What is HFA Career Café ?
HFA Career Café is the meeting place for the future generation of cardiologists.
During individual interviews of 20 minutes, selected applicants can interact with leaders in their specialty and receive career development advice and recommendations.
This is a unique platform where long-lasting relationships can begin.
Important dates
HFA Career Café 2023 will take place in the HFA Members Lounge on:
- Sunday, 21 May 2023
- First interview – 17:15
- Second interview – 17:40
- Monday, 22 May 2023
- First interview – 17:15
- Second interview – 17:40
Each session will be followed by a short networking cocktail to continue the discussion.
Am I eligible?
In order to participate, you must fulfil the mandatory eligibility criteria:
- Under 40 years old or in training
- Registered for Heart Failure 2023: Register now
- HFA Silver, Gold and Fellow Member: Become an HFA Member now
IMPORTANT: Applicants must not have any conflicting role at the same time.
How can I apply?
Registration is now closed. Thank you to all applicants.
Schedule of the mentors
Sunday, 21 May 2023 (17:15–18:15)
- Offer Amir, Israel
- Antoni Bayes-Genis, Spain
- Lars Lund, Sweden
- Theresa McDonagh, UK
- John McMurray, UK
- Marco Metra, Italy
- Wilfried Mullens, Belgium
- Massimo Piepoli, Italy
- Frank Ruschitzka, Switzerland
- Maggie Simpson, UK
- Scott Solomon, USA
- Thomas Thum, Germany
- Sophie Van Linthout, Germany
- Adriaan Voors, Netherlands (The)
Monday, 22 May 2023 (17:15–18:15)
- Pietro Ameri, Italy
- Johann Bauersachs, Germany
- Jeroen Bax, Netherlands
- John Cleland, UK
- Maria Generosa Crespo-Leiro, Spain
- Roberto Ferrari, Italy
- Jose Ramon Gonzalez Juanatey, Spain
- Christoph Maack, Germany
- John McMurray, UK
- Arsen Ristic, Serbia
- Frank Ruschitzka, Switzerland
- Gianluigi Savarese, Sweden
- Hadi Skouri, Lebanon
- Sophie Van Linthout, Germany
Mentors
Pietro Ameri
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Chronic Heart Failure, Basic Science, Cardio-Oncology
Place of work
University of Genova - Genoa, Italy
After graduating in Medicine in 2006, Pietro Ameri completed the residency and received his PhD in 2014 at the University of Genova, Italy. He is now Associate Professor in Cardiovascular Diseases at the IRCCS San Martino Policlinic Hospital in Genova, where he directs the Heart Failure and Pulmonary Hypertension clinical programs, as well as a translational research laboratory. Prof. Ameri's primary interest is heart failure. He is also involved in cardio-oncology, especially with respect to the interplay between heart failure, cancer, and anti-cancer therapies. If he was asked to bring a book, a movie, and a song with him on a desert island, today he would choose The Catcher in the Rye, The Big Lebowski, and Hey You.
Offer Amir
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Acute Heart Failure
Place of work
Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center - Jerusalem, Israel
Johann Bauersachs
Areas of expertise
Acute and chronic heart failure, left ventricular healing and remodelling, peripartum cardiomyopathy, translational studies
Place of work
Hannover Medical School, Germany
Prof. Bauersachs is Full Professor and Head of the Department of Cardiology and Angiology at Hannover Medical School (MHH). Professor Bauersachs is Fellow of the American Heart Association, Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), Fellow of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC, Chair of the HFA Committee on Peripartum Cardiomyopathies (PPCM), and Co-Chair of the worldwide EORP Registry on PPCM. He is Speaker of the Clinical Research Group (KFO) 311 “(Pre-) terminal heart and lung failure - mechanical unloading and repair” funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). Prof. Bauersachs is a board member of the German Cardiac Society (DGK).
Jeroen Bax
Areas of expertise
Imaging in clinical cardiology - nuclear cardiology, echocardiography, multi-slice computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging
Place of work
Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands
ESC Past-President (2018 – 2020), Jeroen Bax is director of non-invasive imaging and Director of the echo-lab at the Leiden University Medical Center. He has authored numerous papers and holds several positions in national and international scientific organisations, as well as serving on the editorial boards of many different journals.
Antonio Bayes-Genis
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Chronic Heart Failure, Basic Science, Myocardial Disease
Place of work
University Hospital Germans Trias and Pujol de Badalona - Badalona, Spain
Dr. Antoni Bayes-Genis is Head of the Heart Institute at Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol in Badalona (Barcelona, Spain), director of the ICREC (Heart Failure and Cardiac Regeneration) Research Program. Dr. Bayes-Genis is HFA Executive Board Member and HFA Clinical Section Chair. He is a full professor and past vice-dean at Autonomous University of Barcelona. His research is focused in two main areas, one more clinical and another basic-translational. From the clinical standpoint he is interested in precision medicine in heart failure, biomarkers, sudden death, devices, new treatment options and epidemiology. At the basic-translational level he is focussed on novel regenerative approaches to rejuvenate the heart, including tissue engineering, cell-derived products and other. He has published over 620 articles with more than 20,000 citations. He is an inventor and holds nine international patents.
John Cleland
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Chronic Heart Failure, Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Device Therapy, Atrial Fibrillation, Risk Factors and Prevention
Place of work
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland
Prof. Cleland is a Cardiologist and Director of the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics (Glasgow), an internationally renowned clinical trials unit offering a complete service both to academia and industry for cardiovascular and metabolic disease. His main interest is heart failure, extending from epidemiology and prevention, to Phase II-IV trials and guidelines. Particular current interests include myocardial substrate, congestion and inflammation, telemonitoring and theranostics. He qualified from the University of Glasgow in 1977, completed training at St. Mary's & Hammersmith Hospitals (London) and was awarded a Senior Fellowship by the British Heart Foundation. He was appointed Prof. at the University of Hull and, in 2013, the National Heart & Lung Institute, Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals, Imperial College London. He founded the European Journal of Heart Failure. He is Past-Chair of the ESC Working Group on Heart Failure and British Society for Heart Failure.
Maria Generosa Crespo-Leiro
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Chronic Heart Failure, Chronic Heart Failure
Place of work
Cardiology Service at the Complexo Hospitalario Universitario A Coruña (CHUAC), Spain
Prof. Maria Generosa Crespo-Leiro is Head of the Heart Failure Section, Cardiology Service at the Complexo Hospitalario Universitario A Coruña (CHUAC), Spain. Professor of Medicine, University of A Coruña (UDC). She obtained an MD at the University of Santiago de Compostela, specialisation in cardiology at Clinica Puerta de Hierro (Madrid) and PhD from Universidad Autónoma (Madrid). She has served in several scientific societies: President of the Spanish Working Group on HF and HT (2003-2006); Board of Directors, International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) (2010-1013). Board member, Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC (2012-2018). Secretary, HFA Executive Committee (2016-2018). Chair, HFA Advanced HF Committee (2017-2018). Member, ESC Education Committee (2018-2020). Her main fields of research interest are HF and HT. Chair, ESC HF Long-term Registry (2013-2016), HFA scientific statement on advanced HF (2018), Spanish post-HT Tumor Registry. Co-author 2021 ESC HF Guidelines.
Roberto Ferrari
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Acute Heart Failure
Place of work
University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
Currently Prof. Ferrari holds the position of Emeritus Professor at the University of Ferrara. His academic career path development follows his initial appointment to the position of Associate Professor in Cardiology at the University of Brescia in 1987 and then at the University of Ferrara in 1998.In 2000, Prof.Ferrari was appointed to the position of Full Professor in Cardiology as well as the Director of the Cardiovascular Centre of the University of Ferrara and Director of Cardiology at the St. Anna University Hospital of Ferrara. In addition to his current position as Emeritus Professor, Ferrari is presently the Scientific Director of Medical Trial Analysis, an academic Clinical Research Organization (CRO). He founded the European Heart for Children (EHC), established during his presidency of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
Ferrari has contributed scientific findings targeted at characterizing the molecular mechanisms of the ischaemic and failing myocardium, dedicating himself to improving the clinical treatment of myocardial ischaemia and heart failure, while placing a particular emphasis on interdisciplinary and collaborative studies throughout his career.
His contributions to the field of cardiology include a lengthy publication list of several books, over 800 published peer reviewed papers, citation numbers nearing 50,000, and an H-index that is close to 90.
Jose Ramon Gonzalez Juanatey
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Acute Heart Failure, Chronic Heart Failure, Hypertension
Place of work
University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela - Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela since 2000. He leads the group of Cardiovascular Research and has more than 700 scientific publications. His results were published in the best journals of cardiovascular area such as (Circulation, JACC, Int J Cardiol, Cardiovascular Research, Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, etc.). Prof. Gonzalez Juanatey was past president of the Spanish Society of Cardiology. He has supervised more than 30 PhD theses. His H-index is 52.
Christoph Maack
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Chronic Heart Failure, Acute Heart Failure, Chronic Heart Failure, Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Research Methodology
Place of work
University Clinic Wuerzburg - Wuerzburg, Germany
Christoph Maack received his MD at the University of Cologne (Germany) in 2000. From 2000 to 2017, he worked at the Department of Cardiology at the University of the Saarland in Homburg, Germany. Between 2002 and 2005, he was a post-doc in the lab of Brian O’Rourke at the Department of Cardiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, US. In 2017, he became Spokesperson of the Comprehensive Heart Failure Center (CHFC) at the University Clinic in Würzburg, Germany, where he also chairs the Department of Translational Science. His work focuses on cellular defects in chronic heart failure, with a special emphasis on the mechanisms of contractile, mitochondrial and metabolic dysfunction in heart failure.
Lars Lund
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Chronic Heart Failure, Acute Heart Failure, Chronic Heart Failure, Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Research Methodology
Place of work
Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
Lars Lund is Professor of Cardiology at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm. His research focuses on heart failure: implementation of existing therapy in HFrEF and development of novel.
Theresa McDonagh
Areas of expertise
Clinical heart failure, in particular the epidemiology of heart failure and left ventricular dysfunction and the role of biomarkers
Place of work
King's College London, United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland
Prof. Theresa McDonagh is a Consultant Cardiologist in the School of Cardiovascular Medicine & Sciences.
John McMurray
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure, coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation and the cardiovascular consequences of diabetes and chronic kidney disease, with a focus on clinical trials and epidemiology.
Place of work
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland
Prof. McMurray’s primary research interests are in heart failure, the cardiovascular consequences of diabetes and chronic kidney disease, atrial fibrillation and coronary heart disease, with a focus on clinical trials and epidemiology. He is, or was, the principal investigator, member of the executive committee or steering committee member in several large trials in his areas of interest. Prof. McMurray served as the inaugural Eugene Braunwald Scholar in Cardiovascular Disease at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, and visiting Professor of Medicine, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts USA 2010/2011. He is a Past-President of the Heart Failure Association of the ESC and is involved in guideline writing and the editorial boards of several leading journals. He is a Highly Cited Researcher and has a H-index of >200.
Marco Metra
Areas of expertise
Treatment of heart failure and its comorbidities
Place of work
University and Civil Hospitals of Brescia, Italy
Professor of Cardiology and Director of the Institute of Cardiology of the Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health of the University and Civil Hospitals of Brescia, Italy. Prof. Metra is the HFA president-elect and Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Heart Failure, the official journal of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), Senior Consulting Editor of the European Heart Journal and member of the Editorial board of many other scientific journals. He has chaired the 2021 ESC guidelines on heart failure with Prof Theresa MacDonagh. His research activity is focused on treatment of heart failure and its comorbidities. He has had a leading role in multiple trials of new therapies in patients with heart failure. Author of more than 600 articles in peer-reviewed journals with a current google scholar H-index of 87.
Wilfried Mullens
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Acute Heart Failure
Place of work
Hospital Oost-Limburg (ZOL) - Genk, Belgium
Prof. Wilfried Mullens is a heart failure clinician with a strong commitment to translational research translating new mechanistic insights into answering questions of clinical interest. He has been president of the Belgian Working Group on Heart Failure and serving as board member of European Heart Failure Association (HFA) and HF 2023 Congress Chair.
Massimo Francesco Piepoli
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Chronic Heart Failure, Coronary Artery Disease Chronic, Echocardiography, Hypertension, Risk Factors and Prevention
Place of work
IRCCS San Donato Polyclinic - San Donato Milanese, Italy
Prof. Piepoli obtained his Diploma in Medicine in Università di Pavia in 1987 where he specialized in cardiology in 1991. In 1996 he obtained his Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Medicine (Cardiology), Imperial College, London, UK. He is currently Director of Clinical Cardiology Unit, Policlinico San Donato Mi IRCCS, University of Milan, Milan, Italy. Prof. Piepoli is an active HFA Board member for the mandate 2022-2024. In 2000 the Italian Society of Cardiology awarded him the title of “Scholar”. From 2012 to 2018 he held the position of CPG member of the ESC. Since 2017, he is Editor-in-Chief of European Journal of Preventive Cardiology (IF 8.5) and ex-officio member of the EAPC. Prof. Piepoli is currently ESC Vice President.
Arsen Ristic
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Chronic Heart Failure, Interventional Cardiology, Myocardial Disease, Pericardial Disease, Pulmonary Circulation-Pulmonary Embolism-Right Heart Failure
Place of work
University Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
Head of Heart Failure Ward and Assoc. Director, Department of Cardiology of the University Clinical Center of Serbia - Associate Professor of Internal Medicine-Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia - Coordinator for Cardiology and Secretary of the Experts Committee for Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery in the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia - Publications: 2 books, 35 book chapters (including ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine 2009 & 2018) and 155 papers in peer-review journals, cited over 10000 times, with a cumulative impact factor of 650 and h-index 40. - 110 invited lectures at international congresses, 18 at the ESC Congresses - Organiser: Regional Summit on Pulmonary Hypertension, Belgrade 5/2018 & 15th ESC Conference on Myocardial & Pericardial Diseases, Belgrade 10/2018 - President, Pulmonary Hypertension Society of Serbia - Member of the Board, Heart Failure Association of the ESC, Coordinator SG on Pericardial Diseases.
Frank Ruschitzka
Areas of expertise
Heart failure, Acute Heart Failure, Chronic Heart Failure, Device Therapy
Place of work
University Heart Center, Zurich, Switzerland
Prof. Frank Ruschitzka, MD, FRCP (Edinburgh), FESC is Chairman of the University Heart Center and the Department of Cardiology at the University Hospital in Zürich, Switzerland. Prof. Ruschitzka received his medical degree in 1989 and has specialized in internal medicine and cardiology at the Universities of Göttingen and Zürich. Prof. Ruschitzka received numerous awards, including the Cardiovascular Science Award of the Swiss Society of Cardiology, the annual Götz-Preis of the Medical Faculty of the University of Zürich for excellence in clinical medicine and research as well as the Honoris Causa Doctorate of the University of Medicine “Carol Davila” Bucharest. He is Past-President of the Heart Failure Association of the ESC. Professor Ruschitzka`s research focuses on the development of novel drugs, devices and interventions, in heart failure in particular.
Gianluigi Savarese
Areas of expertise
Chronic Heart Failure, Acute Heart Failure, Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy
Place of work
Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Gianluigi Savarese is currently Associate Professor of Cardiology at Karolinska Institutet and Consultant for Heart Failure at the Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. He received his MD from Federico II University in Naples (Italy) in 2010 and underwent cardiology residency (2011-2016) at the same Institution. In 2013-2014 he was guest fellow at the Center for Molecular Cardiology of the University of Zurich. In 2017 he got the title of heart failure specialist from the University of Zurich and the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology. In 2018 he received his PhD from the Karolinska Institutet. He is currently a board member of the Heart Failure Association and the HFA Scientific Committee on Pharmacology & Pharmacotherapy. Over the last 5 years he has published around 150 scientific works on top peer-reviewed journals focusing mainly on heart failure, epidemiology and CV pharmacotherapy. He is expert in registry-based studies and trials.
Maggie Simpson
Areas of expertise
Valvular - Myocardial - Pericardial - Pulmonary - Congenital Heart Disease - Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, Cardiovascular Disease in Women, Cardiovascular Nursing - Advanced Clinical Practice, Chronic Heart Failure, Pregnancy and Cardiovascular Disease
Place of work
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde - Glasgow, United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland
Maggie is a Heart Failure Advanced Nurse Practitioner in NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde and a part-time Medical Student at the University of Edinburgh. Maggie is a member of the Board of the ESC Heart Failure Association and Association of CV Nurses & Allied Professions (ACNAP) & chairs the ACNAP Education Committee. She is also Chair of the British Adult Congenital Cardiac Nurse Association and Scottish Heart Failure Nurse Forum and elected councillor to the British Society for Heart Failure. As a medical student Maggie is the North Rep for the British Undergraduate Cardiovascular Association. Areas of interest: adult congenital heart disease, cardiac obstetrics, acute heart failure, advanced heart failure and devices.
Hadi Skouri
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Acute Heart Failure, Acute Heart Failure, Chronic Heart Failure, Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy
Place of work
American University of Beirut AUB - Beirut, Lebanon
Dr. Skouri has more than 14 years of experience in heart diseases and their advanced treatment and care. He specializes in advanced heart failure including “Assist devices”, heart transplantation, cardio-oncology, pulmonary hypertension, and cardiac amyloidosis. Dr. Skouri has spent more than a decade organizing public awareness campaigns about heart failure in the MENA region. He has also chaired the Lebanese Society of Cardiology’s (LSC) Heart Failure Working Group and served as an executive member of the board of LSC. His most notable achievements include the first implementation of LVADs in the Middle East, and being the first doctor to gain a fellowship from the Heart Failure Association in the Middle East. He is an active HFA Board member for the mandate 2022-2024. Dr. Skouri has also worked in academia as an educator and as a researcher. He has been an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at AUBMC in Lebanon for the last 5 years and has published more than 55 research papers, consensus documents, and position papers that directly contribute to the advancement of cardiology and Heart Failure. Dr. Skouri received both his doctorate in medicine and his bachelor of science degree in medicine from the American University of Beirut (AUB). He completed his cardiology fellowship and interventional cardiology from AUBMC. Following that, he completed a fellowship in Heart Failure at Mayo Clinic Rochester USA. He is also certified as an Advanced Heart Failure Specialist by Cleveland Clinic, Ohio-USA.
Thomas Thum
Areas of expertise
Novel diagnostic and therapeutic noncoding RNA-based concepts in cardiovascular medicine and beyond
Place of work
Institute for Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS) - Hannover, Germany
Prof. Thum, graduated at Hannover Medical School and initially worked in the field of Molecular Cardiology and Clinical Pharmacology. In 2004 he joined the Julius-Maximilians University in Würzburg to finish his clinical training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology. In parallel in 2008 he finished an external PhD program at the National Heart and Lung Institute of the Imperial College in London, U.K. (Prof. P. Poole-Wilson). In October 2009 he became Director and Full Professor of the Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS) at Hannover Medical School doing translational cardiovascular research and since 2013 is guest professor at the National Heart & Lung Institute at Imperial College London. Dr. Thum is serial inventor holding more than 40 patents, of which many were licensed. He is one of the initial pioneers in cardiovascular noncoding RNA research. The current major research focus of Dr. Thum's laboratory is to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic noncoding RNA-based concepts in cardiovascular medicine and beyond. In 2019 he became additional director of the Center of Translational Regenerative Medicine at Hannover Medical School and since January 2021 serves as new director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine in Hannover, Germany. He is recent founder and CSO of Cardior Pharmaceuticals GmbH, that so far received ~$100 million USD in funding (Series A & B).
Sophie Van Linthout
Areas of expertise
Basic Science, Inflammation, Fibrosis, Myocardial Disease, Chronic Heart Failure
Place of work
Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies - Berlin, Germany
Prof. Van Linthout has completed her studies in biological engineering at the Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (1998) and finished her PhD in medical science, at the Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (2002). Here after, she was a Marie-Curie Fellow of the European Commission in Italy for 1.5 years. From 2004 on, she worked as a Post-Doc at the Department of Cardiology & Pneumology, Charité, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany, where her research was mainly directed at finding strategies to improve diabetic cardiopathy and diabetes mellitus-associated endothelial dysfunction. Since 2010 she works at the Berlin-Brandenburg (now, Berlin Institute of Health) Center for Regenerative Therapies at the Charité, University of Medicine, Berlin; Germany, where she leads the working group on experimental immunocardiology. Her research is focused on exploring the role of the innate immunity, inflammation and its bidirectional relationship with fibroblasts, in the pathogenesis of non-ischemic heart failure with the main emphasis on inflammatory cardiomyopathy and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Prof. Van Linthout is HFA Board member for the basic science section and the chair of the HFA Scientific Committee on Basic & Translational Research.
Languages
Flemish (Dutch), French, English, Italian, German
Adriaan Voors
Areas of expertise
Heart Failure - Acute Heart Failure
Place of work
University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
Adriaan Voors is Professor of Cardiology and specialises in heart failure. Since July 2003, Professor Voors works as a Cardiologist in the University Medical Centre Groningen, The Netherlands. In 2007, he became Established Clinical Investigator of the Netherlands Heart Foundation, and in May 2010, he became Professor of Cardiology at the University Medical Center Groningen. Professor Voors is chairing a research group of students, MD-PhD-fellows and post-docs mainly on using –omics data to increase our knowledge on pathophysiology leading to personalized therapies in heart failure. He is an editorial board member of the European Journal of Heart Failure, Clinical Research in Cardiology Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy, the Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine, and Heart Failure Reviews. He is/was involved as principal investigator/executive/steering committee member of 44 clinical trials on novel therapies in acute and chronic heart failure. Prof. Voors was a member of the 2012 ESC Heart Failure Guidelines Committee, and is the co-chair of the 2016 ESC Heart Failure Guidelines. He has authored more than 500 peer-reviewed papers and several books and chapters and his Hirsch-index is 81.
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