Dear colleagues,
As the holiday season is upon us and the festive spirit is spread everywhere, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year. It’s been quite a year for us all!
As we look forward being back together again, here's a look back from this challenging year and a look forward to a great start in 2022.
2021 Year in Review:
Important translational collaborations brought to light two position papers:
- Functional and structural adaptations of the coronary macro- and microvasculature to regular aerobic exercise by activation of physiological, cellular, and molecular mechanisms: ESC Working Group on Coronary Pathophysiology and Microcirculation position paper addresses the beneficial cardiovascular adaptations induced by regular aerobic exercise promoting thereby the specific, personalized use of various exercise regimens in prevention and rehabilitation of cardiovascular disease.
- Cardiovascular disease and COVID-19: a consensus paper 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) assessed the evidence supporting the mechanisms of acute and post-acute cardiovascular injury among patients with COVID-19 and their clinical features to identify gaps that need to be addressed in future research.
Supporting young researchers and empowering them to advance the future of cardiovascular medicine is one of the pillars of our community.
- Despite challenges of the pandemic, the 2021 Mobility Travel Grant of our Working Group was successfully launched. The 2021 awardee Dr Stefan Simovic (University of Kragujevac, Serbia) completed a two-month period at his host Institution - Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Italy, under the mentorship of Dr. Olivia Manfrini.
- The ESC Congress is a unique opportunity for young investigators. The 2021 awardee of the Young Investigator Awards Session in Coronary Pathophysiology and Microcirculation was Dr. Christos Kotanidis (University of Oxford, UK) for his investigation entitled “A human arterial transcriptomic signature predicts major adverse cardiac events and identifies novel, redox-related therapeutic targets within the vascular wall”. You can still discover this insightful session on ESC 365.
Dissemination of last breaking information and endorsement of joint meetings during Cardiac National Societies Scientific Meetings is one the aims of the Working Group.
- The Working Group participated in an official Joint Session with the Cardiology Society of Serbia at the 23rd Congress of Cardiology Society of Serbia that was held from 21 to 23 October 2021.
Starting August 2021, membership subscription became annual: the first expiry date is set for 31 December 2021. To reassure you, the membership remains free of charge, and you can opt for an automatic renewal. It’s as easy as ever – just sign into your My ESC account, go to My Membership and select ‘Manage’. You don’t have to miss out. Renew today!
To look forward in 2022, here is an update on upcoming activities:
- We launched the annual 2021-2022 Mobility Travel Grant. This is a unique opportunity for early career members to spend time at another institution with the purpose of advancing the future of cardiovascular medicine, develop a network and strengthen collaboration relations between research institutions. The grant provides 2,500€ to cover travelling and accommodation costs to work for a minimal period of 1 month in a host institution. The deadline for applications is 16 January 2022. Find out more and apply.
- When it comes to our scientific activities, we will contribute the Frontiers in CardioVascular Biomedicine 2022, that will be held from Friday, 29 April - Sunday, 01 May 2022 in Budapest, Hungary. The Frontiers in CardioVascular Biomedicine is one of the most relevant platforms for basic and translational cardiovascular biomedicine and is an opportunity to meet one another again in person, exchange inspirations and start fruitful collaborations.
In 2022 we are in the way of organizing much more activities with the aim to engage more actively and reach out to you. Stay tuned!
Lastly, in this issue of the Newsletter, Dr. Teresa Padró (Cardiovascular Program-ICCC-IR, Hospital Santa Creu i Sant Pau, CiberCV, Barcelona, Spain), comments on the paper “The SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein disrupts human cardiac pericytes function through CD147-receptor-mediated signalling: a potential non-infective mechanism of COVID-19 microvascular disease”. This article provides novel insights into the mechanisms used by SARS-CoV-2 to cause vascular damage. Read the full comment.
We take the opportunity of our last Newsletter of 2021 to thank you for being the heart of our community!
We also want to wish you and your family a wonderful Holiday Season & a healthy, happy, and peaceful New Year 2022!
On behalf of the Working Group nucleus
Dimitris Tousoulis, Chairperson 2020-2022
Edina Cenko, Secretary, 2020-2022
Marija Vavlukis, Communication Coordinator 2020-2022
Our mission: To reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease.