Editorial - April 2021

Dear members, dear colleagues, dear friends,

We hope this newsletter finds you safe and healthy!

We are now entering the second COVID-19 pandemic year. A year ago, we thought that we will have a battle to fight, now we are aware we are in a war. Our appreciation still goes to the army of clinicians and scientists who are putting a massive effort in the fight against the pandemic. What we thought will be the light at the end of the tunnel-the vaccine, is overlapping with the third wave, so once again we must be aware that the restrain and restriction measures are still a necessity.

The ESC has already planned a majority of 2021 activities as virtual events. This year, for the second time, the ESC Congress will be organized as ESC Congress 2021 - The Digital Experience.

We continue to support our community of young investigators in the field of coronary pathophysiology and microcirculation. Having that in mind, this years’ ESC 2021 Young Investigator Award in Coronary Pathophysiology & Microcirculation jury members will be Dirk Duncker, Filippo Crea, Tomasz Guzik, Teresa Padro and Dimitris Tousoulis. The best research will be presented during an online Young Investigator Award Session on Coronary Pathophysiology and Microcirculation during the ESC Congress.

We would also like to congratulate Dr Stefan Simovic, the winner of the 2021 Mobility Travel Grant of our Working Group. We deeply encourage him to pursue his drive for science in his host Institution - Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Italy, under the mentorship of Prof. Olivia Manfrini. Access the website for further details.

The first live event that our WG will participate in, given the current situation and the ESC calendar of activities, is set to be Frontiers in CardioVascular Biomedicine 2022, which will be held in Budapest – Hungary, in April 2022. However, until then, we are continuing with our scientific activities.

Finally, we have two position papers in review: our position paper on “Functional and structural adaptations of the coronary macro- and micro-vasculature to regular aerobic exercise: physiological, cellular and molecular mechanisms"; and the Consensus Document from the ESC Working Group on Coronary Pathophysiology & Microcirculation, ESC Working Group on Thrombosis and the Association for Acute CardioVascular Care (ACVC), in collaboration with the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) on Coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 and cardiovascular disease.

On behalf of the Working Group nucleus,
Dimitris Tousoulis, Chairperson 2020-2022
Marija Vavlukis, Communication Coordinator 2020-2022