Dr. Pomar is a Senior Consultant in Cardiovascular Surgery and Director of the Cardiothoracic Transplantation Program at the Hospital Clinico de Barcelona. He also is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Barcelona Medical School. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and presented more than 600 papers and lectures at meetings around the world. Dr. Pomar is a Past President of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery.

Joseph Bavaria is currently the Brooke Roberts-William M. Measey Professor of Surgery and Vice-Chief, in the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He is Past President of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons and a Director of the Thoracic Aortic Surgery Programme at PENN, a multidisciplinary programme encompassing all aspects of aortic disease including thoracic aortic reconstruction and Marfan’s Syndrome. Basic research and R01 funding is presently ongoing in the microbiology and pathology of the aortic wall in genetically triggered aortic conditions disease as well as neuro-cerebral metabolism and brain protection during cardio-aortic surgery.

Patrick Perier trained and graduated in heart and vascular surgery at the Hôpital Broussais in Paris, under the supervision of Alain Carpentier who became his mentor. He was appointed staff surgeon at the time of the early phases of development of mitral valve repair and was the first to compare the long-term results of mitral valve repair and mitral valve replacement. Dr Perier is currently staff surgeon at the Herz und Gefäss Klinik in Bad Neustadt, Germany. He initiated mitral valve reconstruction in Germany and has further developed techniques of mitral valve repair, with a specific interest in dealing with the prolapse of the posterior leaflet. During the last 10 years he has concentrated on developing video-assisted mitral valve surgery with increasing enthusiasm. Today more than 1100 patients have had minimally invasive reconstruction of the mitral valve.

Dr. Sandoval is Chief of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery and Director of the Congenital Heart Institute at the Fundación Cardioinfantil Instituto de Cardiología in Bogotá, Colombia. He also is a Professor of Surgery and Director of the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Program at the Universidad del Rosario, also in Bogotá. He serves as Secretary of the World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery and is a Past President of the Sociedad Latina de Cardiología y Cirugía Cardiovascular Pediátrica. He has authored more than 200 scientific publications and edited three cardiology textbooks.

Dr. Umaña is the Chief Medical Officer and Director of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Fundación Cardioinfantil Instituto de Cardiología in Bogotá, Colombia. He trained in general surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. During a year of research in Dr. Mehmet Oz’s lab, he patented the MitraClip, after which he went to Stanford University for his cardiothoracic surgery training.

Lorenzo Galletti is the Chair of the EACTS Congenital Heart Disease Domain, and Director of the Adult Heart Surgery and Paediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery departments at the Hospital “Papa Giovanni XXIII” in Bergamo, Italy. He received his medical degree from the University of Pisa and his PhD from the University of Rome.  Lorenzo's clinical activities include performing surgical procedures to repair or palliate all forms of congenital heart defects in neonates, children and adults, including staged palliation of HLHS.

Dr. Thourani is the Marcus Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery for Piedmont Healthcare and the Marcus Heart Valve Center in Atlanta, GA, USA. He is a Director-at-Large on The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Board of Directors, Chair of the Society’s Workforce on International Meetings, and Chair of the STS/ACC TVT RegistryTM Research and Publications Subcommittee. Dr. Thourani has extensive expertise in structural heart disease and valve surgery, specifically transcatheter aortic valve replacement and minimally invasive aortic and mitral valvular surgery.