The World Heart Federation’s Heart Café will welcome attendees of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2025, held together with the World Congress of Cardiology, from 29 August to 1 September at IFEMA Madrid.
Located in the WHF Heart Café Space (Exchange Area, Hall 9), next to the WHF Booth in the South Convention Centre, the Heart Café invites all participants for a coffee or tea in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere, designed to spark open dialogue on the most pressing issues in cardiovascular disease (CVD) and global health.
With CVD remaining the world’s leading cause of death, claiming approximately 20.5 million lives annually, the Heart Café provides a timely and vital platform for shared learning, debate, and collaboration.
A SPACE FOR CONNECTION, INNOVATION, AND IMPACT
The Heart Café fosters inclusive, informal, and highly interactive sessions that break down traditional barriers. Each session will open with brief insights from leading experts, followed by dynamic conversations among panellists and attendees, ensuring every voice can be heard.
This unique setting brings together a multidisciplinary and multisectoral community of policymakers, healthcare professionals, individuals living with CVD, scientists, and advocates. Together, we aim to co-create practical solutions and build lasting partnerships to drive progress in cardiovascular health worldwide.
Whether you’re seeking fresh ideas, global perspectives, or meaningful collaboration, the Heart Café is your space to connect, contribute, and help shape the future of heart health.
Friday, 29 August
Session 1 12:30 – 13:30 ADDRESSING ATRIAL FIBRILLATION THROUGH CHALLENGES, INNOVATIONS, AND OPPORTUNITIES
This panel discussion will explore the evolving landscape of atrial fibrillation (AF), focusing on opportunities to improve prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and management across diverse populations and healthcare systems. Panelists will discuss the latest insights on AF risk factors, innovative approaches to screening and diagnostics, and strategies to optimise patient outcomes through integrated care pathways. The session will also examine the role of digital health, health system strengthening, and equitable access to care in addressing the global burden of AF.
Moderator:
Prof Amitava Banerjee
University College London, UCL Hospitals NHS Trust and Barts Health NHS Trust, WHF Board Member, United Kingdom
Panel:
Prof Jose Roman Gonzalez Juanatey
University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
Prof Lis Neubeck
Edinburgh Napier University (United Kingdom)
Session 2 14:30 – 15:30 EMERGING INSIGHTS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH
Infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and influenza have revealed critical links between infection and cardiovascular health, from acute complications during illness to long-term effects like those seen in Long COVID. As healthcare systems adapt, there is a need to better understand, prevent, and manage cardiovascular consequences of infectious threats. This session will gather experts and frontline clinicians to discuss the latest evidence, identify research gaps, and explore practical strategies and policy priorities to protect cardiovascular health in an era of emerging and recurring infectious diseases.
Moderator:
Prof. Dorairaj Prabhakaran
WHF President-elect (India)
Public Health Foundation of India
Panel:
Prof Karen Sliwa
University of Cape Town (South Africa)
Dr Kavita Singh
Public Health Foundation of India (India)
Dr Sven Schellberg
Novopraxis Berlin (Germany)
Saturday, 30 August
Session 3 12:30 – 13:30 ADVANCING CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH THROUGH SINGLE PILL COMBINATION THERAPIES — LAUNCH OF THE WHF SPC ROADMAP
Single Pill Combination (SPC) therapies offer a powerful tool to improve cardiovascular outcomes by simplifying treatment regimens, enhancing adherence, and optimizing risk factor control. As the World Heart Federation launches its new Roadmap on Single Pill Combination Therapies, this session will bring together global experts, policymakers, clinicians, and patient advocates to explore the roadmap’s key recommendations and practical implementation strategies. Panelists will share experiences from different healthcare contexts, highlight policy and system-level enablers, and address barriers to broader SPC adoption. This interactive discussion aims to inspire collaborative action to scale up the use of SPC therapies and drive meaningful progress toward global cardiovascular health goals.
Includes a special preview of projects on SPC implementation across the globe, highlighting challenges and successes, with 2024 WHF Emerging Leaders Alexander Perkins, Hooi Min Lim, and Vagner Madrini.
Moderator:
Dr Tom Gaziano
Harvard Medical School (United States)
Panel:
Prof Habib Gamra
Les Oliviers Medical Center, Sousse (Tunisia)
Dr Adrianna Murphy
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (United Kingdom)
Dr Enrico. G. Ferro
Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts (United States)
Session 4 15:30 – 16:30 EMPOWERING PATIENTS THROUGH CARDIAC REHABILITATION
Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is a vital component of secondary prevention and recovery for people living with cardiovascular disease — yet it remains severely underused and inaccessible for many patients worldwide. The WHF Roadmap on Cardiac Rehabilitation provides a strategic framework to address barriers and expand access to CR across diverse health systems and settings. This session will discuss the soon to be published roadmap bringing together international experts, clinicians, policymakers, and patient advocates to discuss innovative solutions to scale up CR services globally. Panelists will explore practical pathways for implementation, highlight successful models, and examine how to embed CR into national cardiovascular strategies. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in this timely dialogue and contribute ideas to drive equitable and sustainable improvements in CR delivery worldwide.
Moderator:
Prof Julie Redfern
Bond University (Australia) and Prof Sidney Smith, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA)
Panel:
Dr Abraham Babu
Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal (India)
Dr Dion Candelaria
The University of Sydney (Australia)
Dr Irene Gibson
National University of Ireland, Galway (Ireland)
Sunday, 31 August
Session 5 10:00 – 11:00 BUILDING STRONGER SYSTEMS FOR SECONDARY PREVENTION
Despite advances in treatment, secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a critical gap in global heart health. This Heart Café session will explore how we can move beyond clinical guidelines to implement effective, equitable, and sustainable secondary prevention strategies in real-world settings. The panel will bring together global experts, frontline clinicians, and patient advocates to discuss innovative approaches for improving long-term outcomes in people living with established CVD. Discussions will cover the use of guideline-directed therapies, health system challenges, the role of digital tools, and how to tackle issues of access, adherence, and health equity—particularly in low-resource settings.
Moderator:
Prof Raul Santos
Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in São Paulo and the Lipid Clinic, Heart Institute (InCor) at the University of São Paulo (USP) Medical School (Brazil).
Panel:
Prof Clara Chow
University of Sydney (Australia)
Mr Ram Khandelwal
CVD Patient leader
Heart Health India Foundation (India)
Dr Sandra Ofori
McMaster University, Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton (Canada)
Session 6 12:30 – 13:30 INTEGRATING CARE ACROSS CARDIOVASCULAR KIDNEY AND METABOLIC DISEASES
People living with cardiovascular disease (CVD) often face the additional burden of other chronic conditions such as chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetes, forming a complex web of interrelated health challenges. These coexisting conditions intensify the risk of adverse outcomes, require careful therapeutic balancing, and demand more sophisticated monitoring and care coordination.
This session will explore how the presence of multiple long-term conditions complicates clinical pathways and impacts overall cardiovascular health. It will also spotlight how integrated, patient-centered care models can better respond to these realities and improve both individual outcomes and system-level efficiency.
Moderator:
Prof Larry Sperling
Emory University (United States)
Panel:
Prof Tazeen Jafar
Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore General Hospital (Singapore)
Dr Andres Rosende
Pan American Health Organization (Spain)
Prof Naveed Sattar
University of Glasgow (United Kingdom)
MISSED THE WHF HEART CAFÉ AT ESC 2025?
The Heart Café fosters an inclusive space where diverse voices—including policymakers, healthcare professionals, individuals living with cardiovascular disease, scientists, and advocates—can freely exchange ideas, debate strategies, and build meaningful collaborations. By bringing together these perspectives, the Heart Café helps shape a dynamic, collective approach to fighting cardiovascular disease on a global scale.