Dr. Anic is a cardiologist/electrophysiologist serving as a head of an EP lab at Heart Center, University Hospital Split, Croatia. After finishing cardiology training in General Hospital Zadar, Croatia, he spent a year at Cleveland Clinic Atrial Fibrillation Innovation Center doing postdoctoral research fellowship.

He has multiyear experience with AF ablation, which is his primary interest of research. EP lab Split runs FIH type studies on a regular basis with a recent emphasis on development of pulsed field ablation for AF treatment.

Research interests also include ablation for ventricular arrhythmias, LAAC procedures and other stroke prevention strategies.

Elad Anter, MD, FACC, is an Endowed Professor of Medicine, Associate Section Head of Cardiac Electrophysiology, and Director of the Josephson-Wit Research Laboratory in the Electrophysiology Section of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine of the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Anter is an electrophysiologist, scientist, and innovator in the field of catheter ablation, specializing in catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia particularly in patients with complex arrhythmia who had failed previous ablation procedures.

Dr. Anter dedicates significant time for teaching and mentoring fellows. Dr. Anter has published over 100 original articles in high-impact peer-reviewed medical journals, and he frequently speaks at national and international medical meetings on his research and clinical interests.

Dr. Aryana is a classically-trained cardiac electrophysiologist who received his training at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. He has been practicing in Sacramento, California since 2008 where he serves as the Medical Director of the Dignity Health Greater Sacramento Cardiovascular Service Line and the Medical Director of the Cardiac Electrophysiology Laboratory at Mercy General Hospital and the Dignity Health Heart and Vascular Institute.
He specializes in the management of cardiac arrhythmias including both clinical and interventional therapies, such as catheter ablation and left atrial appendage occlusion therapies and implantation of cardiovascular implantable electronic devices. He has authored more than 170 peer-reviewed scientific abstracts, manuscripts and book chapters. In addition, he is the director of a nationally-recognized percutaneous epicardial mapping and ablation training program. To date, Dr. Aryana has trained over a hundred-and-twenty practicing cardiac electrophysiologists and cardiac electrophysiology fellows throughout the country on this approach.

Samuel J. Asirvatham, M.D., is a cardiac electrophysiology consultant in the Division of Heart Rhythm Services, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Asirvatham holds joint appointments in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology, the Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, and the Department of Anatomy. In addition, he serves as vice chair for innovation in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine and medical director of the Electrophysiology Laboratory. He joined the staff of Mayo Clinic in 2000 and holds the academic rank of professor of medicine and pediatrics in Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Dr. Asirvatham is recognized with the distinction of the James M. and Lee S. Vann Professorship in Cardiovascular Diseases.

Dr. Asirvatham earned his M.B.B.S. and completed postgraduate work at Christian Medical College in Vellore, India. He held an internship at St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Hospital Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, and was chief resident at University of Wisconsin–Madison. He completed his clinical cardiac and electrophysiology training at the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, and came to Mayo Clinic for a fellowship in electrophysiology/pacing.

One of Dr. Asirvatham’s primary goals is clinical research to improve patient care and quality of life. His most recent research and innovation interests include developing a new energy source that can eliminate heart rhythm disorders without creating heat, pain, or damage to normal tissues; alleviating neurocardiogenic syncope and treating hypertension by  modulating the autonomic nerves around the renal vessels; designing and creating tools to treat epilepsy and other central nervous system disorders by mapping and ablation of the central nervous system; and using ablation technology in the GI tract to treat diabetes.

Dr. Asirvatham is considered an expert in his field and is frequently invited to present on his work internationally. His research efforts are highly productive. He has completed more than a dozen grants and currently has several active federal, industry and foundation grants. His work has resulted in approximately 50 U.S patents and publication of over 500 peer-reviewed articles, abstracts, book chapters and commentaries in high-impact scientific journals. He also holds editorial responsibilities for a number of prominent scientific journals.

In addition to his clinical and research activities, Dr. Asirvatham serves as chair for education in the Division of Heart Rhythm Services, and he holds full faculty privileges in Clinical and Translational Science at Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. He is program director for Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education and for the Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Training Program.

Throughout his career, Dr. Asirvatham has been the recipient of many awards. These include the Distinguished Teacher Award from the Heart Rhythm Society; Distinguished Educator Award from the American College of Cardiology; Mayo Clinic Awards for Individual Excellence and Partnership in Care and multiple Teacher of the Year awards. He was recognized with the Mayo Clinic Distinguished Educator Award in 2014 and Distinguished Inventor of the Year in 2020. Dr. Asirvatham has been elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

He is a Professor of Cardiology and director of the EP lab at the Yeditepe University Hospital. Clinical interest areas are invasive electrophysiology and catheter ablation therapies. Special interest areas are ablation of atrial fibrillation and cardioneuroablation. He has more than 100 international scientific publications in arrhythmia journals.
Associate Editor in JECG and JICE, EB in JAFIB and JCA.

Nitish Badhwar, MD is Professor of Medicine and Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology Training Program at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Badhwar received his medical degree from Maulana Azad Medical College (University of Delhi, India). After completing his internal medicine training from New York Hospital of Queens (affiliated with Cornell Medical School), he worked as faculty in the Department of Medicine at Hospital of St. Raphael (Yale University School of Medicine). He completed Cardiac Electrophysiology training at UCSF with Dr. Scheinman. After being on faculty at UCSF for 15 years he recently joined the Arrhythmia Service at Stanford Hospital. He is a Fellow of American College of Cardiology and Heart Rhythm Society. He has been named best doctor in cardiac electrophysiology in San Francisco Magazine 3 years in a row (2015-2017). This is nominated by his peers. He was given Excellence in Teaching award in Medical Education by Academy of Medical Educators in 2015. He was an invited speaker at prestigious international meetings including Oriental Congress of Cardiology (OCC) in Shanghai, China; Cardiostim EHRA /Europace in Nice, France; Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society (APHRS) in Seoul, S Korea; American Heart Association Annual Scientific Session in New Orleans, LA and Indian Heart Rhythm Society in New Delhi, India.

Charles Berul, M.D., is division chief of Cardiology and co-director of the Children’s National Heart Institute at Children’s National Hospital and holds the Van Metre Companies Professorship in Cardiology. He was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in the area.

Dr. Berul was the director of the Pacemaker Program at Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School until coming to Children’s National Medical Center in 2009. Dr. Berul is a professor of Pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Berul is a fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Cardiology, the Society for Pediatric Research, and the American Heart Association’s Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young.  Dr. Berul has more than 150 publications in pediatric cardiology and is an invited speaker nationally and internationally and is an acknowledged expert in the area of pediatric cardiac electrophysiology.

Dr Mauro Biffi is Clinical Cardiologist, Director of Electrophysiology at the Hospital San Orsola and tutor at the Cardiology School of Bologna University, Italy. He has participated in several international clinical studies and his main areas of interest are arrhythmias and HF.

Dr Johannes Brachmann is a Director, REGIOMED Centrum for Cardiology and Angiology and Leader of the Medical Boards REGIOMED-KLINIKEN and Chief physician II at Clinic cardiology, angiology, pneumology.

Dr Brachmann received a Research fellowship of the German Research Foundation at the University of Oklahoma, USA From 1981 to 1988 he worked as Head of the clinical and experimental electrophysiological laboratory of the University of Heidelberg, attending cardiologist at the University of Heidelberg & Assistant Professor of Cardiology, Member of the scientific committees of the German Cardiac Society, The European Society of Cardiology, Member of the Nucleus of the Working Group ”Electrophysiology” of the German Cardiac Society. Deputy Chief of Cardiology, University of Heidelberg and Professor of Medicine. Since 1985, he has been active participant and principal investigator of more than 50 clinical studies mostly in the area of cardiac electrophysiology (antiarrhythmics, ICD, PM) and interventional cardiology (stents, atherectomy). And Principal investigator in several multicenter studies on arrhythmias and coronary intervention. He has more than 200 publications and published abstracts.

He is a member of the AER Editorial Board.

Director of the Heart Institute at Emek Medical Center

My fellowship took place between 2013- 2015.
The first year was dedicated to comprehensive echocardiography, while the second year (Advanced adult cardiology) involved valve clinic, interventional echo for structural heart disease, echo in OR and research in speckle tracking.
Mayo Clinic is by far, an outstanding institution and I feel privileged and honored to be a Mayo graduate.
I have acquired extensive knowledge and broadened my professional skills during that period.
On a personal note, I still have many friends at the Echo lab.
In 2016, I was appointed as the director of the No invasive cardiology unit and valve clinic at my hospital, where I had the chance to implement what I’ve learned at Mayo.
As of February 2021, I am the director of the entire Heart Institute.

Dr Riccardo Cappato is currently Chief of the Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology Center at IRCCS MultiMedica Group, Italy. He is a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and the Heart Rhythm Society, as well as the current President of the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society (ECAS). He has also been the Co-Director of the Europe AF Congress since 2007.

Dr Cappato began his medical training at the University of Ferrara, completing in 1983. He was a junior physician in the Department of Cardiology of the Arcispedale Santa Anna di Ferrara, Reggio Emilia, Italy, where he also completed his internship and residency. Between 1993 and 2000, he was the Co-Director of the Electrophysiology Laboratory (EP-Lab) at Eppendorf University and St. Georg General Hospital, Hamburg, Germany. His clinical interests focus on the management of supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias, and in their treatment with transcatheter radiofrequency ablation.

Dr Cappato has been Principal Investigator for X-VERT (eXploring the efficacy and safety of oral DOAC OD compared with that of dose-adjusted oral VKA for the prEvention of caRdiovascular events in patients with non-valvular aTrial fibrillation scheduled for cardioversion) and VENTURE-AF (randomized, open-label, actiVe-controlled multi-cENTer stUdy to evaluate the safety of DOAC and vitamin K antagonists in subjects undergoing cathEter ablation for Atrial Fibrillation) studies. Dr Cappato is also leading investigator of a patient-based worldwide atrial fibrillation ablation survey. He is the co-inventor of the sub-cutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator. He frequently serves as an invited speaker at major international meetings. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, and is on the editorial board of numerous Cardiology Journals.

Larry Chinitz, M.D.

Clinical Director, Cardiology

Director, Cardiac Electrophysiology and Heart Rhythm Center

Dr. Larry Chinitz is the founder of NYU Langone Health clinical cardiac electrophysiology program as well as the NYU Heart Rhythm Center. This program has decades of experience in managing patients with electrophysiological disorders including atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. He is currently focused on new technology for treating arrhythmias including advances in energy delivery and intracardiac mapping. Dr. Chinitz is also involved in the development of leadless pacemaker’s and was the first in the United States to implant the Medtronic MICRA device. He continues to work with industry on transforming pacemaker technology towards leadless devices. Under Dr. Chinitz his leadership the NYU program treats more patients with rhythm disorders than any other center in the United States. The program publishes extensively on heart rhythm disorders and currently comprises nine full-time electrophysiologists.

Education

Medical Degree: NYU

Residency: NYU Medical Center

Fellowship: NYU Medical Center – Cardiology

Prof. Naama W. Constantini, MD, DFM, FACSM, Dip. Sport Med. (CASM)

Director, Heidi Rothberg Sport Medicine Center, Shaare Zedek Medical Center

Dr. Robert T. Rosenfeld Professor in Sports Medicine

Chair, Exercise is Medicine Center, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Chair, National Council for Women’s Health, Ministry of Health

Dr. De Potter graduated in 2001 from the University of Leuven in Belgium and trained as a cardiologist in Aalst and Ghent University until 2007, and as an electrophysiologist in Barcelona and Hamburg until 2009. Since 2009, he joined the Cardiovascular Center Aalst, Belgium, where he currently serves as associate director, clinically active within the arrhythmia unit of the department. He has focused on developing a multimodality imaging approach to support complex arrhythmia treatment, using and combining existing and experimental technologies such as intracardiac echography, 3D mapping/navigation and rotational angiography. This has resulted in the arrhythmia unit becoming one of few European training centers for ventricular tachycardia ablation and the only center worldwide for training physicians on a minimal radiation workflow for atrial fibrillation ablation. As a spin-off, this imaging expertise has been translated to the structural heart program that has also resulted in the arrhythmia unit being selected as a training site for LAA closure and a study site for existing and novel devices for LAA closure.

Luigi Di Biase, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Medicine (Cardiology) Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Section Head of Electrophysiology at Montefiore Hospitals

Director of Arrhythmia Services, Department of Medicine

Dr. Luigi Di Biase is Section Head of Electrophysiology, Director of Arrhythmia Services, and Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at Einstein/Montefiore. In addition, he serves as Senior Researcher at the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David’s Medical Center, Austin, Texas.

Improving patient care is the heart of Dr. Di Biase’s mission. He believes that this is possible through dedicated clinical practice associated to cutting-edge clinical research. Dr. Di Biase’s research focuses on cardiology and electrophysiology with specific emphasis on catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation and ventricular arrhythmias performed either manually or with robotic catheter navigation. Additionally, his research focuses on heart failure, particularly cases treated with cardiac resynchronization therapy devices.

Dr. Di Biase, MD, PhD, FACC, FHRS, is a 2000 graduate (summa cum laude) of the medical school and a 2004 graduate (summa cum laude) of the cardiology residency program at the University of Bari, Bari, Italy. In 2006, he completed a second-level master degree in Electrophysiology and Pacing (summa cum laude) at the University of Insubria, Varese and Brescia, Italy.

In 2007, Dr. Di Biase received a grant from the Italian National Society of Cardiology to pursue a research fellowship under the supervision of Dr. Andrea Natale at the Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio. The following year, he accepted a position in cardiac electrophysiology at the University of Texas Medical School Branch in Galveston, Texas, where he continued to focus on his research projects Dr. Di Biase was appointed Assistant Professor in 2007 at the University of Foggia, Italy, where he completed the PhD program in cardiovascular physiopathology in November 2010. In 2009, Dr. Di Biase was appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was promoted to Adjunct Associate Professor in 2012, the same year he joined Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center with the title of Associate Professor, Department of Medicine (Cardiology).

In September 2014 Dr. Di Biase was appointed Section Head of Electrophysiology and Director of Arrhythmia Services at Einstein/Montefiore, while continuing to serve as Senior Researcher at the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David’s Medical Center. Thereafter Dr. Di Biase was promoted to the rank of Full Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine (Cardiology).

Dr. Paul Friedman is a Professor of Medicine and the Norman Blane & Billie Jean Harty Chair, Mayo Clinic Department of Cardiovascular Medicine Honoring Robert L. Frye, M.D. at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. He is ABIM board certified in cardiovascular medicine and cardiac electrophysiology, and is an active participant in the MOC process.
Previously, Dr. Friedman served as Director of the Cardiac Implantable Device Lab, Mayo Clinic. He is a trained electrical engineer, with deep experience in innovation (> 40 patents issued, named Minnesota Top Inventor), and scientific research (> 250 scientific original publications). He is a committed educator, serving as a director for 5 national and international meetings, editor of 7 textbooks, and author of over 60 book chapters. He is a frequent visiting professor and lecturer at educational meetings.
Dr. Friedman received his BA in Plan II liberal arts and BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He received his medical degree from Stanford University, and trained in internal medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle (internship) and Stanford University. He trained in cardiovascular medicine and cardiac electrophysiology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
Interests:
•Atrial fibrillation management, including medications, remotemonitoring, medications, ablation, and left atrial appendageclosure
•Ventricular arrhythmia management (PVCs, VT)
•Medical and ablative management of SVTs
•Complex cardiac ablation, atrial and ventricular arrhythmia
•Cardiac device insertion, including leadless pacemaker, Hisbundle pacing, and subcutaneous defibrillator
•Interventional procedures (venoplasty, snaring) forpacemaker, ICD, and resynchronization device placement
•Percutaneous epicardial access for complex ablation andappendage closure
•Implantable device extraction
•Artificial intelligence in medicine
•Remote monitoring

Jeffrey Goldberger, M.D., M.B.A., received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980, his MD degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1984, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 1997. Following post-doctoral training in cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology at the University of California, San Francisco, he joined the faculty at Northwestern in 1990. He is currently Professor of Medicine, Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology Research, and Director of the Program in Cardiac Arrhythmias for the Center for Cardiovascular Innovation.

Dr. Goldberger is a nationally recognized clinical cardiac electrophysiologist, listed as Top Doctor by US News and World Report and Chicago Magazine. He is an innovator in the field, focusing on the problems of sudden cardiac death, atrial fibrillation, and autonomic nervous system effects on cardiac electrophysiology. He has led several multidisciplinary and national programs. He has authored over 200 publications and edited a book, Practical Signal and Image Processing for Clinical Cardiology.

Dr. Goldberger serves as an editorial consultant and abstract reviewer for more than 20 medical journals. He is also on the editorial boards of three major journals and a member of several national committees of the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology. He is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society and has received multiple awards. He has actively led programs in both undergraduate and graduate medical education, and currently serves as both a clinical and research mentor. Dr. Goldberger is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, American College of Physicians, and the Heart Rhythm Society.

Dr. Goldenberg has been involved in clinical research with cardiac arrhythmias over the past 15 years and this proposed trial is in the area of my expertise as documented by over 500 published papers. He has been serving as PI on more than 50 government supported international clinical trials and registries and industry supported clinical studies and trials.

Accordingly, Dr. Goldenberg has substantial experience in clinical trials conduct, organization, design, and data analysis. Over the past 14 years he has been involved in the design and conduction of multicenter clinical trials, collaborating with the Heart Research Follow-Up Program at the University of Rochester and serving at the Director of the Israeli Association for Cardiovascular Trials.

In his current position he serves as the Director of the Clinical Cardiovascular Research Center at the University of Rochester, organizing multicenter trials and the International LQTS Registry, with his active role in the CC and DCC capacities. He also has mentored more than 100 trainees, including medical students, residents and fellows, and PhD applicants.

Jay N. Gross, MD, serves as an Attending Physician and Director of the Implantable Electrical Devices Service at Montefiore, as well as Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Board Certification:
Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases

Degrees:
MD: Universidad Central Del Este, San Pedro, Dominican Republic

Residency:
Residency in Internal Medicine: Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Baltimore, MD

Fellowship:
Fellowship in Cardiology: Pennsylvania State University Hospital, Hershey
Fellowship in Electrophysiology: Pennsylvania State University Hospital, Hershey

Special Interests:
Autonomic Disorder
Pacemakers and ICD
Heart Rhythm Disorders

Research Interests:
Disorders of the Autonomic
Nervous System

Awards & Honors:
2015 Physician of the Year Award from Dysautonomia International;
Medical Professional of the Decade Award from the British Heart Rhythm Society and Arrhythmia Alliance

Faculty Appointment:
Distinguished University Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics

Professor Dhiraj Gupta is a consultant electrophysiologist at the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital (LHCH). LHCH is one of the largest cardiac centres in the United Kingdom, and the first specialist hospital to be rated outstanding by the Care Quality Commission UK. Prof Gupta has been a very high-volume operator in interventional electrophysiology for over a decade. He is also one of the largest volume implanters for left atrial appendage occluder devices in the UK, and proctors cardiologists extensively in the UK, USA and Europe in this technique.

Prof Gupta heads the arrhythmia work group of the Institute of Cardiovascular Medicine and Science, a research collaboration between Royal Brompton Hospital and LHCH. He is the Chief Investigator for several multicentre trials in the field of AF ablation, and has been awarded research grants of over £2 million. Prof Gupta has authored over 70 scientific papers and 100 congress presentations, and has served on the scientific programme committee of the annual UK Heart Rhythm Congress since 2014. Prof Gupta served as an elected member of Council of British Heart Rhythm Society 2015-2018, and as the honorary treasurer of the society in 2017-18.

Gerhard Hindricks is a Professor of Medicine / Cardiology and the Medical Director of the Heart Center Leipzig. He is the Director of the Department of Electrophysiology of the Heart Center and the General Manager of the Leipzig Heart Institute (LHI). Gerhard Hindricks has a longstanding involvement in innovations and the development and clinical implementation of new technologies in the field of cardiovascular medicine and beyond. He has fundamental interest in design and implementation of novel process and diagnostic/therapeutic pathways in medicine. Moreover, Gerhard is Principal Investigator of multiple international, randomized and potentially guideline-relevant clinical trials. He has served the European Society of Cardiology in several leadership functions including President of European Heart Rhythm Association and is member of the ESC Digital Committee. Finally, he has published almost 800 peer-reviewed articles in the leading journals of the world and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Europace Journal, one of the top international journals in the field of cardiac arrhythmias.

Dr. Carsten W Israel is Chief of the Dept. of Cardiology, Evangelical Hospital Bielefeld (Academic Hospital of Munster University, Germany) since April 2009. Prior to this appointment he was Consultant of Internal Medicine and Cardiology and Master Teacher, Dept. of Medicine – Div. of Cardiology, of the J. W. Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany, where he was also Director of Arrhythmia Services – Devices. He worked at the Dept. of Cardiology at the University of Frankfurt.

Dr. Jankelson is a cardiac electrophysiologist and director of the Inherited Arrhythmia program at the NYU Langone Health Heart Rhythm Center, where he also established the Computational Cardiology lab. His research is focused on data analytics and computational models for electrophysiology.

Dr. Jankelson received his MD and PhD (biophysics) from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, and completed his Internal Medicine and Cardiology training at the Tel Aviv Sourasky medical center. He then trained in clinical and interventional cardiac electrophysiology at NYU.

Dr. Jankelson holds several patents related to medical device technology and he is the founder of a number of medtech startup companies.

Prof. Dr. med. Werner Jung, offers all types of diagnostics and treatment of cardiovascular disorders. The clinic hires 35 cardiac surgery specialists. This cardiovascular center focuses on cardiac artery bypass grafting, catheterization, recanalization of blocked arteries, surgical and post-operative treatment of artery diseases, a full spectrum of surgical treatment of carotid artery deterioration and constriction as well as similar disorders affecting peripheral, abdominal and visceral arteries.

Josef Kautzner is a Czech born cardiologist (1957) and a graduate of Charles University Medical School I in Prague (1983 cum laude). He obtained a substantial part of his training at the Department of Medicine II, Charles University General Hospital in Prague and during stays in London or Houston. He has been working at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague since 1996 (head of the department of cardiology since 2001 and director of the Heart Centre since 2021). He became a Professor of Medicine and Board approved cardiologist in 2005.

His clinical interest is focused mainly on catheter ablation of cardiac arrhythmias and cardiac resynchronisation therapy, electrocardiography, and imaging. He is an author of 4 books, author or co-author of more than 400 scientific papers and many book chapters. His H index in January 2021 reached 63 with 20654 quotations.

Dr Daniel Keene is a Senior Clinical Lecturer at Imperial College London and Consultant Electrophysiologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the Royal Free London Foundation NHS Trust.

He is a leader in the complex device field, a conduction system pacing pioneer and also has a significant interest in the development of innovative advanced ICD algorithms. He has published widely in these areas, he has delivered the largest His bundle pacing RCT to date and owns intellectual property relating to incorporating haemodynamic data into implantable devices.

Paulus Kirchhof is Director of the Department of Cardiology at the University Heart and Vascular Center UKE Hamburg and is Honorary Professor at the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham. He is listed in the Clarivate list of highly cited researchers.

Professor Kirchhof researches translational mechanisms and management of cardiovascular diseases with a special interest in atrial fibrillation, cardiomyopathies, and heart failure. He closely works with a network of collaborators and friends around the world. His research aims to translate new mechanistic findings into patient benefit, covering mechanistic research, translational studies, and large clinical trials. Professor Kirchhof chairs the Board of Atrial Fibrillation Network (AFNET) and sits on the Board of the European Society of Cardiology. He is an enthusiastic teacher, regular supervisor and examiner for MD and PhD students, and a sought-after speaker. He also contributes to guidelines, curricula, and textbooks. Professor Kirchhof sees amazing opportunities for personalised medicine in cardiovascular and other chronic diseases, particularly through the integration of “omics” information and other large data sets with clinical outcomes.

Andrew Krumerman, MD, is an attending physician in the Division of Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology at Montefiore Medical Center and a Professor of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Krumerman’s clinical focus has been ablation of complex atrial and ventricular arrhythmia. He is an early adopter of zero fluoroscopy catheter ablation and has mentored fellows on techniques that ensure minimal patient exposure to ionizing radiation during catheter ablation procedures. He is credited with developing several successful CIED programs at Bronx area hospitals where cardiac resynchronization and conduction system pacing techniques are employed.

Dr. Krumerman received his Bachelor of Science in Biology in 1992 from the University of Michigan. He received his Doctor of Medicine in 1996 from the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv, Israel, and in 1999, he completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 2003, Dr. Krumerman completed a fellowship in Cardiovascular Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his fellowship in Cardiac Electrophysiology at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University in 2004.

Dr. Krumerman is a founder of the Montefiore ECG Research Group. Through this forum, he has mentored medical students, residents and fellows interested in pursuing academic careers. His research focuses on disparities in health care, malignant early repolarization and sudden cardiac death, tools and techniques to minimize fluoroscopy during catheter ablation procedures and the development of artificial intelligence algorithms that improve health care delivery. He serves as a mentor for the Montefiore Biodesign Program and is one of the developers of the Pacer ID application.

Dr. Krumerman is actively sought out to collaborate with faculty both inside and outside of the Montefiore Health System. He served as an investigator in multicenter NIH-sponsored trials such as the CABANA study and The Women’s Health Study. He has also collaborated with the Sarcoidosis Clinical Research Group studying Sarcoidosis in World Trade Center exposed fire fighters. He has authored over 50 scientific papers and has served on the faculty of the IDSS since 2008.

Dr. Lampert received her medical degree from Vanderbilt University, did her residency at Bellevue/NYU, and completed her fellowship in cardiology and EP at Yale School of Medicine, where she is now a professor. Her research and clinical work focus on athletes, including ECG screening and evaluation of athletes with cardiovascular disease in discussion of return to play. She is active in many roles in the Heart Rhythm Society, American College of Cardiology, and American Heart Association.

My name Is Michal Laufer Perl (MD, MHA) and I’m the director of the cardio-vascular clinics and practicing in Heart Failure and Cardio-oncology in Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Israel. I’ve established the cardio-oncology clinic in our facility in 2016 which today is the largest clinic in Israel with 1300 visits per year. As part of the cardio-oncology clinic we established a prospective registry (ICOR) evaluating all the patients referred to the cardio-oncology clinics and counting for over 600 patients with a number of studies already published and presented in international conferences.

Randy A. Lieberman, MD FACC is a Professor of Medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit Michigan He completed fellowships in cardiology and electrophysiology at Case Western Reserve University , and  specialty training in pediatric congenital arrhythmia at University of South Carolina. He has previously been a faculty member at Case Western Reserve University and University of California-Berkley.

Dr. Lieberman joined the Wayne State University Faculty/Detroit Medical Center in 1999. He specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac rhythm disorders (arrhythmias) and heart failure and has a special interest in the treatment of atrial fibrillation and heart failure. He is a world-recognized expert in cardiac ablation, Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices (CIEDs), Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) and the precise placement of cardiac pacing electrodes within the heart. A sought-after lecturer and educator, Dr. Lieberman has been the recipient of many awards including Wayne State University School of Medicine  Distinguished Educator Award  and Department of Cardiology Teacher of the Year award.

Dr. Lieberman has been involved with development of novel therapies for patients with cardiac arrhythmia disorders, has written several books and a multiplicity of manuscripts involving diverse topics in the field electrophysiology.

Charles Love is director of the Johns Hopkins Cardiac Rhythm Device Service. Dr. Love is one of the foremost international authorities on pacemaker and implantable cardioverter defibrillator implantation and management. He manages patients with all types of heart rhythm disorders and has particular interest in lead extraction and lead management strategies, with an emphasis on new tools to reduce complications and strategies to reduce infection.

Dr. Metzner has been a Senior physician (Oberarzt) at the cardiac electrophysiology department at the Asklepios Klinik St. Georg in Hamburg, Germany, since 2013. He and his colleagues, under the leadership of Prof. Karl-Heinz Kuck, perform more than 2,000 cardiac ablations per year and are continuously engaged in the development and evaluation of innovative treatment options for cardiac arrhythmias.

Dr. Metzner is committed to teaching and is a European lecturer and an international expert in atrial fibrillation ablation. He is an established researcher and author, and has published and co-authored over 100 scientific papers. Dr. Metzner is a member of the German Cardiac Society and the European Heart Rhythm Association.

Personal History

Dr Natale is an American cardiologist and electrophysiologist known for his work in atrial fibrillation ablation. He was born in Syracuse, Italy and has been practising medicine in the United States and Italy for over 35 years.² His father, a physician, was a strong influence in his decision to choose cardiology.³

He is known as the first electrophysiologist in the US to perform certain types of ablations to help patients with atrial fibrillation and unable to heal with traditional ablation methods.² Dr Natale is proud of creating and expanding worldwide EPLive, which is a cutting edge, intensive meeting targeting practising electrophysiologists and fellows in training.⁴

He attributes his success to a healthy routine, starting his days very early regardless of the time zone. “After spending some time at the gym and having breakfast with my family, I spend several hours at the hospital visiting my patients and performing ablations,” he says.⁹ Outside work, he enjoys skiing and spending quality time with his wife and daughters.

Academic History¹

In 1985, Dr Natale graduated summa cum laude in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Florence Medical and Surgery School in Florence, Italy. He then continued his medical training by attending the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart’s School of Cardiology in Rome.

He did his internship in Internal Medicine there in 1986 and did Residencies in Cardiovascular Disease at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in 1989.

Dr Natale completed fellowships in Electrophysiology at the University of Wisconsin (1993), Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at the University of Western Ontario (1992) and Cardiovascular Disease at the University of Western Ontario (1990). He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease and Cardiac Electrophysiology.

His major research interests include clinical cardiac electrophysiology, mechanisms of defibrillation, signal-averaging, ablation treatment of supraventricular arrhythmias, the effects of thrombosis on platelet aggregation and TxA2 metabolites production in patients with unstable angina and post-myocardial infarction. Dr Natale’s ultimate goal is to benefit patients through assistive technologies, including specialised ablation catheters and robotic devices.

Career Overview

Dr Natale is the Executive Medical Director of Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, TX.⁶ He leads the institute as a researcher, academician and clinician, specialising in electrophysiology and cardiology.

Dr Natale pioneered a circumferential ultrasound vein-ablation system to correct atrial fibrillation. He also developed some of the current catheter-based cure strategies for atrial fibrillation.⁷ He holds a patent for an atrial fibrillation device and has authored milestone papers on pivotal projects, such as PABA and RAAFT.⁷

He continues to be involved in many first-in-human trials to test investigational devices, such as ablation catheters with contact force-sensing technology, three-dimensional intracardiac echocardiography ultrasound probes and novel left atrial appendage closure devices. He has recently performed the first pre-clinical and clinical studies to develop and perfect ablation catheters utilising a novel, groundbreaking ablation energy source known as irreversible electroporation. He has also performed the first of these cases in the USA.¹

Dr Natale has held faculty positions at various prestigious universities including Duke University, the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve, Stanford University and Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin.¹ He is the Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology, the longest-running Journal in this highly specialised field of cardiology.¹

Dr. Neuzil received his Doctor of Medicine from Charles University, Prague, in 1987, and his PhD in 2001. He did his residency in internal medicine at General Hospital Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, from 1989-1991 and a fellowship in cardiology at Heart Centrum, Bad Krozingen, from 1991-1993. He worked at Beth Israel Deaconnes Medical Center (1997, 1998) and Massachusetts General Hospital (1998-2000). Dr. Neuzil is the director of cardiac arrhythmia service Na Homolce Hospital, Prague, since 2004, where he became head of cardiology in 2009. He is the director of the animal laboratory at Charles University, since 2006, and an associate professor, since 2007. He was the director of Cardiac Arrhythmias Foundation, Prague, from 2005-2007, and is a consultant at the Technology School, Prague, since 2005. Dr. Neuzil’s achievements include the development of esophageal temperature probe, research in robotic cardiac catheterization, research in electromechanical robotic catheterization system Sensei and electromagnetic navigation Niobe, and research in balloon technology in catheter ablation technology, mainly laser energy. He is the editor of the journal Practicioner, a fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and a member of European Heart Rhythm Association and Heart Rhythm Society.

Jens Cosedis Nielsen

MD, PhD, DMSc, FESC, FEHRA

Professor of Cardiology, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University

Co-Director, Department of Cardiology, Aarhus University Hospital

Born 1964 in Denmark, Jens Cosedis Nielsen studied medicine at Aarhus University and obtained his MD in 1991. Defended his PhD thesis on optimal pacing mode in patients with sick sinus syndrome in 2000, and worked as a fellow in internal medicine and cardiology at Danish hospitals until 2004. Following a year at Herzzentrum Leipzig (2004-2005), Jens Cosedis Nielsen earned a position as Associate Consultant at the Department of Cardiology, Aarhus University Hospital in 2007. The same year, he defended his doctoral thesis on pacing mode selection in patients with sick sinus syndrome. In 2011, Jens Cosedis Nielsen was appointed Professor of Electrophysiology at Aarhus University, and from 2021 co-director of Department of Cardiology at Aarhus University Hospital. Professor Nielsen’s research group focuses primarily on device therapy, cardiac resynchronization therapy, device complications and outcome after device therapy, but also strives to improve catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation. Jens Cosedis Nielsen accounts for 274 publications in international journals, and has an H-index 44.

Dr. Olshansky is a clinical cardiac electrophysiologist who is directed several academic electrophysiology training programs and is presently in clinical practice evaluating patients with rhythm disturbances and autonomic disorders, performing catheter ablations, implanting devices, performing interventional electrophysiological procedures and continuing clinical research in the field of cardiac electrophysiology. Dr. Olshansky has been involved with development of novel therapies for patients with cardiac arrhythmia disorders, has written several books and a multiplicity of manuscripts involving diverse topics in the field electrophysiology. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa, an adjunct professor at Des Moines University, an electrophysiologist that Mercy Hospital-North Iowa and Mason City Iowa and electrophysiologist at Covenant Hospital in Waterloo Iowa. His training includes internship and residency at Bellevue/NYU hospitals, cardiology fellowship at the University of Iowa hospitals and clinics, and electrophysiology training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is had academic appointments at Case Western University, Loyola University Medical Center, University of Iowa and has been Professor of Medicine at the University of Iowa until he retired from that institution and is presently a professor emeritus. He has an active clinical practice and continues to train fellows, residents, medical staff and students in areas of his interest which include atrial fibrillation, syncope, autonomic disorders, arrhythmias in the athlete, implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy, cardiac resynchronization therapy, and pacemaker therapy. Recently, he has been involved with novel device implantation development, issues regarding the prevention of atherosclerosis, issues regarding athletics, autonomic dysfunction, sleep apnea issues, rate responsive pacing, atrial fibrillation management, anticoagulation and many others. He was chairman of the data safety monitoring board for the REDUCE-IT trial and is the co-coordinator of the GLORIA-AF trial. He has been involved with issues regarding the benefits and effects of placebo and the use of complementary and alternative medicine to treat patients. He is a hands-on patient oriented clinician was a practical sense for the development and direction of novel therapies and has been outspoken on therapeutic advances and issues in cardiovascular research.

Douglas L. Packer, MD
Professor of Medicine
John M. Nasseff, Sr., Professorship in Cardiology
Director, Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology Research Laboratories

Douglas L. Packer, MD, is a Professor of Medicine, and the John M. Nasseff, Sr., Professor in Cardiovascular Diseases in the Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Division of Cardiac Electrophysiology, at Mayo Clinic Rochester. He is Director of the Translational Electrophysiology Research Laboratory. Dr. Packer is internationally known in cardiac electrophysiology.

He received the MD degree at the University of Utah and completed an internship, residency and fellowship at Duke University, where he was on staff before coming to Mayo. His honors and awards include the ACC 2019 Distinguished Scientist Award (Translational) (2019), the Distinguished Service Award from Brigham Young University, the Haskel Schiff Award in Internal Medicine from Duke University, the Eric Prystowsky Advocate for Patients Award, and a variety of Visiting Professorship awards.

Dr. Packer is active in the Heart Rhythm Society where he is a past president and member of the Board of Trustees. He is also active in the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. He has served/currently serves on editorial boards for the Circulation Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology, American Heart Journal, the Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, Heart Rhythm journal, and the (EP) Journal of the American College of Cardiology. He also has served on multiple National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute work groups on atrial fibrillation, ablation and planning for future NIH studies.

Dr. Packer has been an active teacher and mentor, and also lectures widely on cardiac arrhythmias. He has written or co-authored more than 379 publications. He has lectured extensively in national and international meetings, giving over 1,872 invited lectures in 41 countries. He has served on the executive committee of a number of NIH multicenter randomized clinical trials, Including the MUSTT, SCD-HeFT, and HAT Trials. Dr. Packer is also the International Principal Investigator of the recently reported NIH CABANA Trial. In this capacity he led the consortium of centers directing the trial. He is the PI of the Thermedical VT Needle Electrode study, and on the Executive Committee of the LESS VT Study.

Dr. Packer is a Mayo Clinician Investigator. His translational work focuses on the mechanisms and ablation of atrial fibrillation and other cardiac arrhythmias, autologous fibroblast modulation of electrical impulse propagation in the heart, and the development of carbon particle catheter-free ablation of arrhythmias. His clinical work investigates 4/5 dimensional integrated image-guided ablation, and the development of new energy sources for the modification of cardiac tissue. His work has been funded in part by private foundations, the American Heart Association, and the NIH.

A key part of his research is the development of the US Catheter Free Particle Therapy Ablation Program. He is also the PI of the Extracorporeal Particle Therapy Ablation Using Proton and Carbon Beams, that is currently under way. Dr. Packer holds US and European patents in the development of intracardiac ultrasound and 4/5D imaging, and particle therapy ablation.

Robert H. Pass is Professor of Pediatrics and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital. He is Co-Director of the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Heart Center, and Director of Pediatric Electrophysiology at the Mount Sinai Health System. Dr. Pass’s area of clinical focus is catheter-based therapy including ablation of arrhythmias, medical management of arrhythmias, pacemaker and ICD insertion and care, interventional cardiology procedures for children and adults with CHD including valvuloplasty, ASD PFO closure, stents and transcatheter valves as well as general pediatric and adult congenital cardiology. He received his medical degree from Boston University and was a student in the accelerated 6 year combined BA/MD program graduating in 1991. He performed his residency in pediatrics at NY Hospital – Cornell University and pediatric cardiology fellowship as well as separate fellowships in pediatric interventional cardiology and pediatric cardiac electrophysiology at Boston Children’s Hospital – Harvard University. Following this, Dr. Pass worked at NY Presbyterian – Columbia and Cornell for over 10 years where he was the Director of Pediatric Electrophysiology. He then moved onto the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore – Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he was Associate Chief of Pediatric Cardiology as well as the Director of the Pediatric Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory as well as Pediatric Cardiac Electrophysiology. Dr. Pass is well known in the US as a master clinician in the field of pediatric and congenital electrophysiology and there are over 10 pediatric electrophysiologists in the US who ‘got their start’ under his tutelage. He is a master teacher and has mentored many cardiology trainees over the past 20+ years. He is the author of nearly 100 original articles in the fields of pediatric cardiology, mostly in pediatric electrophysiology and interventional cardiology and is an Associate Editor of the Journal PACE as well as Associate Editor of the Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology. He is often invited to speak at international meetings on the topic of pediatric electrophysiology. In addition to his clinical work, he is also well known throughout the field of pediatric cardiovascular medicine as he is the host of a weekly podcast on this topic called Pediheart: Pediatric Cardiology Today which is available for free on iTunes, Spotify and Stitcher and listened to throughout the world with nearly 400,000 downloads.

Eric Rosenthal was appointed as consultant paediatric and adult congenital cardiologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in 1996 after training in both adult and paediatric cardiology at Guy’s Hospital.

He is the clinical lead for the congenital electrophysiology service.

He regularly lectures both nationally and internationally on:

• paediatric cardiology
• interventional catheterisation
• electrophysiology
• radiofrequency ablation
• pacemaker and defibrillator implantation.

He has written more than 200 journal articles and chapters in textbooks of paediatric cardiology and interventional catheterisation.

Frederic Sacher is professor of cardiology at Bordeaux University in France. He has been trained in electrophysiology at Bordeaux University hospital and did a fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He works in the team of Michel Haissaguerrre and Pierre Jais and is specialized in ventricular arrhythmias ablation. He is the director of the unit for inherited arrhythmic disease. His research topics are ventricular tachycardia ablation and inherited arrhythmic disease.

Dr. Melvin Scheinman, one of the pioneers of cardiac electrophysiology (the study of the heart’s electrical activity), was the first to perform catheter ablation on humans. His team was instrumental in developing radiofrequency energy applications for cardiac arrhythmias. Scheinman and his colleagues also developed techniques for better understanding the mechanisms and treatment of cardiac rhythm disorders in patients with inappropriate sinus tachycardia – a condition in which resting heart rate is abnormally high – and to cure patients with automatic junctional tachycardia, in which one area of the heart is leading to a too-fast beat.

Scheinman currently directs the cardiac genetic arrhythmia program, which is devoted to discovering new genes related to heart rhythm disorders.

Scheinman grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and earned an undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University, where he graduated first in his class. His medical education included Albert Einstein College of Medicine, residency training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and cardiology training at UCSF Medical Center.

Dr. Shivkumar received his medical degree from the University of Madras, India in 1991 and his PhD from UCLA in 2000. He completed his cardiology fellowship training at the University of California, Los Angeles, and upon completion of his training joined the faculty at University of Iowa, where he also served as the Associate Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology.

In 2002, he was recruited back to UCLA to direct the newly created UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. His field of specialization is interventional cardiac electrophysiology and he heads a group at UCLA that is involved in developing innovative techniques for the non-pharmacological management of cardiac arrhythmias.

He is currently Professor of Medicine and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Radiology at UCLA.

Dr. Shivkumar is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in the subspecialties of Cardiovascular Disease and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology.

He holds memberships in several professional organizations, including the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology and the Heart Rhythm Society.

Dr. Ronn Tanel is a pediatric electrophysiologist, a specialist in treating cardiac arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms) in fetuses, infants, children, adolescents and young adults. He also cares for children with congenital heart disease who develop arrhythmias. His expertise includes treatments such as radiofrequency catheter ablation, cryoablation, pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators. He serves as director of the UCSF Pediatric and Congenital Arrhythmia Center.

In his research, Tanel focuses on arrhythmias that occur following repair of congenital heart disease and on understanding the natural history of arrhythmias in children. He also is interested in long-term follow-up for children who have undergone catheter ablation therapy.

Tanel earned his medical degree at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He completed a residency in pediatric medicine at the University of California, San Diego. He completed a pediatric cardiology fellowship and training in pediatric electrophysiology at Boston Children’s Hospital.

From 1998 to 2008, Tanel was an electrophysiologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Tanel is a member of the Heart Rhythm Society, Pediatric & Congenital Electrophysiology Society and American Heart Association.

Dr. Paul C. Zei is a cardiac electrophysiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he is Director of the Comprehensive Atrial Fibrillation Program. Dr. Zei is a graduate of Stanford University, after which he completed postgraduate training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

He performs complex ablation and device implantation, with a focus on atrial ablation. He has pioneered and advocated the reduction and elimination of fluoroscopy during catheter-based procedures, publishing and speaking on this topic extensively.