Dr. Michael C. Moon currently works at the Mazankowski
Alberta Heart Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. He
received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. at the University of Manitoba Medical School in
1997. He was a clinical fellow in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Cleveland Clinic
from 2005 to 2006 and a staff surgeon at St. Boniface Hospital, University of
Manitoba from 2007 to 2014. He was a member of the Cardiothoracic Surgery
Network and the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery.
Maximilian Luehr graduated from the Albert Ludwig University
of Freiburg School of Medicine in Germany in 2009. He started his cardiac
surgery residency at the Leipzig Heart Center of the University of Leipzig
under Professor Friedrich-Wilhelm Mohr (2010–2015). He completed his training
and started his professional career as a staff cardiac surgeon at the
University Hospital of the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich under Professor
Christian Hagl (2015–2020). In 2020, he moved to the Department of
Cardio-Thoracic Surgery of the Heart Center Cologne to lead the Aortic Research
Team under Professor Thorsten Wahlers. Although his professional interests
comprise all aspects of cardiovascular surgery, his major academic and research
interests have been focused on aortic surgery since 2005. In 2006, he completed a
research year at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, USA, and
studied experimental aortic surgery with his mentors Professor Randall B. Griepp
and Professor Christian D. Etz. In 2019, he was elected to the board of
directors of the German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
(DGTHG). His research interests include aortic surgery (open and
endovawscular), cerebral and spinal cord protection and endocarditis
surgery. He is a member of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Network, the European
Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery and The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
Simon Sündermann is a specialist in cardiac surgery and head
of the surgical TAVI program at the Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin. He
graduated from the University of Leipzig in 2007 and started his career in
cardiac surgery at the Heart Centre Leipzig under Prof. Mohr. After further
training at the University Hospital Zurich and the Deutsches Herzzentrum der
Charité under Prof. Falk, he has been a certified cardiac surgeon since 2015
and a lecturer at the Charité since 2016. In addition to his clinical expertise,
he is the research officer of the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular
Surgery and is involved in various research activities. His two main areas of
interest are virtual decision support systems and computer-assisted therapy
simulations, as well as preoperative risk assessment, especially frailty
assessment and patient preparation with prehabilitation.
Prof. Dr. Christoph T. Starck is a Senior Consultant Cardiac
Surgeon at the German Heart Center in Berlin, Germany. He covers the complete
cardiac surgical spectrum and has a special focus on arrhythmia and cardiac
device surgery. He is renowned for his extensive clinical experience in
transvenous lead extraction procedures, conducts several lead extraction
workshops annually and is the founder of the International Lead Extraction
Expert Meeting (ILEEM), established in 2012. His research activities in the
field of lead extraction procedures focus on improving patient safety as well
as extraction tools and techniques. He has further research projects focusing
on the development of innovative technologies in assist device therapy, as well
as the optimization of extracorporeal circulation technologies and
techniques. He is a Fellow Member of the European Heart Rhythm Association
(FEHRA) and a member of the EACTS, ESC, DGTHG and SGHC.
Prof. Dr. Volkmar Falk is the Medical Director and
Director of the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery of the German
Heart Center Berlin, Chair of the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery at the
Charité Berlin, and Professor for Translational Cardiovascular Technologies at
the ETH, Zurich. After completing medical school and his doctorate at the
University of Bonn, he began his basic surgical training at the University of
Göttingen and became a senior surgeon at the Department of Cardiac Surgery of
the Heart Center Leipzig. His main areas of current clinical and academic
research are in the field of endoscopic and minimally invasive cardiac surgery
and image-guided transcatheter therapies.
Joerg Kempfert started his residency at the Heart Center University Leipzig under the supervision of Prof. Friedrich Mohr after finishing Medical School in Hamburg and Leipzig. After Board Certification, he moved to the Kerckhoff Heart Institute in Bad Nauheim to work with Prof. Thomas Walther. In 2014 he joined the team of Prof. Volkmar Falk at the German Heart Center Berlin. Currently, he is a senior consultant at the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery. His interests are in the area of minimally invasive, endoscopic and transcatheter valve therapy and aortic arch surgery.
