About Us

Stephen Clark is Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Transplantation at Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne and is the Clinical Director of Surgery, Anaesthesia and Critical Care. He was the Director of Cardiopulmonary Transplantation in Newcastle for many years. He is also a Medical Examiner and Chairman of the European Board of Cardiothoracic Surgery. He is a Board member of the European Cardiothoracic Transplantation Association. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Surgical Trainers and a member of the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators of the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Quintana trained in cardiovascular surgery at Hospital Clínic Barcelona, followed by a 2 year clinical fellowship at the Mayo Clinic Rochester MN. He is a consultant cardiovascular surgeon and associate professor of surgery at the University of Barcelona Medical School – Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. He is a teacher and coordinator in the Biomedical Engineering Degree at the University of Barcelona. He is currently in charge of the Cardiovascular Surgery and Postoperative Critical Care fellowship program and Coordinator of teaching activities at the Cardiovascular Institute of the Hospital Clínic. He is a Board Member, Secretary and Examiner of the European Board of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Examination. His clinical interests focus on diseases of the aorta, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, infective endocarditis and critical care. Dr. Quintana has been a board member of the EACTS Vascular Domain, chair of the aortic dissection task force and is an active member of the cerebral/visceral protection task force of EACTS. Dr. Quintana is a board member at the EACTS Francis Fontan Fund Fellowship and member of the EACTS Clinical Practice Guidelines.

Francesco Onorati is a cardiac surgeon working at Verona University Hospital, Italy. He was trained at the Second University of Naples, Italy, were he focused his researches on myocardial protection strategies, cardiopulmonary bypass, and heart transplantation. Afterwards, he moved to University Magna Graecia, Italy, as a staff surgeon, where he specialized in heart failure surgery, left ventricular assisting devices, arterial grafting, pulsatile cardiopulmonary bypass, heart failure surgery and atrial fibrillation surgery. During the last 10 years he specialized in aortic surgery, endocarditis, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, transcatheter procedures, mechanical assisting devices and transplantation. He gained his PhD at the Second University of Naples, Italy, working on cardiopulmonary bypass biocompatibility. He served as a lecturer in both Medical School and Cardiovascular Perfusion School of Medicine at Magna Graecia University and at University of Verona. He currently serves as President of the Cardiovascular Perfusion School of Medicine at the University of Verona Medical School. He is also Responsible for the Heart Transplant program, the Minimally Invasive Valve program and the Arrhythmia Surgery program at the Division of Cardiac Surgery of Verona University Hospital. He is involved in all areas of adult cardiac surgery, but his principal areas of interest are cardiopulmonary bypass biocompatibility, aortic surgery, endocarditis, minimally invasive valve therapy, heart transplant and mechanical assisting devices.

Maninder Singh Kalkat MS, MCh, FRCS(CTh) has been working as a Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon in the Regional Department of Thoracic Surgery at University Hospitals Birmingham since 2005. He pioneered the use of minimally invasive video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for thoracic benign and malignant conditions in the country. His special interests include airway surgery and chest wall resection and reconstruction for sarcomas.
He organizes and participates in various courses for teaching and training, notably EACTS academy, SCTS courses and Birmingham Review Course in Cardiothoracic Surgery. He is Deputy Medical Director for the division in the largest hospital trust in the United Kingdom.

Having completed a basic surgical training in 1990, Andrew Parry pursued a specialist training in cardiothoracic surgery. He was a registrar at the Oxford Heart Centre, then a senior registrar in Papworth Hospital, Cambs, before returning to the Oxford Heart Centre to complete his senior registrar period. Following completion of this and success in the specialist examination resulting in him being added to the specialist register for cardiothoracic surgery, he went to the University of California, San Francisco where he undertook a specialist training in congenital cardiac surgery working under Professor Frank Hanley. After the clinical training he undertook a period of research within the department studying the inflammatory response of the foetus to cardioplacental bypass which culminated in him being awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine from Oxford University.
Andrew Parry gained a full medical licence to practice in California and was appointed to the position of Assistant Professor and Attending Surgeon at University of California, San Francisco in 1997 working on staff with Professor Hanley until he took up the post of Consultant Congenital Cardiac Surgeon at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in 1999.

Andrew Parry is chief of Congenital Cardiac Surgery at The Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. He has set up a programme for the management of patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome in Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and has introduced new techniques for the implantation of cardiac valves which do not require the use of cardiopulmonary bypass. He has also led visiting cardiac surgical teams to operate in hospitals in Kenya and setting up a service in Homs, Syria.

Professor Enrico Ferrari, is a Swiss Cardiac Surgeon appointed as Deputy Head of the Cardiac Surgery Department at Cardiocentro Ticino Institute in Lugano, Switzerland. He received special training in minimally invasive cardiac surgery (mitral and aortic valve surgery) and transcatheter heart valve procedures at University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland, where he became senior cardiac surgeon in 2010. From 2011 to 1014, Professor Ferrari was appointed responsible for the Cardiac Surgery Unit activity at City Hospital of Sion, Wallis, Switzerland. Since 2015, Dr Ferrari works as senior staff member at Cardiocentro Ticino Institute of Lugano, Switzerland, and he continues working and collaborating with the academic panel of the Cardiovascular Research Unit of Lausanne University Hospital, and with the University Hospital of Zurich (USZ), Switzerland, where he was appointed Cardiovascular Research Director (2020-2021). Professor Ferrari become, in 2020, Associate Professor at University of Zurich (Faculty of Medicine) and, in 2021, Titular Professor at University of Italian Switzerland (Faculty of Biomedical Sciences). During his career, Professor Ferrari has performed more than 4500 cardiac and cardiovascular procedures and, among them, more than 500 complex operations using the most modern minimally invasive surgical and transcatheter techniques and technologies. In particular, he is a recognized worldwide expert in minimally invasive aortic valve procedures with rapid deployment and self-expanding prosthesis, and transcatheter heart valve procedures such as TAVR, TMVR, and valve-in-valve or valve-in-ring procedures performed through trans-apical (TA), trans-aortic (TAO) or trans-carotid access sites He is Associate Editor of the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EJCTS), Editor of the Core Skills domain of the Multimedia Manual of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (MMCTS), Member of the Editorial Board of the Archive of Sciences Journal, Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease, and Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cardiology Research.

Dr. Ibrahim, is a Thoracic Surgeon, Professor of Thoracic Surgery and Director of thoracic reconstructive program at Sant ’Andrea Hospital, University of Rome “Sapienza”, Italy. He also works as an Instructor of Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis, USA
Dr. Ibrahim, whose extensive surgical experience is focused on Lung Transplantation, Tracheo-Bronchial, Pulmonary Artery and Vena Cava Reconstruction, Mediastinal Tumors, Video Assisted Thoracoscopy, Robotic surgery, Multimodality Therapy for Advanced Lung Cancer, Chest Wall Surgery and surgical treatment of chronic lung thromboembolic disease.
He graduated at University of Rome “Sapienza” in 1999 and completed the residency program of Thoracic Surgery in 2004 at the Division of Thoracic Surgery of Umberto I University Hospital. He moved to Sant’Andrea Hospital - University “La Sapienza” and he accomplished his PhD in Thoracic Surgery in 2009.
He obtained, in 2010, the Evarts A. Graham memorial fellowship Award from the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. This gave him the opportunity to travel and visit the most important Thoracic Surgery centers in USA and Canada (St. Louis, Boston, and Toronto).
He completed his education with a research fellowship at The Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine in the laboratory of Immunology where he covered the title of Staff Scientist. At Washington University in St. Louis, He was also trained in the immunological and physiological methods required to evaluate innate immune responses and lung graft injury.
Prof. Dr. Ibrahim also serves as an Associate Editor at the ICVTS, an Assistant Editor at the European Journal for Cardiothoracic Surgery; he is an active member of Board and Examiner for the European board for Cardiothoracic surgery. He is the chair of the airway task force for the European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery (EACTS).
Dr. Ibrahim also serves as president for the Italian society for thoracic endoscopy.
For further details: https://www.ctsnet.org/home/mmibrahim