STEERING COMMITTEE
Jan Piek
Previously a Stent – Save a Life! Ambassador – with a very active role in different regions of the world – Prof Jan Piek accepted to take over the role of Stent – Save a Life!
Managing Director of the Heart Centre of the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) between 2008 and 2019, Prof Jan Piek is now leading the Acute Cardiac Care department of the newly created Amsterdam University Medical Centre. His well-acknowledged experience led him to be a reviewer of the ESC guidelines and protocols on myocardial revascularisation and is also much sought out in the national public affairs like in the medical industry.
Past president of the Dutch Working Group of Interventional cardiology and a fellow of the ESC, ACC and AHA, Prof Jan Piek is also the editor-in-chief of the Netherlands Heart Journal (2018) boasting a personal extensive record of publication in peer-review journals.
Prof Piek is also working on the development of a travel digital application – a collaboration between the University of Amsterdam and Stent – Save a Life! – aiming at assisting cardiac patients during their stay abroad.
Thomas Alexander
Currently holding the position of Consultant and Interventional Cardiologist as well as Head of Division of Cardiology at the Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital in Coimbatore, India, Dr Thomas Alexander obtained his undergraduate, post graduate and super-specialty training in cardiology from the Christian Medical College in Vellore, India. He worked there as a Lecturer in Cardiology from 1989 to 1991 and then at the Epworth Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, as a Fellow in Cardiology until 1993.
Since May 1993, he has been working at the Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital in Coimbatore, initially as a Consultant and then as the Head of the division of Cardiology. During this period, he has been able to establish a very active interventional unit in that hospital and one of the leading STEMI centres in the country with approximately 3,500 procedures performed each year, including over 1,500 cardiac interventions of which approximately 700 primary PCI procedures.
Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the Indian College of Cardiology and the Cardiological Society of India, Dr Thomas Alexander has published over 60 papers in various national and international journals and is also a Faculty at many national and international workshops and meetings (ACC, AHA, TCT, EuroPCR).
Dr Thomas Alexander has established the not-for-profit organisation STEMI INDIA along with Dr Ajit Mullasari and is the Course Director of the STEMI INDIA meeting which is an international event focused on STEMI care. Recognised as a pioneer in research for the development of STEMI systems of care, his initial work in the Tamilnadu STEMI programme resulted in the adoption of the programme by the National Health Mission with comparable projects being initiated in other Indian states. STEMI India is also assisting other countries to implement a similar programme that is currently acknowledged as the Global STEMI Model for Low and Middle-Income countries.
Christoph K. Naber
Dr. Naber is an active member of the PCR family. He is the course-co-director of EuroPCR and PCR London Valves, and course-director of AsiaPCR. He has served as a member of the executive board of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), and is a member of the editorial boards of EuroIntervention and AsiaIntervention. Dr. Christoph Naber is a past-chairman of the German Working Group of Interventional Cardiology (AGIK/DGK)
Europe
Helder Pereira
Dr. Hélder Pereira is currently Senior Consultant Cardiologist, Director of the Cardiology Department and the Interventional Cardiology Unit of Garcia de Orta Hospital, Almada, Portugal.
He graduated from the University of Lisbon, Faculty of Medicine in 1983 and received his specialist cardiology training at Santa Marta Hospital, Lisbon in 1992. He then trained in interventional cardiology at the Hospital Clinic, Barcelona in 1993-4.
He received a Master in Management of Health Services at the ISCTE, Business School, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, and his PhD degree from the University of Lisbon, Faculty of Medicine.
Dr. Pereira was a directing member of the Haemodynamics and Interventional Cardiology working group of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology (2002-03) and its Chairman between 2003 and 2005. He was also Secretary of the Portuguese Association of Cardiovascular Interventions (2010-11) and President between 2011 and 2015.
Having held the position of Portugal Country Champion for the Stent – Save a Life! global initiative between 2011 and 2017, Dr. Pereira was recently appointed Regional Champion to promote primary PCI for STEMI in Europe.His special interests include interventional cardiology (reperfusion therapy strategies, pathophysiology of acute coronary syndromes and coronary imaging) and health care management.
Gabor Toth
Dr. Gabor G. Toth is currently staff-member Interventional Cardiologist at the University Heart Centre Graz, Medical University Graz, Austria. He graduated from the University of Szeged, Hungary in 2007 then started his training in the Hungarian Institute of Cardiology, Budapest. During his interventional training, he spent three years in the Cardiovascular Research Centre Aalst, Belgium, before joining the team in Austria.
He was appointed Chairman of the EAPCI New Initiatives for Young Interventionalists Committee between 2016 and 2018. During the year 2017, he also acted as Ambassador for the Stent – Save a Life! global initiative before transitioning recently into the role of Regional Champion to promote primary PCI for STEMI in Europe.
His special interests include interventional cardiology and coronary physiology.
Asia Pacific
Michael Lee
Dr Michael K. Y. Lee is currently the Consultant Cardiologist and Director of Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong, Honorary Clinical Associate Professor of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong and the Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong.
He graduated from The University of Hong Kong in 1991. He received his overseas training in Interventional Cardiology at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA from 1999 – 2000. In 2010, Dr. Lee established the Hong Kong Society of Transcatheter Endo-cardiovascular Therapeutics (HKSTENT) and became its Founding President. He is the Chairman of the Central Committee (Cardiac Service) of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority and has also been appointed the Chairman of the Research Committee of the Asian Pacific Society of Interventional Cardiology (APSIC) and serves as the Chairman of the Asia Pacific TAVI Registry Steering Committee.
His special interests include Interventional Cardiology (Coronary and Structural Heart Interventions) and AMI/ACS management. Recently, he was appointed the Regional Champion for Asia of the Stent – Save a Life! global initiative to promote primary PCI for STEMI in Asia.
In Queen Elizabeth Hospital, he helped to establish the TAVI and Structural Heart Program and performed the first TAVI case in Hong Kong in 2010. He is currently helping the Hospital Authority to establish primary PCI program and TAVI program in Hong Kong. He is also actively involved in the planning of the New Acute Hospital in Kai Tak area.
Africa
Awad Mohamed
In addition to being Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at the El Shaab Teaching Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan, Dr Awad Mohamed has been Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Khartoum University since 2012 and also leads the Cardiology Department at the Royal Care International Hospital in Khartoum.
Having graduated (BMBS) from the University of Gezira, Sudan, Dr Awad Mohamed received his overseas medical training in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland where he obtained the Certificate of Specialist Training in Cardiology (CST) from the Irish Medical Council and his MD degree in Cardiology from the Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Dr Awad Mohamed strives to provide cardiology care in his part of the world as per the current best evidence-based standards of care. Having performed the first primary angioplasty in Sudan in 2007, he also pioneered the 1st live transmission of PCI in the country for the Sudan Heart Society meeting in October 2017.
He has been co-Director for AfricaPCR since 2015 and holds a fellowship of both the Royal College of Physicians of London (FRCP) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). He additionally is Chairperson for PASCAR Intervention Taskforce, Foreign Affairs Head for Sudan Cardiology Training program and President of Sudan Heart Society.
Despite being an all-rounder cardiologist, his core interest and expertise are in coronary intervention and acute coronary syndromes and his research activities include some key projects such as the first STEMI national database registry in Sudan (2016) and the Essential Medications Survey in Africa (2016, AHN).
Dr Awad Mohamed is also the Stent – Save a Life! Country Champion for Sudan having actively contributed to the enrolment of his country into the global initiative in 2018.
Adriaan Snyders
Dr. Frederik Adriaan Snyders (MMed. FACC. FESC) matriculated in 1972 at Bellville High School. He went to University of Stellenbosch where he achieved his MBChB and MMed. He did his Cardiology Subspecialty Registration at the University Pretoria.
He is currently in private practice at Wilgers Hospital in Pretoria with his main interest in radial artery access coronary intervention and STEMI Early Reperfusion.
He is the past President of South African Heart Association and is the current STEMI South Africa National Champion where they are working in conjunction with ESC and STEMI India on a national program to promote improved systems of care for STEMI management in South Africa.
South & Latin America
Jorge Belardi
Dr. Jorge Belardi completed his medical degree at the University of Buenos Aires, Faculty of Medicine, in December 1971 and is a Cardiologist and Interventional Cardiologist in Argentina. Having trained at Cleveland Clinic Foundation (Cleveland, USA), Dr. Belardi is currently Director of the Division of Cardiology at Instituto Cardiovascular de Buenos Aires as well as Head of Cardiovascular Department at Sanatorio Anchorena, Buenos Aires.
He became specialised in Clinical Cardiology in 1985 and in Interventional Cardiology from 1989. He was also Director of the Interventional Cardiology Sector at Instituto Cardiovascular de Buenos Aires from 1995 to 2012.
Dr. Jorge Belardi is a member of a number of societies, namely: Sociedad Argentina de Cardiología (SAC), Stent – Save a Life! (SSL), Sociedad Latino Americana de Cardiología Intervencionista (SOLACI), European Society of Cardiology (ESC), Colegio Argentino de Cardiología Intervencionista (CACI), American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the International Andreas Grüentzig Society (IAGS).
Jorge Mayol
Dr. Jorge Mayol, MD, is currently a Consultant Cardiologist and the Co-Director of Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the Centro Cardiológico Americano in Montevideo, Uruguay. He graduated from the UDELAR, University of Montevideo-Uruguay in 1987 and received his overseas training in Interventional Cardiology at UAB in Birmingham, Alabama, USA in 1991.
In Sanatorio Americano, he leads the TAVI and Structural Heart Program having performed the first TAVI case in Uruguay in 2010. In the last years, he worked with the Uruguayan Society of Cardiology and the Ministry of Health to establish the National Primary Reperfusion and PCI Program in Uruguay.
He has been the Director of the Regional Conferences of SOLACI (Latin American Society of Interventional Cardiology) since 2015, developing educational activities throughout the continent. His special interests include Interventional Cardiology (Coronary and Structural Heart Interventions) and AMI/ACS management. He was recently appointed co-Regional Champion of LATAM for the Stent–Save a Life! global initiative with the objective to promote access to primary PCI for STEMI patients in Latin America.
Ambassadors
Fina Mauri
Dr Fina Mauri is the Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the Hospital Universitari Germans Trias I Pujol, Barcelona, Spain, where she was appointed when the Laboratory Unit was formed in 2000.
Dr Fina Mauri received her MD from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 1982, completed her internship from Hospital Universitari Bellvitge, L´Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain, and obtained her PhD from the Universitat de Barcelona in 1992. At the Hospital de Bellvitge, University of Barcelona, she first worked in the Coronary Care Unit (1989–1991) then in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory (1992–1999).
Dr Fina Mauri’s relevant clinical research experience spans both realms of cardiology and interventional cardiology: dilated cardiomyopathy, endothelial dysfunction, IVUS, computers in cardiology, 3D reconstruction in interventional cardiology, gender-based issues in PCI, complex PCI, primary PCI among others.
In addition to her clinical research practice, Dr Fina Mauri was President of the Spanish Working Group on IVUS (Spanish Society of Cardiology) from 2003 to 2005 then President of the Spanish Working Group on PCI (Spanish Society of Cardiology) from 2006 to 2009. She has been a member of the EuroPCR Program Committee since 2014 and actively involved from the early days of the Stent for Life initiative as the first Spanish country champion before becoming an ambassador for South America and Mexico.
Since 2015 Dr Fina Mauri has held the role of “Pla director de malalties de l’aparell circulatori (PDMAC)” for the Health Department of the Government of Catalonia. She was also involved in the creation of the Catalan AMI network (CODI INFART) ten years ago and has been an Advisory Council member of the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS) since 2017.
Besides being the Chair of the EAPCI Advocacy Pillar, Dr Fina Mauri held the title of the Chair of the EAPCI Women Committee (European Society of Cardiology) from 2016 through 2018 and has recently been appointed Chair of the new EAPCI Patient Initiatives Committee.
Dr Fina Mauri also works on a voluntary basis in an orphanage in Nepal where she coordinates a voluntary team of social workers.
She is the recipient of the Rotary Club Reus Award 2016 and was awarded a Grant from the European Society of Cardiology for Women Transforming Leadership program in 2016 too.
Mohamed Sobhy
Professor Mohamed Sobhy is the president of Cardiovascular Research, Education, Prevention (CVREP) and the past-president of the Egyptian Society of Cardiology. He is also, since 2002, the chairman of the CardioAlex Conference – the annual meeting of the Cardiology department of the University of Alexandria.
Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the European Society of Cardiology as well as of the Emory University Hospital (USA), the Henry Ford Institute (USA), and the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), Professor Mohamed Sobhy is also a board member of the Working Group of Interventional Cardiology and an active member of the Middle-East Focus of the American College of Cardiology – having held the Vice-President position in 2012. Since 2010, he is the founder and governor of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) chapter and of various other advisory boards. More recently, in 2017, he became the Middle-East/Africa representative of the Assembly of International Governors’ Steering Committee created by the ACC.
Professor Mohamed Sobhy has been Country Champion for the Stent for Life (SFL) programme in Egypt till 2015 and holds, since then, an ambassador role for the more global Stent – Save a Life! (SSL) initiative.
Partner representatives (non-voting)
Paul Mead
Dragica Paunovic
