Authors & Content

The afibmatters.org website has been developed under the direction of the European Heart Rhythm Association of the European Society of Cardiology.

The content of this website is original and is based on recommendations in accordance with European Practice Guidelines.

Task Force:

DR. MARIA GRAZIA BONGIORNI

Dr. Maria Grazia Bongiorni is a certified Associate Professor of Cardiology and she is Director of the Arrhythmology Division of Cardiothoracic Department at University Hospital of Pisa. Dr. Bongiorni is the head of an International Referral Center for Biventricular, ICD and PM Implant, Transvenous Lead Extraction, Catheter Ablation. EHRA member, worked in several committee and served as Chair the European Lead Extraction ConTRolled (ELECTRa) Registry.

DR. FRANCISCO MOSCOSO COSTA

Dr. Francisco Moscoso Costa currently works as cardiologist-electrophysiologist at Hospital Sta Cruz and Hospital da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal. His main clinical interest is mapping and ablation of cardiac arrhythmias. He completed the Diploma of Advanced Studies in Cardiac Arrhythmia Management (Maastricht University, European Heart Academy and European Heart Rhythm Association) in 2018.

Dr. Costa contributed to the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) as Portuguese ambassador for the young electrophysiologists (2016-2020), as chair of the EHRA e-Communication committee (2019-2020) and as member of the Scientific Program Committee of the EHRA congress (2019-2020).

In his home country, he was treasurer of the Portuguese Arrhythmia, Pacing and Electrophysiology Association (2017-2019), chair of the thrombosis and platelet working group of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology (2017-2019) and member of the organizing committee for the Portuguese Cardiology Congress (2018-2019).

DR. NATASJA DE GROOT

Prof. Dr. Natasja MS de Groot, works as cardiologist-electrophysiologist at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She is director of the laboratory of translational electrophysiology and principal investigator of the Academic Center of Excellence of Atrial Fibrillation and the Medical Delta Cardiac Arrhythmia Lab. She founded together with Prof. Dr. B. Brundel the Atrial Fibrillation Innovation Platform, a foundation aimed at co-creating research projects together with patients.

PROF. JEAN-CLAUDE DEHARO

Jean-Claude Deharo is professor of cardiology at Aix-Marseille Université (France). He heads the department of cardiac electrophysiology of the academic hospital La Timone (Marseille, France), which is particularly involved in the interventional management of arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation. Pr Deharo also chairs for many years the Provence Cardiology Association which is a cardiac patients’ association aimed at rehabilitation. He is patients’ coordinator at the level of EHRA.

DR. MAXIM DIDENKO

Maxim Didenko MD, PhD is a Head of department of interventional arrhythmology and associated professor in the Military Medical Academy, St. Petersburg, Russia; member of the EHRA Educational committee from 2015. He has authored over 100 journal articles and book chapters on management of arrhythmias, cardiac devices and clinical electrophysiology. He developed and now editor of the website for doctors and patients – Cardioschool.ru. He perform more then 150 EP procedures per year during more then 15 years (ablations and implantations of cardiac implantable electronic devices).

DR. DAVID DUNCKER

David Duncker is a senior consultant cardiologist and electrophysiologist. He is deputy head of Hannover Heart Rhythm Center at the Department of Cardiology and Angiology at Hannover Medical School. He has achieved national certification of the national cardiac society for “special rhythmology – EP and devices” as well as EHRA certification as a device specialist. In 2018, he has become private lecturer at Hannover Medical School.

DR. MARK EARLEY

Dr. Earley is an experienced electrophysiologist based at the Barts Heart Centre, St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. He has a particular clinical and research interest in the mapping and ablation of atrial fibrillation. He is part of the team that developed the AF Companion app to assist patients with AF deciding on their best treatment.

DR. CHRISTIAN ELSNER

Christian Elsner is an MD and studied Business Administration and Human medicine in Leipzig and Chicago. Christian has over 100 scientific publications in the field of health economics and eHealth. He worked for more than 15 years in different management positions and is CFO and member of the board of the university clinic of Mainz in Germany.

MR. REINDER EVERTZ

Dr. R. Evertz is a Cardiologist working full-time as an Electrophysiologist in the Radboudumc, a university hospital in the Netherlands. He is member of the Dutch Society of Cardiology and European Heart and Rhythm Association.

DR. RODRIGUE GARCIA

Dr. Rodrigue Garcia is a cardiologist at the University Hospital of Poitiers, France. He has a clinical and research interest into atrial fibrillation.

DR. FEDERICO GUERRA

Dr. Federico Guerra is an Associate Professor of Cardiology at the Marche Polytechnic University and works as a Consultant Cardiologist at the University Hospital in Ancona, Italy. His main area of interest is the interplay between cardiac arrhythmias and heart failure.

DR. BARBARA KOMMATA

Dr. Barbara Kommata is a full-time cardiologist-electrophysiologist working at the Arrhythmia Center, Department of Cardiology at Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden. She has also a particular clinical and research interest for cardiac genetics and arrhythmogenic syndromes.

DR. DEIRDRE LANE

Deirdre Lane, PhD is a Reader in Cardiovascular Health at the University of Birmingham, UK. Her major research interest is atrial fibrillation, particularly focussing on patient education and patients’ perceptions of the condition and anticoagulation treatment, and how atrial fibrillation affects quality of life and emotional well-being.

PROF. JEAN-YVES LE HEUZEY

Professor Jean-Yves Le Heuzey is Professor of Cardiology, Georges Pompidou Hospital, René Descartes University in Paris. He is an arrhythmologist, his main topic is atrial fibrillation, especially in the fields of pharmacological treatments, antiarrhythmic and antithrombotic drugs. Professor Le Heuzey is the past president of the French Society of Cardiology (presidency 2016 -2017). He has given over 450 lectures including 160 for international audiences, and written near 250 papers.

PROF. GREGORY YH LIP

Prof. Lip is Professor at the Liverpool Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Liverpool and Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital, Liverpool, United Kingdom. He has a longstanding clinical and research interest into atrial fibrillation.

PROF. DOMINIK LINZ

Dominik Linz is a consultant clinician (Academisch Ziekenhuis Maastricht), clinical scientist (Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide) and Visiting Professor at the University of Copenhagen who focusses on understanding the mechanisms underlying atrial fibrillation and cardiovascular risk factors.

PROFESSOR ANTONIO HERNANDEZ MADRID

Professor Antonio Hernandez Madrid is a senior cardiologist and electrophysiologist. He is currently Associate Professor of Cardiology at Alcala University and Electrophysiologist at Ramon y Cajal Hospital in Madrid, Spain.

He has extensive experience in multiple clinical evaluations and randomized clinical trials.

DR. MARTIN MARTINEK

Senior Consultant for Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Angiology, and Intensive Care Medicine. European Accreditation for EP, PM, and ICD (EHRA).

Head of Device Therapy Department, Ordensklinikum Linz Elisabethinen, Linz, Austria. Electrophysiologist at Ordensklinikum Linz Elisabethinen and University Hospital St. Pölten, Austria.

Main research areas: Atrial Fibrillation and Ablation of Ventricular Tachycardias.

DR. CHRISTIAN MEYER

Christian Meyer, MD, MA, is professor of clinical cardiac electrophysiology at the University Heart Center Hamburg where about 2000 ablation procedures per year are performed to treat patients with cardiac arrhythmias. His major clinical and research interest are lifestyle-related and interventional possibilities to promote heart rhythm health, especially in patients with structural heart disease. He is part of a team having developed the “AFib Companion” app for empowerment of patients with atrial fibrillation.

ASSOCIATE PROF. LIDIJA POPOSKA

Dr. Poposka is full-time cardiologist working at the arrhythmia department in the University Clinic of Cardiology, Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia. Associate professor of Internal Medicine, Cardiology and Fundamentals of scientific research at Medical Faculty.

PROF. HELMUT PUERERFELLNER

Dr. Pürerfellner is a full-time cardiologist heading the Department of Electrophysiology in the Ordensklinikum KH der Elisabethinen in Linz/Austria. The department is a well known institution for the treatment of all kinds of arrhythmias accepting patients from Austria and abroad. He is heavily involved in EHRA affairs serving as the current Treasurer in the Executive Board.

PROF. RICHARD SCHILLING

Professor Schilling established the arrhythmia research program at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. He has a busy clinical practice specialising in interventional ablation for complex arrhythmia. He was one of the team that led the successful merger of the Heart Hospital and Barts trust cardiovascular units to form the biggest cardiovascular centre in the UK. He now serves as the clinical director for strategy and commercial for Barts Hospital. He is the medical director for the Arrhythmia Alliance and the Atrial Fibrillation association, two international charities supporting patients with heart rhythm problems through education and influencing government policy.

DR. DIPEN SHAH

Professor Dipen Shah is the director of cardiac electrophysiology at the University Hospitals Geneva. He specialises in catheter ablation of complex arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation, atypical flutters and VT with structural heart disease as well as clinical research for these arrhythmias and in developing new ablation technologies.

PROF. CHRISTIAN STICHERLING

Dr. Sticherling heads of the arrhythmia unit at the University Hospital of Basel in Switzerland. He runs a busy atrial fibrillation clinic and overlooks one of the busiest ablation programs in the country. Another area of interest is pacemaker, defibrillator and CRT therapy as well as the prevention of sudden cardiac death.

DR. EMMA SVENBERG

Dr. Svennberg is currently upholding a combined research and clinical position in the department of Cardiology at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. Her main clinical and research interests lie within the topic of digital screening for atrial fibrillation

MELLANIE TRUE HILLS

Mellanie True Hills is an atrial fibrillation patient, internationally-known author, non-profit founder and CEO, and passionate advocate for patients. She is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of StopAfib.org, a global atrial fibrillation patient advocacy organization with a mission to rid the world of strokes.

MELLANIE TRUE HILLS

THE TRANSLATION OF THIS WEBSITE FOR PATIENTS, HAS BEEN REVIEWED BY:

English: Dr. Heather Edwards (nominated by the British Heart Rhythm Society (BHRS))
French : Groupe de travail de Rythmologie et stimulation cardiaque – Prof. Jacques Mansourati & Dr. Jérôme Taieb
Italian : Associazione Italiana Aritmologia e Cardiostimolazione (AIAC) – Dr. Renato Ricci
Spanish: Sociedad Espanola de Cardiologia / Seccion de Electrofisiologia y Arritmias – Prof. José M Guerra Ramos
German : German Working Group on Cellular Electrophysiology – Prof. Niels Voigt
Portuguese : Associação Portuguesa de Arritmologia, Pacing e Electrofisiologia (APAPE) – Prof. Mario M. Oliveira
Swedish : Arbetsgruppen för arytmi – Dr. Dritan Poci
Russian : Russian Arrhythmia Society of Clinical Electrophysiology, Arrhythmology and Cardiac Pacing – Dr. Vladislav Kuptsov
Polish : Sekcja Rytmu Serca Polskiego Towarzystwa Kardiologicznego – Prof. Maciej Sterlinsk
Chinese : Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society and Chinese Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology – Doctor Fengxiang Zhang
Dutch : Netherlands Heart Rhythm Association (NHRA) – Doctor Cor Allaart
Greek : Dr. Kostantinos Triantafyllou / Young Ambassador 2020-2022 and representative of the Greek Working group of EP and Pacing of the Hellenic Society of Cardiology
Arabic : Dr. Mario Njeim / Young Ambassador 2020-2022 and representative of the Arrhythmia and Pacing Working Group of the Lebanese Cardiac Society.

Consultant for scientific accuracy:

Prof. Fiorenzo Gaita

Website management:

European Society of Cardiology Web Department

The content for this website for patients has been reviewed by Dr. Heather Edwards (nominated by the British Heart Rhythm Society (BHRS)).

Task Force:

2020-2022

2018-2020

2017-2018

2015-2017

2013-2015

2011-2013

DR. MARIA GRAZIA BONGIORNI

DR. FRANCISCO MOSCOSO COSTA

DR. NATASJA DE GROOT

PROF. JEAN-CLAUDE DEHARO

DR. MAXIM DIDENKO

DR. DAVID DUNCKER

DR. MARK EARLEY

DR. CHRISTIAN ELSNER

MR. REINDER EVERTZ

DR. RODRIGUE GARCIA

DR. FEDERICO GUERRA

DR. BARBARA KOMMATA

DR. DEIRDRE LANE

PROF. JEAN-YVES LE HEUZEY

PROF. GREGORY YH LIP

PROF. DOMINIK LINZ

PROFESSOR ANTONIO HERNANDEZ MADRID

DR. MARTIN MARTINEK

DR. CHRISTIAN MEYER

ASSOCIATE PROF. LIDIJA POPOSKA

PROF. HELMUT PUERERFELLNER

PROF. RICHARD SCHILLING

DR. DIPEN SHAH

PROF. CHRISTIAN STICHERLING

DR. EMMA SVENBERG

MELLANIE TRUE HILLS

MELLANIE TRUE HILLS

THE TRANSLATION OF THIS WEBSITE FOR PATIENTS, HAS BEEN REVIEWED BY:

Consultant for scientific accuracy:

Website management:

Useful Tools

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