Tirone David - Canada

Dr Tirone E. David is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto, an attending cardiac surgeon at Toronto General Hospital, and the holder of the Melanie Munk Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery. Dr David has published over 388 scientific papers, 51 chapters in medical textbooks as well as 5 surgical textbooks. He has developed numerous operative procedures to treat patients with heart valve disease, complications of myocardial infarction, and thoracic aneurysms. He has been a member of the editorial board of several medical journals. Dr David is a member of numerous surgical and medical societies and honorary member of the European Cardio-Thoracic Association, the Brazilian Cardiovascular Society, the Italian Society for Cardiac Surgery, the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association, the German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular, and the Society of Cardiac Surgeons. He was President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in 2004-2005. He received the Order of Ontario in 1993 and the Order of Canada in 1996. He was elected University Professor in 2004, the highest honour the University of Toronto bestows to its professors.” Doctor David has received numerous other national and international awards related to his career as a cardiac surgeon. 

Gry Dahle - Norway

Consultant, Dept. of Cardiothoracic- and vascular Surgery, Rikshospitalet, Oslo University HospitalDr Dahle is a female cardiac surgeon with special interest in new Innovations, cardiac catheter treatment, heart failure and imaging. She is Europe Director in the board of ISMICS, in the task force for Catheter treatment in EACTS and just finished her duty in the Techno College task force also in EACTS. For several years she has been in the faculty of CSI meeting Frankfurt and also in the HF-CSI. This year she completed CAS leadership course in Zurich on mitral and tricuspid treatment. She is the PI of Tendyne study in Norway and also a proctor for Tendyne (Abbott). She is in the Board of Medical Societies in the Norwegian Medical Association and is the president of the Norwegian Association for Cardiothoracic surgery. At the end of this year she will defend her thesis on “Implementation of transcatheter aortic valve implantation: clinical, patient experience, economical and occupational hazard issues.In collaboration with Sopra Steria she has a project on HoloLens making an app for cardiac procedural planning. 

David Taggart - UK

David Taggart is currently Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Oxford. He qualified from Glasgow University in 1981 and in 1989 was awarded an MD with Honours for studies on the effects of hypothermia on the metabolic response to cardiac surgery. David subsequently trained as the Senior Registrar at the Royal Brompton Hospital under Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub and Mr Lincoln. In 1995, he was appointed consultant cardiac surgeon at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where he obtained a PhD (from Strathclyde University, Glasgow) for studies of the inflammatory response during cardiac surgery. In 2004, he was appointed Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Oxford. His main interest is coronary revascularization including the evidence basis for percutaneous vs. surgical revascularization [coronary artery bypass graft (CABG)]. With respect to CABG, his surgical interests are in the use of multiple arterial grafts, off pump surgery, and quality assessment of grafts in the operating room. Over the last few years, he has been the lead surgical investigator for clinical trials assessing the potential efficacy of external stents for vein grafts to mitigate long-term failure.

Gebrine El Khoury - Belgium

Kevin Teoh - Canada

Timo Weimar - Germany

Timo Weimar, MD, works as cardiac surgeon at Sana Cardiac Surgery Stuttgart in Germany. He is specialized in aortic surgery as well as the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation. He was trained at Sana Stuttgart by Nicolas Doll, MD, and at Washington University St. Louis by Ralph J. Damiano, MD. Besides different types of concomitant ablation techniques he also performs stand-alone procedures, including minimally invasive Maze IV procedures, endoscopic left atrial ablation on the beating heart and  endoscopic left atrial appendage management.  He has trained surgeons in more then 50 centers worldwide in those techniques and published extensively in peer-reviewed journals on this topic.

Michael Moon - Canada

Dr. Moon has a keen interest in surgery of the thoracic aorta, including aortic root, arch and descending thoracic aortic repair.  Dr. Moon is trained in advanced endovascular techniques to treat many aortic pathologies. His particular interests focus on aortic dissection pathology and aneurysmal disease. In addition, he is interested in minimally invasive surgery of the aortic and mitral valve, and re-do surgical procedures.