Editorial - December 2024

Dear friends, members, and colleagues,

As the holiday season arrives and festive spirits spread everywhere, we find ourselves reflecting on this past year. 2024 has been a remarkable year for all of us, filled with growth, learning, and new opportunities! As we look forward to 2025, let’s take a moment to celebrate some of our highlights from 2024: 

Working Groups Online Educational Events

• We shared valuable knowledge through the Working Group Talk "Coronary Physiology in the Setting of Chronic Total Occlusions", featuring Alfredo R. Galassi, Omer Goktekin, and Raffaele Bugiardini. They explored coronary physiology in CTOs and discussed its implications for treatment and future perspectives on CTO-PCI. If you missed it, don’t worry—you can still catch the on-demand event online! 
  One of our core missions is to support and empower young researchers in shaping the future of cardiovascular medicine.
• The 2024 Mobility Travel Grant from our Working Group was successfully launched in September. This grant provides recipients with the opportunity to spend at least one month at a host European institution. It is a fantastic chance for our early-career community to build international collaborations and gain hands-on experience at leading European institutions!
• The ESC Congress is a unique opportunity for young investigators. The 2024 recipients of the ESC Working Group Awards on Coronary Pathophysiology and Microcirculation at the ESC Congress 2024 were Dr. Shafeeq Ahmed Mohammed (Zurich, Switzerland) for his investigation entitled “Targeting the histone methyltransferase SETD7 rescues diabetes-induced impairment of angiogenic response by transcriptional repression of semaphorin 3G” and Dr. Ghilas Rahoual (Aubervilliers, France) for his research entitled “Cycling coupled to intra-coronary thermodilution to evaluate angina with non-obstructive coronary artery disease”. You can still discover these insightful presentations on ESC 365.

Looking ahead to 2025, we are planning even more activities to engage with you and strengthen our community. Not yet a member? Join us here and become part of our journey. Stay tuned for exciting updates!

In this issue of our Newsletter, Prof. Kyriakos Dimitriadis shares his perspective on the paper “Microvascular resistance reserve: impact on health status and myocardial perfusion after revascularization in chronic coronary syndrome” exploring the potential of MRR as a tool for identifying CCS patients who could benefit from revascularization and future research needs. Read the full commentary here.

As we close our final Newsletter of 2024, we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude for being the cornerstone of our community.

Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful holiday season and a healthy, prosperous, and peaceful New Year 2025!

On behalf of the Working Group Nucleus

Edina Cenko, Chairperson 2024-2026
Ines Drenjančević, Communication Coordinator 2024-2026