Neglected Cardiovascular Diseases Expert Group

DANIEL JOSÉ PIÑEIRO • Full Professor of Medicine, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina • President-Elect, World Heart Federation • Advisor for HEARTS, Pan American Health Organization • Former President, Inter American Society of Cardiology and Argentine Society of Cardiology • Former Board of Trustees, American College of Cardiology World Heart Federation, • Former Board Member, World Heart Federation • Former Roadmaps Liaison Officer, Science Committee, World Heart Federation Prof. Daniel José Piñeiro currently is a Full Professor of Medicine at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina (2005-). He is very active in different international organizations: Trustee at the Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology (2018-2021), Advisor for HEARTS at the Pan American Health Organization (2018-), and Roadmaps Liaison Officer at the Science Committee of the World Heart Federation (2019-2020). Prof. Piñeiro has served twice as Member at the Board of the World Heart Federation (2011-2013 and 2017-2018), Member at Membership Committee of the American College of Cardiology (2016-2017), Chair of the Assembly of International Governors of the American College of Cardiology (2015-2017), President of the Inter American Society of Cardiology (2011-2013) and President of the Argentine Society of Cardiology (2005) He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the European Society of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association. Prof. Piñeiro graduated as a physician with honors at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. He is involved in academic and educational activities as well as clinical practice. He also has a great interest in Public and Global Health as WHF Roadmaps and roundtables. He regularly presents his work at international and national conferences. He has publications including books, book chapters, and articles in international and national journals. Some of these articles are guidelines, consensus, white papers, and roadmaps devoted to Global Health. He deserved 8 national and international awards.

Prof. Pinto graduated at Lisbon University Medical School in 1984. He did his Cardiology internship at Santa Maria University Hospital – CHLN, E.P.E. (Lisbon, Portugal), and Stanford University Medical School (CA, USA), where he was a Clinical Fellow. He was then Clinical Attending in the Echocardiography laboratory and underwent an Interventional Cardiology Fellowship at the same institution.

He is currently Full Professor of Cardiology, Head of the Cardiology Department and of the Heart and Vascular Department of Santa Maria University Hospital, CHULN E.P.E., President of the World Heart Federation (WHF) (2021-2022). Recently he finished his term as the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (Lisbon, Portugal) (2015-2018)-(2018-2022).

National Coordinator of the Medical Schools Council (2018-2020) and President of the Executive Board of the Lisbon Academic Medical Centre (CAML) (2019-2021) and Director of Lisbon Cardiovascular Institute (ICVL) since 1999.

He was the President and founder of the European Association of Echocardiography (2002-04), a registered branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), Chairman of the CPC (Congress Program Committee) of ESC (2008-10), Chair of the European Heart Agency(2016-2018) and ESC President (2014-16). He is currently the President of the World Heart Federation (WHF) (2021-2022), and integrates the Board of the European Heart for Children.

He is a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC), American College of Cardiology (FACC), American Society of Angiology (FASA), Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions (FSCAI) and the American Society of Echocardiography (FASE) and Honorary Member of several international societies, including Societé Française de Cardiologie, Sociedad Colombiana de Cardiologia, American Society of Echocardiography, Societá Italiana de Ecografia Cardiovascular, Hungarian Society of Cardiology, Japanese Circulation Society, Sociedad Peruana de Cardiologia, Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences, Romanian Society of Cardiology, Russian Society of Cardiology, and Slovakian Society of Cardiology. Appointed by acclamation (29 November 2018) as Honorary Member of the National Academy of Medicine of Brazil. He is the Honorary President of the International Committee for Education and Cooperation of the Italian Society of Medical Science (SISMED). Honorary Member of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology(Nov 2020) and Dante Pazzanese Medal(Nov. 2020).

He was the Editor in Chief of the Portuguese Journal of Cardiology (1999-2015), and is currently Consulting Editor and Member of the Advisory and Editorial of Board of several international peer-reviewed journals, and Expert Reviewer for the European Commission. Prof. Pinto has published over 600 indexed articles and has presented over 1500 lectures/chairmanships at national and mostly international meetings.

Prof Karen Sliwa is Director of the Hatter Institute for Cardiovascular Research in Africa, Professor in the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town, and Past President of the World Heart Federation (2019-2020). Karen Sliwa is widely recognized as a world expert in cardiovascular disease, with a particular interest in reducing mortality in women with cardiovascular disease in maternity. She has contributed to better understanding on the pathophysiology, treatment options and awareness of peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM), a global disease particularly prevalent in African populations. She leads several inter-Africa research projects, which have had a major impact for creating knowledge about CVDs common in Africa, leading to changes in policy. Her considerable experience in setting up simple, cost-effective registries and web-based data entry platforms have had a major impact on planning several innovative research projects and has facilitated the training of physicians from several African countries, including Mozambique, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda and Tanzania. Her translational research from bed-to-bench-to-bedside population studies have led to a much better understanding of CVDs in pregnant women and subsequently to improved patient care.  Professor Sliwa leads several high-profile special interest groups including a dedicated EORP Working Group on PPCM of the Heart Failure Association of European Society of Cardiology. Over her distinguished career she has served in many notable roles, including that of Chair of the South African Heart Failure Association, President of the South African Heart Association (2014-2016), President of the World Heart Federation (2019-2020), and Vice President, Southern Region of the Pan African Society of Cardiology (2016-2021). She holds numerous awards such as the German Cardiac Society Paul Morawitz Award for Exceptional Cardiovascular Research (2013), an Honorary Doctorate University Diderot-Sorbonne, Paris, France (2017), European Society of Cardiology Geoffrey Rose Award for Population Sciences (2019) and the South African Medical Research Council Gold Award (2021). She has authored more than 350 publications, trained more then 30 post graduate students, and her papers are highly cited (72,270 citations; h-index of 84, i10-index 239; accessed Feb 2021).

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.