Neglected Cardiovascular Diseases Expert Group

Dr. Antonio Luiz Ribeiro is Professor of Internal Medicine and Chair for Research and Innovation in the University Hospital of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil, where he served as Medical Officer (2006-2010) and Director-General (2010-2014). He is the Past President of the International Society of Electrocardiology and Associate Editor of the BMJ Heart and Journal of Electrocardiology. He has been working with digital health and implementation science and is the leader of the Telehealth Network of Minas Gerais, a large telehealth network in Brazil, with more than 1,000 remote points, with a focus in tele-cardiology: this network has performed more than 5 million ECGs since 2006. 

Andrea Beaton is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and a Pediatric Cardiologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She is a founding member of the Rheumatic Heart Disease Research Collaborative in Uganda (RRCU) which has collaboratively published over 40 studies across the translational spectrum in RHD research. Dr. Beaton is currently the Center Director of an American Heart Association Strategically Focused Research Network (ADD-RHD) that is developing technology-enabled approaches to get more patients living with RHD onto secondary antibiotic prophylaxis. She also led the GOAL Trial, determining the impact of secondary antibiotic prophylaxis on latent RHD, and will lead the follow-up study of these patients, GOAL-Post. Dr. Beaton has multiple leadership positions in the American Heart Association (immediate past-chair of the Rheumatic Fever, Endocarditis, and Kawasaki Disease Committee, International Committee, Epidemiology and Statistics Committee) and World Health Organization (Chair, RHD Guideline Development Group).

Prof. Friedrich Thienemann undertook his post graduate training in internal medicine, infectious diseases, tropical medicine and global health at Charité University Hospital Berlin and the University of Cape Town. In 2009, he joined the Department of Medicine and Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at the University of Cape Town and served as investigator of several EU, NIH, BMGF, and university-funded projects and successfully administered multi-national, multi-site clinical trials and cohort studies across Africa. In 2019, Prof. Friedrich Thienemann established the research group General Medicine & Global Health (GMGH) with two sites, at the University of Zurich and at the Cape Heart Institute of the University of Cape Town. His work is on optimizing diagnosis & treatment of tuberculosis, understanding the intersection of infectious and non-communicable disease, and in particular post tuberculosis cardiovascular & pulmonary sequelae (LongTB). Prof. Friedrich Thienemann joined the Neglected Cardiovascular Diseases Expert Group in 2021 with special interest in post infectious cardiovascular diseases such as rheumatic heart disease (RHD), Chagas Disease, LongTB, and Long COVID. He is the infectious disease expert amongst the cardiologists within the expert group.

Dating back to my initial training in Guangzhou in the late 1980s and Melbourne, Australia in the early 1990s, I have accumulated research experience within nearly 40 years majoring in rheumatic heart disease, interventional cardiology, and other cardiovascular diseases, with research published in the top academic journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA Internal Medicine. I used to participate with interest in a number of multinational clinical trials, as co-investigator in the RACE study, TIMI-25, the CCS-II, as Co-Principal Investigator in the Sino-SIRIUS Study, etc, presenting the latest research results and knowledge in the former EURO-PCR, European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) and other international conferences. I have served as president or vice president of the Annual South China International Congress of Cardiology (SCICC), the Cardiovascular Interventional Summit (CIS), and the Hong Kong College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Congress. I have worked on the Editorial Board of a series of journals, including the Chinese Journal of Cardiology, Editorial Board Member of the Chinese Edition of the Journals of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), and European Heart Journal(EHJ). With the honor to be a part of the Neglected Cardiovascular Disease Expert Group, I wish to further contribute to the improvement and promotion of standardized and effective treatment for patients with rheumatic heart disease, as well as participate in the latest research in the field.

I am presently a clinical professor and head of the Department of Pediatric cardiology at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Amrita University, Cochin, India.
I have establish the pediatric heart program at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in 1998. Under my leadership, this program acquired global reputation in quality of clinical services, research and training. The pediatric heart program at AIMS, Cochin was awarded the and BMJ award for quality improvement (2014) for delivering outstanding clinical outcomes and has trained a substantial proportion of the national work force in pediatric cardiology. The department was also awarded the status of a center of excellence in research by ICMR. My chief research interests relate to epidemiology of pediatric heart disease, developing cost effective clinical strategies and population-based programs for pediatric cardiac care in low resource environments and training in pediatric cardiology
I am a member of the steering committee of the International Quality Improvement collaborative on congenital heart disease and I have served as a member of the Rheumatic Fever, Endocarditis and Kawasaki Disease Committee (RFEKD) of the Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young of the American Heart Association (2017-2019). I have published over 250 indexed original and review articles and edited four major textbooks. I have partnered with the government on establishing a national/statewide program for care of children with heart defects. I played a central role in development and implementation of the Hridyam program of the Government of Kerala that enables timely treatment for every neonate, infant and child with congenital heart disease in the region through sustained advocacy. After the institution of the Hridyam program the infant mortality rate in Kerala has declined to 7 from 11 in Kerala and has been acknowledged in a peer reviewed publication in Global Heart. Drafted several policy statements for Rheumatic and Congenital Heart disease for leading global organisations such as the AHA and World Heart Federation.
I have received the following individual awards and recognition
1. The Sitaram Jaipuria Award for Excellence in Medicine and Healthcare in India ” for the year 2022. The Jury and Governing Council of the Awards recognized contributions in terms of academic, research, innovation, clinical care, policy, public health, institution building, and mentorship
2. Jérôme Lejeune Service Award, From Hearts of Joy International for exemplary work on care of children with Down Syndrome in May 2023
3. I was featured as a global leader in. paediatric and congenital cardiac care in a publication in “ Cardiology in the Young, a premier global journal for paediatric and congenital cardiac care in 2023
4. Tri-decennial Medical Teacher of Excellence Award, by the National Board of Examinations in the year 2012