A Fellow's View: Biographies

Lina Badimon, Barcelona, Spain

Prof. Lina Badimon is the Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center in Barcelona (CSIC-ICCC) in the Hospital Santa Creu and San Pau, Director of the Cardiovascular Research Chair of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Director of the UNESCO Chair in Biomedical Sciences Training and Research. Her research activities focus on coronary artery disease, thrombosis and atherosclerosis and ischemic heart disease. She has published over 460 articles in highly qualified scientific journals with her work highly quoted in the scientific literature (Citations: over 21.504; h-index 64). She has written 230 reviews and book chapters. She is Member of Editorial Boards of various international scientific journals.

Previous appointments include: Fellow in Cardiovascular Diseases at The Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA (1981-1983); Director of the Cardiology Basic Research Laboratory of the Division of Cardiology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY (1983-1991); Assistant Professor of Medicine (1983-1987) and Associate Professor of Medicine (1988-1991) at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY; Lecturer in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston (1991-1994); Consultant at the Cardiac Unit, at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (1991-1994).

Among her council and scientific appointments: Vice-President of the Spanish Society of Cardiology (2013-2015); Chairman of the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Science (2014-2016) and Chairman of the Working Group on Microcirculation (2012-2014) of the European Society of Cardiology; Past-President of the European Society for Clinical Investigation (2000-2002) and Past-President of the Spanish Society of Atherosclerosis (1996-2000).

Honorary Appointments: Fellow of the Cardiovascular Science Council and Fellow of the Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Council of the American Heart Association; Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology; Distinguished Fellow of the International Atherosclerosis Society, Honorary Member of Spanish Society of Hypertension, of the Romanian Society of Hypertension, of Spanish Society of Arteriosclerosis. Recently she has awarded with “Rey Jaime I” Award – Medical Research (Generalitat Valenciana, Spain) and Doctor Honoris Causa (Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Romania).

Currently, Prof. Badimon is Vice-President of Scientific Affairs (includes Working Groups, Councils and Women in Cardiology).

Barbara Casadei, Oxford, England

Barbara Casadei is a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford, Deputy Head of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and Fellow of Wolfson College. She is the Lead of the Myocardial Theme of the Oxford BHF Centre of Excellence and the Lead of the Cardiovascular Theme of the Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.

Professor Casadei graduated in Medicine (cum Laude & Gold Medal) at the University of Pavia, Italy and moved to Oxford in 1989 to undertake her clinical and research training. She was awarded the Joan and Richard Doll Fellowship at Green College in 1991, a DPhil in Cardiovascular Medicine in 1995, and a BHF Senior Research Fellowship in 2001.

Professor Casadei is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the President-Elect of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). She has delivered several keynote lectures including The Joan Mott Prize Lecture of the Physiological Society in 2004; The William Harvey Lecture on Basic Science and Silver Medal of the ESC in 2013; The Thomas Lewis Lecture and Silver Medal of the British Cardiovascular Society in 2014 and The Carmeliet-Coraboeuf-Weidmann Lecture of the ESC WG on Cardiac Cellular Electrophysiology in 2015.

Professor Casadei provides a clinical service at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust’s John Radcliffe Hospital and leads a bench-to-bedside translational research programme, which spans from clinical trials to bench-based investigation in human tissue and cells.

Keith Fox, Edinburgh, Scotland

Professor Keith Fox, BSc (hons) MBChB, FRCP, FESC, FACC, FMedSci: the British Heart Foundation and the Duke of Edinburgh Professor of Cardiology of the University of Edinburgh.

He was a founding fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and Chair of the Programme of the European Society of Cardiology 2012-2014. In addition, he was President of the British Cardiovascular Society from 2009 to 2012. Professor Fox gave the State-of-the-Art Lecture on Acute Coronary Syndromes at the American Heart Association as well as the 2009 Plenary Lecture at the European Society of Cardiology – American College of Cardiology Symposium, and the Lord Rayner Lecture of the Royal College of Physicians 29-10-12(London) and the Sir Stanley Davidson Lecture of the Royal College (Edinburgh) 15-11-12 and the Michael Davies Memorial Lecture (London) 09-12-13. His awards include the Silver Medal of the European Society of Cardiology in 2010 and again in 2014 and the Mackenzie medal of the British Cardiovascular Society (2013). He gave the American Heart Association “Paul Dudley White Lecture” at the AHA Congress in 2015. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the ESC in 2015.

Professor Fox’s major research interest lies in the mechanisms and manifestations of acute coronary arterial disease; his work extends from underlying biological mechanisms to in vitro and in vivo studies and clinical trials. He is the author of more than 658 scientific papers (H index Web of Science 82, Citations: 36,139 to December 2014).

Professor Fox is chairman of the RITA programme, co-chairman of ROCKET-AF, and OASIS programme and chair of the GRACE programme (the largest multinational study in acute coronary syndromes), and a lead investigator for studies on novel anti-thrombins, anti-coagulants and antiplatelets.

He is an International Associate Editor of the European Heart Journal and Deputy Editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology JACC (Europe). His ongoing research interests include the mechanisms of inflammation and plaque rupture in acute coronary syndromes and antithrombotic therapies. He has been honoured by the American College of Cardiology as one of four “Legends in Cardiology” in 2015 and also by the European Society of Cardiology in 2015.

Winner (with two colleagues) of the Queen's Anniversary Prize (for Science and Medicine 2016).

Thompson Reuters 2014 and 2015: Professor Keith Fox is listed as one of the top 1% of scientists “the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds”

Alan Fraser, Cardiff, Wales

Alan Fraser is Consultant Cardiologist at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK; Visiting Professor in Cardiovascular Imaging and Dynamics at the University of Leuven; and emeritus Professor of Cardiology at the Wales Heart Research Institute, Cardiff University. He qualified in Edinburgh, undertook postgraduate training in Scotland and Wales, and was clinical research fellow at the Thoraxcentre in Rotterdam. Within the ESC he has been President of the European Association of Echocardiography, and ESC Vice-President for External Affairs; and now he chairs the Committee on Regulatory Affairs and represents the ESC on European Commission committees concerning medical devices. His expertise is in functional imaging of the heart, and his research interests include heart valve disease, heart muscle disease, and the pathophysiology and diagnosis of heart failure.

Steen Dalby Kristensen, Skejby, Denmark

Steen Dalby Kristensen is Professor and Consultant Cardiologist at the Aarhus University in Skejby, Denmark. After graduating at Aarhus University, Professor Kristensen underwent clinical training in Denmark and the United Kingdom before specialising in cardiology. His earned a doctoral degree from the University of Aarhus with his theses ‘The platelet-vessel wall interaction in experimental atherosclerosis and ischaemic heart disease – with special reference to thrombopoiesis’.

Professor Kristensen leads his own research group focusing on thrombosis and anti-thrombotic treatment (especially platelets and their interaction with the endothelium), coronary artery disease and acute cardiac care, and percutaneous coronary interventions. He is actively involved in improving the quality and implementation of guidelines in Europe and has served for the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in many capacities, including Chairman of the ESC Working Group on Thrombosis, ESC Vice President and ESC Secretary Treasurer. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of ‘ESC TV’.

Professor Kristensen is author and co-author of over 260 scientific papers and 15 book chapters. He serves as Editor of European Heart Journal and Thrombosis and Haemostasis. He has been an investigator in several multicentre trials, and is Chair of international research committees for the evaluation of scientific application in Germany and Spain.

Susanna Price, London, England

Dr Susanna Price trained at King’s College Hospital. She went on to pursue a career combining cardiology and intensive care medicine. This involved spending time various London teaching hospitals, as well as time abroad at the Thoraxcenter in Rotterdam. She interrupted her medical career to undertake a PhD at Imperial College London, and following completion of her training in cardiology and intensive care, she was awarded the British Heart Foundation Jill Dando Fellowship in Adult Congenital Heart disease to further develop her expertise in critical care management of patients with congenital heart disease.

She was later appointed a consultant at the Royal Brompton Hospital (where she is Clinical Lead for Critical Care), and an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College, London. She is also Regional Advisor (North West Thames) for the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine.

Dr Price sits on numerous committees nationally and internationally, including chairing the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Acute Cardiac Care Education & Training Committee, being a member of the ESC Education Committee, ESC Media Committee, the ALS subcommittee of the Resuscitation Council, the Society of Critical Care Medicine US guideline Committee, and chairing the Resuscitation Council Committee on Focused Echo in Cardiac Arrest. She is the current President-Elect of the Acute Cardiovascular Care Association.

She is an associate editor of the European Heart Journal of Acute Cardiovascular Care, and an invited reviewer for a number of journals including Resuscitation, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Intensive Care Medicine. She has been a member of a number of task forces relating to international guidelines on the management of cardiovascular diseases, including valvular disease, endocarditis, non-cardiac surgery, pulmonary hypertension, pericardial disease and grown-up congenital heart disease.

Dr Price has authored numerous papers and book chapters on cardiology, echocardiography and intensive care, and lectures regularly. Her goal is to provide the highest quality patient care, to support and facilitate her multidisciplinary team, and put her trainees and fellows in a position to know more, and apply their knowledge and skills better than she does.

Marco Roffi, Zurich, Switzerland

Prof. Marco Roffi is Vice-Chairman of Cardiology, and Director of the Interventional Cardiology Unit at the University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland. Board certified in internal medicine and cardiology, he trained in interventional cardiology at the University Hospital of Berne, Switzerland and at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA. Marco Roffi has been Chairman (2011-2014) of the Scientific Program Committee of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Intervention (EAPCI). He is member of the Scientific Program Committees of both EuroPCR (since 2009) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) annual congress (since 2011). He is member of the ESC Committee for Practice Guidelines as well as of the ESC Committee for Global Scientific Activities since 2014. He co-authored the ESC guidelines on peripheral artery disease (2011), non-cardiac surgery (2014), aortic diseases (2014), and was chairman of the 2015 ESC NSTE-ACS guidelines. He has co-authored over 230 PubMed publications, over 50 book chapters and edited 5 books. His clinical and research fields of interest include acute coronary syndromes, antiplatelet therapy, coronary artery disease in diabetes, and carotid as well as peripheral interventions.

Alec Vahanian, Paris, France

Alec Vahanian was appointed International Associate editor for the EHJ effective July 2011 and brings with him considerable experience. His previous position at the EHJ was International Editorial Board member.

As head of cardiology at Bichat Hospital, Paris, and professor of cardiology at Paris VII University, France, Alec is no stranger to the EHJ & ESC. He has been a reviewer for the European Heart Journal for many years as well as for the Lancet, NEJM, Circulation, JACC, and Am J Cardiol, and is an Associate Editor of EuroIntervention, and a member of the Editorial committee of eight other journals.

He is Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology, and has been chairman of the working group on valvular heart disease, chairman of the Euroheart survey on valvular heart disease and of the first ESC Task force on valvular heart disease. Additionally, he was chairman of the ESC Committee for Practice Guidelines and a nominated member of the ESC Board (2006–2010), and is currently chairman of the update on the guidelines for valvular heart disease for ESC/EACTS.

He is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and an associate member of the French Academy of Medicine.

His earlier positions were: president of the French Federation of Cardiology and member of the Board of Directors of PCR.

As a cardiologist, his special interests are interventional cardiology, coronary artery disease, and mainly valvular heart disease - in particular, evaluation, surgical management, and transcatheter valve interventions on both the mitral and aortic valves. His group performed the first percutaneous mitral commissurotomy in Europe and are actively involved in transcatheter aortic valve implantation and transcatheter mitral valve repair.

Alec studied medicine in Paris VI University graduating in 1972, is 61 years old, and married with four children (and three grandchildren!).

He has authored 297 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 43 chapters in books

Lars Wallentin, Uppsala, Sweden

In 1991, Lars Wallentin became the first Professor of Cardiology at Uppsala University, where he founded and was head of the coronary care unit from 1991 to 1999. In 1992, he started the national quality registry for acute cardiovascular care, which in the early 2000s was developed into a model for web-based research and development in the general Swedish healthcare system.
In 2001, Lars Wallentin founded the Uppsala Clinical Research Center (UCR), which now has more than 100 staff, operates more than 20 national quality registries, and is a centre for major international clinical trials and their biobanks for biochemical and genetic analysis.

Lars Wallentin’s research has been devoted since the mid-1980s to acute coronary syndrome, with his research group having developed a number of new methods to better understand the causes of the disease and to select the most appropriate treatment. The research group has been at the forefront of developing the highly effective treatments for acute myocardial infarction that we possess today, in the form of low doses of acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) to inhibit blood clots, or drugs like ticagrelor and various heparins, as well as immediate percutaneous coronary intervention.

The research group has also pioneered the development of new blood clot inhibitors for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation. This research has also led to completely novel methods of biochemical blood analysis to assess the individual patient’s risk and need for different treatments.

In 1998 he was the first recipient of the Nordic Medical Prize, the second largest medical award in the Nordic countries. Wallentin chaired the Swedish Society of Cardiology from 1998 to 1999, and also founded and was head of the Swedish Heart Association from 2000 to 2002. He was elected as a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2007. Among his other distinctions, he has been awarded the European Society of Cardiology’s Gold Medal for outstanding contributions to cardiac research. In 2012, Lars Wallentin was made an honorary citizen of Uppsala in recognition of his services to society. He is one of the world's leading experts on unstable coronary artery disease and one the most highly cited cardiologists overall.