About EHRA

With great pleasure I would like to welcome all of you to join us for the EHRA term 2015-2017! I have the privilege of serving EHRA as

the President for the next two years and I would like to take this opportunity to present to you the new EHRA Board, introduce the Committee Chairs and Coordinators and also share with you our ideas and plans for this period.

With respect to the structure of the EHRA Board and Committees we have decided to introduce some changes to improve efficacy and work flow. The most significant changes were applied to the Scientific Programme Committee which will be chaired by Michael Glikson and Helmut Pürerfellner: the novel Congress Scientific Programme Committee will be smaller with dedicated team leaders for selected subtopics. I am grateful for the enthusiasm that Michael and Helmut have started with preparing everything for EHRA EUROPACE - CARDIOSTIM 2017 congress in Vienna.

We have also decided to increase the number of women and to focus on the unique aspects of female gender in patients but also in health care professionals working in electrophysiology. Thus, for the EHRA Board and Committees of this term the percentage of female experts is 30% higher as compared to previous terms.

EHRA can be particularly proud on the wide range and high quality of educational activities and offers - no other association within the ESC has a comparable portfolio. Our education courses, the Training Fellowships and the recently introduced Proctor Programme have been very successful in the past. We will certainly further strengthen and extend our activities in this field. The Diploma of Advanced Studies in Cardiac Arrhythmia Management Course (DAS CAM) which is an educational activity jointly developed by the European Heart Academy, the University of Maastricht and EHRA will introduce another educational package.

With our dedicated certification programme, EHRA has set the European benchmark for professional physician certification in the field of interventional electrophysiology, cardiac implantable electronic devices and also for allied professionals in electrophysiology. We strongly believe that education and certification will be linked to reimbursement in the future and we as EHRA need to be there with the competence to take this responsibility.

We will extend our activities in science, innovation and education, fields closely attached to electrophysiology and arrhythmias where we have both experience and competence such as neuromodulation, telemedicine, and novel implant technology for stroke prevention and heart failure.
The backbone of our association is strong membership. We have crossed 2000 paying members during EHRA EUROPACE - CARDIOSTIM 2015 congress in Milan which is a tremendous success.

We will undertake specific efforts to further increase the membership with dedicated programmes for a greater benefit. The National Cardiac Societies Committee has the key role to develop these activities and to roll out membership programmes. Considering the size of our field of competence in the cardiovascular sector and the continuous growth of electrophysiology we should be able to double membership within the term 2015-2017.

This is an ambiguous goal… but certainly doable. In our understanding, membership has an active role in the association and we would like to stimulate all our members to take their role dynamically: please talk to us, communicate and approach us with your ideas, comments, and most importantly and welcome, your criticism. We need to learn what we can do better for our Association and last not least for our patients to fulfill our mission

“To improve the quality of life of the population by reducing the impact of cardiac rhythm disturbances and reduce sudden cardiac death”

Prof. Gerhard Hindricks

EHRA President, 2015-2017