Here some of our Chairpersons take the time to explain to us where they are heading. The other Committees will be sharing their vision in upcoming newsletters.
From left to right, Web Site & Communication Committee Chair: Dr C. Napolitano, Scientific Documents Committee Chair: Prof A. Auricchio, Education Committee Chair: Prof C. Blomstrom-Lundqvist, Training Fellowships Committee Chair: Prof K.H. Kuck, Scientific Initiatives Committee Chair: Dr J.M. Morgan, National Societies Committee Chair: Dr C. Wolpert and Accreditation Committee Chair: Dr F. Arribas.
It goes without saying that the Committees would not exist without the active involvement of its many members which we wish to thank here for their ongoing input and support.
Scientific Documents Committee (Chair: Angelo Auricchio)
Producing scientific documents is one of the core activities of EHRA. In the last two years, several important matters have been addressed via this committee. These documents have been published internationally and we have reported on their progress in previous newsletters to our members.
Among our achievements, EHRA has produced solely or in collaboration with, documents such as:
- Document on Cardiac Rhythm Management Product Performance
- Guidelines on Ventricular Arrhythmias (in conjunction with ACC, AHA, ESC and HRS)
- and more recently the Guidelines on Cardiac Pacing
The Committee is responsible for inter-society meetings (initiated by the EHRA board), Consensus conferences and Scientific documents (position papers).
All these activities, organised by Committee members and often involving external participants, allow viewpoints from a panel of scientists and regulatory bodies with the highest expertise.
Several documents are ongoing:
- EHRA Consensus Guideline on Antithrombotic Therapy Use in Patients Undergoing Electrophysiological Procedures for Atrial Arrhythmias (JJ Blanc, J Almedral)
- EHRA Position paper: Magnetic Resonance Imaging in individuals with Pacemakers or Implantable cardioverter defibrillator systems (A Rougin)
- Driving with ICD Position Paper (J. Vijgen)
- HRS/EHRA Joint Documents include:
a) Expert Consensus Statement on Cardiac Device Monitoring: Description of Techniques, Indications, Personnel and Frequency (B. Wilkoff, A. Auricchio)
b) Expert Consensus Statement on Catheter and Surgical Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation: Recommendations for Personnel, Policy, Procedures, and Follow-Up (H. Calkins, J. Brugada, DL. Packer)
Furthermore the Scientific Document Committee is currently working on replacing the printed Handbook on Pacemaker/ICD/CRT devices with an e-Handbook. This activity will be preceded by a web-based questionnaire to EHRA members and possibly National Societies and Working Groups to gather information about the current use of device manuals.
Finally, EHRA and HRS have agreed to collaborate annually to produce a joint statement that will deal with a specific topic in clinical electrophysiology. We plan to publish the next joint statement on Cardiac Device Monitoring by May 2008.
Do you have any novel scientific initiatives to propose? We strongly encourage you to contact this very active EHRA Committee and get involved!
Education Committee (Chair: Carina Blomstrom-Lundqvist)
Officially established in 2005, the Education Committee aims to provide cutting-edge education in the field of cardiac Electrophysiology, one of the main goals of EHRA.
Several initiatives have since been planned and carried out including review and preparatory courses for the Accreditation Exams and educational slides and the EHRA Reference Library.
In addition to existing educational activities, the new Committee is committed to further enforcing these ongoing initiatives and to pursue new avenues that were presented during the EHRA General Assembly in Vienna.
The Committee has set itself an ambitious goal and we hope over the next two years to continue to build on the current offer of education.
The EHRA Education Committee will work in collaboration with the Web Committee to develop novel tools order to facilitate access to cutting-edge expertise.
This is clearly a challenging long-term project but ever so representative of EHRA's driving passion: to become the voice of electrophysiology in Europe.
Training Fellowships Committee (Chair: Karl Heinz Kuck)
EHRA is proud to have the largest training fellowship within the ESC, essential in helping develop academic medicine in the field of clinical electrophysiology. The Training Fellowships last a year each, take place in Europe with one advanced and two basic year training programmes available.
Open to trained cardiologists who are yet to obtain a consultant position or equivalent permanent status, the Training Fellowship is an opportunity to gain specialised training in clinical electrophysiology outside of their home country.
In 2007, eleven recipients were selected out of 42 applications submitted (six for the basic programme and five for the advanced programme).
Officially launched during the EHRA General Assembly by Professor KH Kuck, the 2008 Fellowship programme opened on 15 September. Submissions close on 15 December 2007. More information is available here.
Clinical Electrophysiology Centres willing to be involved as EHRA training facilities should also apply in time for the 15 December 2007 deadline as they are selected on a competitive basis, a unique feature of this programme.
Supported by Biosense Webster, EHRA is proud of the success met by this initiative and we wish to firmly encourage young cardiologists to apply.
Meet the man behind the National Societies' Committee, Dr Christian Wolpert, here....