obtained both his M.D. degree and PhD degree in cardiovascular pharmacology at Paris VI University. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Cardiovascular Division of the Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Pr. Longrois was Chair of the Departments of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care in Nancy, France, between 2004 and 2008. He was President of the French Society of Perfusion, a member of the Scientific Committee of the French Society of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care and of the Cardiovascular sub-committee of the European Society of Anaesthesiolgy (ESA). He was member of the Board of Directors of the ESA and Chairperson of the NASC until December 2018.

Pr. Longrois' research interests include the cellular and molecular mechanisms of inflammation in shock states and the interaction(s) between inflammation and peri-operative stress. His clinical research domains are focused on cardiovascular pathologies, cardiovascular monitoring and pharmacology and their interface with anaesthesia, intensive care and perioperative medicine.

Steffen Rex, Belgium

Dr. Rex is cardiothoracic anaesthetist at the Department of Anesthesiology at the University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium. He has a special interest in pediatric cardiac anesthesia, anesthesia for the transplantation of cardiothoracic organs and in transesophageal echocardiography. He is OR-coordinator and head of clinical research at his department. Dr. Rex is also associate professor of anesthesia at the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences of the KU Leuven, Belgium.

His research interests include Xenon anesthesia and organ protection by noble gases and dexmedetomidine, pediatric cardiac anesthesia and anesthesia / critical care medicine

Dr. Rex has published more than 90 original articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is also regularly invited reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals covering the field of anesthesia, critical care medicine, cardiology and surgery.

Sven-Erik Ricksten, Sweden

Professor and Academic Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He is also a Consultant in Cardiothoracic Anesthesia and Intensive Care at the Sahlgrenska University, Gothenburg, Sweden. Has been a member of the Board of the Swedish Society of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, a member of the subcommitte ”Clinical and Experimental Circulation” of the European Society of Anesthesiologists (ESA) and a member of the Directory Board of the European Association of Cardiothoracic Anaesthesiologists.

He has published more than 200 original articles in the field of Cardiovascular Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. He has been the main scientific tutor for more than 20 Research Students for their Ph.D. thesis.

Peter Schellongowski, Austria

Peter Schellongowski is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Senior Intensivist in the ICU of the Department of Medicine I at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. His clinical and scientific focus are different aspects of critically ill hemato-oncologic and other immunosuppressed patients as well as ARDS management including extracorporeal gas exchange techniques.

He is the co-founder of the Austrian-German initiative ‘Intensive Care in Haematologic and Oncologic Patients (iCHOP)’, heads the ESICM-endorsed YELENNA Study of the ‘Caring for critically ill immunocompromised patients (Nine-I)’ study group on cancer patients with ARDS, and currently serves on the Scientific Committee of EuroELSO.

Yahya Shehabi, Australia

PhD, FANZCA, FCICM, EMBA

Professor Shehabi, a practicing specialist in intensive care and anaesthesia, is current director of research, Critical Care and Peri-Op Medicine at Monash Health and Monash University, School of Clinical Sciences in Melbourne, Australia.

He is the lead chief investigator and the architect of the SPICE III trial. The largest ICU sedation trial conducted so far, with 4,000 patients recruited in 76 ICUs in 8 countries. Prof Shehabi has led the SPICE research program from concept to design and implementation. He introduced an innovative concept of early goal directed sedation following after describing the critical nature and impact of early deep sedation in mechanically ventilated critically ill patients.

Jean-Louis Vincent, Belgium

After getting his MD degree and a specialty in internal medicine and intensive care medicine, Professor Vincent earned a PhD degree in cardiovascular physiology at the University of Brussels (Université Libre de Bruxelles). He is Professor of intensive care medicine and intensivist (former Head) in the Department of Intensive Care at Erasme University Hospital in Brussels.

He is a Past-President of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine (WFSICCM), the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM), the European Shock Society (ESS), the Belgian Society of Intensive Care Medicine (SIZ), and the International Sepsis Forum (ISF). He is member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine. He was made Baron by the King of Belgium.

Professor Vincent signed over 1000 peer-reviewed, 400 book chapters and 1000 abstracts and edited more than 100 books. His name appears more than 1000 times in Pubmed, and his work has been cited more than 160,000 times; his H-index is 164.

Kristjan Karason
(Gothenburg, Sweden)

Kristjan Karason is a specialist in internal medicine and cardiology, and senior lecturer in cardiology at the Gothenburg University. He is consultant in Cardiology and Transplantation at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg. He is involved in various educational programs for the specialization schools and he is author of textbooks and over 100 scientific publications.

Francesco Fedele
(Rome, Italy)

Fedele is Full Professor of Cardiology and Director of the Specialization School for Cardiologist of “La Sapienza” University of Rome, and Chief of Cardiology at the Department of Cardiovascular, Respiratory, Nephrology and Geriatrics Sciences at the “Policlinico Umberto I” Hospital. Fedele has been principal investigator in several International Clinical Trials and authored over 700 publications on national and international journals in research fields as cardiorespiratory pathophysiology, pathophysiology of ischemic heart disease, acute myocardial infarction, systemic and pulmonary hypertension, heart failure, echocardiography, and clinical pharmacological therapy.

Finn Gustafsson
(Copenhagen, Denmark)

Finn Gustafsson, MD, PhD (born 1968) is a professor of cardiology at the University of Copenhagen and medical director of the advanced heart failure, transplantation and MCS program at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark. His clinical training in advanced heart failure took place in Denmark and Toronto, Canada. His research interests include several aspects of heart failure pathophysiology and management. He is an author of more than 200 peer reviewed articles and several book chapters. Dr. Gustafsson serves on the steering committee of several international clinical trials and registries within the field of advanced heart failure. He is an associate editor for Circulation: Heart Failure and on the editorial board of European Journal of Heart Failure.

Zoltán Papp
(Debrecen, Hungary)

Zoltán Papp M.D. Ph.D. is an experimental cardiologist and chairman of the Division of Clinical Physiology, Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Hungary. He became full professor in 2010, and currently he also serves as the Vice-Dean for Scientific Affairs at the University of Debrecen. His main research interest relates to myocardial pathophysiology, cardiac contractility, cardiomyocyte physiology, ischemia-reperfusion injury, systolic and diastolic heart failure and myofilament targeted positive inotropic agents.

Veli-Pekka Harjola
(Helsinki, Finland)

Veli-Pekka Harjola is Head of the Division of Emergency Medicine in the Department of Emergency Services of the Helsinki University Hospital. He is also Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Helsinki. He is author of 120 PubMed-listed papers and currently active member of the Clinical section of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology

John Parissis
(Athens, Greece)

John Parissis is Associate Professor of Cardiology in the Second Department of Cardiology of Attikon General Hospital, University of Athens. He is a fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and member of the ESC Heart Failure and Acute Cardiac Care Associations. He is also an active member of the ESC committee for the national working groups or national societies on heart failure as well as member of the Task Force for Curriculum Heart Failure of the ESC Heart Failure Association. Dr Parissis has published 277 articles in Cardiology peer-review international journals. He is reviewer in 27 cardiology international journals including Lancet, Circulation, JACC, European Heart Journal.

Gerhard Pölzl
(Innsbruck, Austria)

Professor Gerhard Pölzl is Chief of the Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Program at the Medical University Innsbruck. His research is focused on clinical studies in advanced and chronic heart failure and on translational studies in cardiomyopathies. He has been Principal Investigator of the LevoRep clinical trial that tested the efficacy and safety of pulsed infusions of levosimendan in outpatients with advanced heart failure. He is currently P.I. of the clinical trial LEODOR, on repetitive use of levosimendan in advanced heart failure.

Carsten Tschöpe
(Berlin, Germany)

Univ. - Prof. Dr. med. Carsten Tschöpe is professor of Medicine and Cardiology and Vice Director of the Dept. of Cardiology, at the Campus Virchow Clinic (CVK) at the Charite, Berlin, guiding the Cardiomyopathy program.  He is the recipient of the 1st Research Prize of the Benjamin Franklin University Clinic and of the Arthus Weber Price of the german Society of cardiology.  He has been principal investigator in 8 clinical trails and and published over 300 scientific communications (with an h-index over 60) including some patents.

Fabrizio Oliva
(Milan, Italy)

Fabrizio Oliva is responsible of the Cardiac Critical Care units in Niguarda Hospital, Milan. He has had several duties and responsibilities in the national cardiology society ANMCO. He is in the editorial board of EJHF and revisor for several other Q1 cardiology journals. He published over 100 PubMed-listed scientific articles and is currently member of several working groups on drugs and therapies in cardiology.

Alexandre Mebazaa (Paris, France)

Mebazaa, MD, PhD, FESC, is Professor of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Hôpital Lariboisière, University Paris 7, France. His research interests include mechanisms of contractile impairment during acute heart failure and global studies on biomarkers in acute heart failure. He acted as member or Chair of several Steering Committees including SURVIVE, COMPOSE, TRUE-HF. He is also involved in several European and global registries on circulatory failure. He has authored or co-authored more than 200 papers and is Lead-Editor of the Acute Heart Failure textbook. Dr. Mebazaa also serves as the Chair of Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care in Paris.

Attila Borbély (Debrecen, Hungary)

Attila Borbély is an associate professor in the Department of Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery at the University of Debrecen, Hungary. During his PhD and postdoctoral periods he investigated specific alterations in cardiomyocyte contractility and myofilament proteins in patients with systolic and diastolic heart failure under the supervision of Professor Zoltán Papp and Professor Walter J. Paulus. He is currently working as a heart failure physician and invasive cardiologist at the University of Debrecen.

Dirk von Lewinski (Graz, Austria)

Prof. von Lewinski is interventional cardiologist and head of the ICU at the Dept. of Cardiology of the Medical University of Graz, Austria. He got his clinical training in Freiburg, Innsbruck, Göttingen and experienced scientific visits at the University of Sydney and Loyola University, Chicago. Graz and He has long lasting experience in treating acute and chronic heart failure and participated in multiple international trials. His main scientific interest, both in basic and clinical research, is to characterize underlying metabolic and energetic changes in failing myocardium.

Friedrich Fruhwald (Graz, Austria)

Fruhwald is the Head of the Heart Failure Outpatient Clinic in Graz, Austria. He is a fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and member of following associations: Austrian Society of Cardiology, German Society of Cardiology, Working Group on Heart Failure of the Austrian Society of Cardiology, Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology & Committee on Surveys and Registries of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC. Fruhwald has been principal investigator in 7 clinical trials and and co-investigator in 4 heart failure studies. Fruhwald has published 118 original papers and 226 abstracts (national and international meetings).

George Giannakoulas (Thessaloniki, Greece)

Dr Giannakoulas has spent most of his professional career in Thessaloniki, with a 2-year fellowship at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. He is currently the National ESC Guidelines Coordinator of the Hellenic Cardiological Society. Dr Giannakoulas’ research activities are mainly focused on heart failure, pulmonary hypertension and congenital heart disease. He has published 142 scientific publications indexed in Pubmed (2900 citations, h-factor=24, June 2018), has been a reviewer for high impact journals and serves as an Associate Editor in Hellenic Journal of Cardiology and Senior Editor in European Heart Journal - Case Reports. He has participated in numerous multicenter clinical trials in heart failure and pulmonary hypertension.

Josep Comin-Colet (Barcelona, Spain)

Consultant of Cardiology at Cardiology Department of the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona. Head of Heart Failure Section at the department of cardiology and Director of the Program of heart failure at the Hospital del Mar. Past Vice President of the Catalan Society of Cardiology. Member of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology and Advisor to the Ministry of Health of the Government of Catalonia for organization of care of patients with chronic conditions. More than 200 invited lectures in courses, conferences and symposia nationally and internationally. More than 40 articles published in international journals of medicine and cardiology. Reviewer for several journals in cardiology in Europe and the United States.

Matti Kivikko (Espoo, Finland)

Matti Kivikko, MD, Adjunct Professor, is a specialist in internal medicine and cardiology. He has been involved in the clinical development of levosimendan since late 1990´s and has over 30 publications related to levosimendan. He works as a consultant in cardiology in Helsinki University Central Hospital and as a senior medical adviser in Orion Pharma, Espoo, Finland.

Robert H Schwinger (Weiden, Germany)

MD, PhD. Schwinger has been the Head of the Clinic II for Internal Medicine and Cardiology, Klinikum Weiden, Teaching Hospital of the University of Regensburg, Germany, since 2006. Schwinger has also been an active investigator in several clinical trials. He has 152 publications in peer reviewed journals, 147 review articles in the field of internal medicine and cardiology and has published 385 abstracts as invited speaker in national and international meetings.

Simon Matskeplishvili (Moscow, Russia)

Simon Matskeplishvili is a leading cardiologist in Russia. He is a member of the European Society of Cardiology and is also a member of the American College of Cardiology. He has been working at the Bakulev Scientific Centre of Cardiovascular Surgery, a leading Russian cardiology centre, since his postgraduate studies. Cardiology wasn’t Simon’s first choice of career, however when he accidentally walked in on a cardiology seminar, he was absolutely amazed by the subject. In 207 he received the Marie Curie Medal of the Institute de France from the French Academy of Sciences. He is a full professor of cardiology from 2007, and in 2012 he received the prize for innovation in science and technology of the Government of the Russian Federation for the development of new ultrasonic method for the evaluation of intracardiac blood flow.

Bernard Cholley (Paris, France)

Bernard Cholley is professor of Anesthesiology & Intensive Care Medicine at Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou (Assistance Publique, Hôpitaux de Paris) and Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France. He works mainly in cardiac surgical intensive care and his areas of interest include haemodynamics (physiology, pathophysiology, monitoring,…) and the perioperative management of high-risk surgical patients. He has also been involved for a long time in promoting and teaching the use of ultrasound techniques in the anesthesiology / critical care environment. He is an active member of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, the European Society of Anaesthesiology, and the French Society of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine.

Antoine Herpain (Belgium)

After having completed his internal medicine residency, Dr Antoine Herpain has been trained by Pr Jean-Louis Vincent et Pr Daniel De Backer in the intensive care unit of the CHU Erasme Hospital (Brussels); where he is now in charge of the heart failure program and acute cardiac cares supervision.

In addition to his clinical investments, he is also leading several doctoral projects on experimental investigations with large animal models of septic and cardiogenic shocks in the Experimental Laboratory of Intensive Care from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Marc Leone (France)

Pr. Marc Leone, born in 1968 is professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at Aix Marseille University and anesthesiologist in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Nord University Hospital in Marseille. He trained as resident and fellow in Aix Marseille University. Specialist in intensive care medicine, he spent one year at the Washington University of Saint Louis Missouri. He obtained his PhD degree (sex and infection) at the Aix Marseille University in 2008. He is the present chair of the department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine of his hospital, with his clinical activities in the intensive care unit. His expertise field includes sepsis and trauma in the critically ill patient.

Marc Leone has signed around 250 publications, book chapters, and guidelines and has edited 4 books. He assumes the executive board member of the French Society of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine and served as board member of Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine. He is involved in the European Society of Anesthesiology and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine.

Hynek Riha (Czech Republic)

Hynek Riha is Consultant in Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, and Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the 1st Faculty of Medicine of Charles University. He completed his medical studies in 1997, received a Ph.D. in the field of human physiology and pathophysiology in 2012, and a M.H.A. degree in healthcare management in 2016. Dr. Riha‘s major areas of expertise include pharmacological support of cardiovascular system, mechanical circulatory support and heart transplantation. He is an examiner for oral part of European Board Certifications in Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine.

Massimo Girardis (Italy)

Prof Girardis is the head of the Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Department of the Modena University Hospital and associate in Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. He began his career at the Department of Physiology and Biology of the University of Udine, Italy, and in 1994 and 1995 he participated in the Euromir Missions of the European Space Agency in Moscow for the study of the effects of prolonged microgravity in humans. In 1997 he completed his formation as Anesthesiologist and Intensivist, and after a one-year experience at the Department of Anaesthesia, Physiology and Pharmacology of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, he became responsible for the running of the intensive care unit at the University Hospital of Udine. In 2001 Prof Girardis moved to the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

From 2012 to 2015 Prof Girardis coordinated the working group on infection and sepsis of the Italian Society of Anaesthesia and Resuscitation (SIAARTI) and in the same Society was member of the directive council and of the publication and research committee. Deputy Chair of the Systemic Inflammation and Sepsis section and member of the research committee of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) and in the same society was member of the council as National representative from 2013 to 2016.

His clinical activity and research is mainly dedicated to intensive care medicine, particularly in the field of sepsis and oxygen transport, from basic pathophysiology to therapy. He participated as principal investigator or national coordinator to numerous research project supported by national govern funds and scientific societies. He is the author of over 100 publications (H index 23) and serves as reviewer for numerous high level scientific journals.

Alain Combes (France)

Professor Alain Combes, MD, PhD is Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at Sorbonne Université, Paris, and head of the ICU department at La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Paris, France.

Main research interests:

• Care of the critically ill cardiac patient (cardiogenic shock, acute myocardial infarction, cardiac arrest, complicated heart surgery and heart transplantation)
• Mechanical circulatory assistance and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation
• Rescue therapies for severe respiratory failure, including ECMO and ECCO₂R
• Infections in critically patients, such as pulmonary infections in mechanically ventilated ICU patients and endocarditis.

Professor Combes is Member of

• The Société de Réanimation de Langue Française (SRLF)
• The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM)
• The American Thoracic Society (ATS)
• The European Society of Cardiology (ESC)
• The Extra Corporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO),
  • Currently President of the EURO-ELSO
• The International ECMO network (ECMONet)

Bruno Levy (France)

Bruno Levy is professor of Intensive Care Medicine at Nancy University Hospital and Université De Lorraine, France. He works in a polyvalent ICU mainly dedicated to cardiac intensive care and his areas of interest include haemodynamics (physiology, pathophysiology, monitoring,…), ECMO, lactate metabolism and vasopressors/inotropes use in shock states. He is also an active member of the European Society of Intensive Care and the French Society of Critical Care Medicine (SRLF).

Brünger, Frank (Germany)

Frank Brünger is a senior physician of cardiac surgery and intensive care medicine at Herz- und Diabetes-Zentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany.  He works in cardiac surgical intensive care and his special interest is treatment of terminal cardiac failure, ECMO, VAD, HTX. He is a member of the EACTS, DIVI, DGTHG and ESICM.