Young Investigators Awards (YIA)
The prestigious Young Investigators Awards are sponsored by the ESC and illustrate the dedication of our Society to support original research and scientific excellence.
The following Working Groups contribute to the Young Investigator Awards Sessions in their topic:
- Coronary Pathophysiology & Microcirculation
- Thrombosis
To present an abstract in one of the YIA sessions, the first author/presenter must be under 40 years old at the time of presentation.
The winner receives and ESC Award of 2000€ and a free registration for the ESC Congress. The finalists receive 1000€ and a free registration.
Congratulations to this year’s winners! Click on their presentation title to watch the replay.
Coronary Pathophysiology & Microcirculation
George Abraham (Cambridge, United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland): Reduced trans-myocardial extraction of endothelin-1 in cardiac allograft vasculopathy
Thrombosis
Tobias Harm (Tuebingen, Germany): Large-scale lipidomics profiling reveals characteristic lipid signatures associated with an increased cardiovascular risk
Previous Young Investigators Awards
Coronary Pathophysiology & Microcirculation:
- 2022: Roberto Scarsini (Verona , Italy) - Coronary microvascular dysfunction is associated with reduced cardiac performance in low flow low gradient aortic stenosis
- 2021: Christos Kotanidis (Oxford, United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland) - A human arterial transcriptomic signature predicts major adverse cardiac events and identifies novel, redox-related therapeutic targets within the vascular wall
- 2020: Rocco Montone (Rome, Italy) - Macrophage infiltrates in coronary plaque erosion portend a worse cardiovascular outcome in patients with acute coronary syndrome.
Thrombosis:
- 2022: Konrad Pieszko (Nowa Sol, Poland) - Predicting the presence of left atrial appendage thrombus with clinical features and transthoracic measurements using machine learning
- 2021: Evangelos Tzolos (Edinburgh, United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland) - In vivo coronary artery thrombus imaging with 18F-GP1 PET-CT
- 2020: Dario Bongiovanni (Muenchen, Germany) - The pro-thrombotic transcriptomic signature of reticulated platelets in patients with chronic coronary syndrome.
For the full list of awardees from previous editions, please visit the Young Investigator Awards page.
Working Group Awards
The following ESC Working Groups support high-quality research at ESC Congress by awarding each the two best abstracts submitted by young members (under 40 years old at the time of presentation) in their topic of expertise:
- Adult Congenital Heart Disease
- Atherosclerosis & Vascular Biology
- Cardiovascular Regenerative & Reparative Medicine
- Myocardial Function
- Pulmonary Circulation and Right Ventricular Function
The first author/presenter of each best abstract will receive a Working Group Award of 500€.
Congratulations to this year’s recipients of the Working Group Awards! Click on their presentation title to watch the replay.
ESC WG on Adult Congenital Heart Disease:
- Risk stratification of non-cardiac surgeries in adult congenital heart disease – Presented by Alicia Fischer (Muenster, Germany)
ESC WG on Atherosclerosis & Vascular Biology:
- Increased 12/15-lipoxygenase by disturbed flow promotes endothelial dysfunction and the development of atherosclerosis – Presented by Xiaoqun Wang (Shanghai, China)
- Vascular senescence controls the neuro-cardiac interface in the aging heart – Presented by Julian Uwe Gabriel Wagner (Frankfurt, Germany)
ESC WG on Cardiovascular Reparative & Regenerative Medicine:
- Scalable and stable human pluripotent stem cell-derived microvascular-like endothelial cells for cardiac regeneration and disease modelling applications. – Presented by Majid Qasim (Helsinki, Finland)
- Eight-year follow-up of cardiosphere-derived cell transplantation in patients with single ventricle congenital heart disease – Presented by Hirai Kenta (Okayama-Shi, Japan)
ESC WG on Myocardial Function:
- Scar characterisation to predict arrhythmia and death in ischaemic cardiomyopathy: insights from the REVIVED trial – Presented by Holly Morgan (London, United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland)
- Risk prediction model of cardiotoxicity in breast cancer patients; the multicenter prospective CHECK HEART-BC (comprehensive heart imaging to evaluate cardiac damage linked with chemotherapy in breast – Presented by Yosuke Terui (Sendai, Japan)
ESC WG on Pulmonary Circulation & Right Ventricular Function:
- High-sensitivity troponin-T concentrations and long-term risk of death in patients with acute pulmonary embolism – Presented by Manan Pareek (Copenhagen, Denmark)
- Urinary proteomic analysis for biomarker discovery of pulmonary arterial hypertension-induced right ventricular failure - Presented by Xiaohan Qin (Beijing, China)
- Hemodynamic changes with pulmonary arterial hypertension targeted therapies: a meta-analysis of 3898 treatment-naive patients – Presented by Ioannis Farmakis (Mainz, Germany)


Prof. Erik Klok, WG on Pulmonary Circulation & Right Ventricular Function Chairperson-Elect, with Ms. Xiaohan Qin.
Previous Working Group Awards
Congratulations to the previous winners of the ESC Working Group Awards, selected from the best graded abstracts in the field:
ESC WG on Adult Congenital Heart Disease:
2022
- Risk predictors and outcomes of infective endocarditis among adult patients with congenital heart disease - Presented by M. Fedchenko (Gotenburg, SE)
- End-of-life and palliative care provision to adults with congenital heart disease: mortality follow-back study using administrative data - Presented by L. van Bulck (Leuven, BE)
2021
- Common genetic variants improve risk stratification after atrial switch operation for transposition of the great arteries - Presented by Ms O. Woudstra (Amsterdam, NL)
- The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic among adult congenital heart disease patients: findings of a one-year multicentric, international study - Presented by Doctor F. Ruperti Repilado (Bern, CH)
ESC WG on Atherosclerosis & Vascular Biology:
2022
- GPR55 deficiency in B-cells promotes atherosclerosis and regulates plasma cell maturation - Presented by R. Guillamat-Prats (Munich, DE)
- Role of smooth muscle-derived S100A4 in an atherosclerotic mouse model - Presented by L. Cardoso dos Santos (Geneva, CH)
2021
- Integrative single cell RNA-sequencing descrambles a substantial divergence of adaptive immune cell identities and transcriptional programs in mouse and human atherosclerosis - Presented by Mr H. Horstmann (Freiburg, DE)
- Endothelial-T cell crosstalk contributes to vascular injury in fatty liver disease - Presented by Assistant Professor C. Cheung (Singapore, SG)
ESC WG on Cardiovascular Reparative & Regenerative Medicine:
2022
- Single-cell transcriptomics reveals an angiogenic cell population for therapeutic angiogenesis in adipose tissue - Presented by D. Inoue (Cincinnati, US)
- Extracellular vesicles from the infarcted and failing heart drive tumor growth - Presented by T. Caller (Tel Aviv, IL)
2021
- Transcriptome analysis of conditionally immortalized atrial myocytes: identification of a novel atrium-enriched protein involved in sarcomere assembly and maintenance - Presented by Mr P. van Gorp (Leiden, NL)
- Pharmacological blockade of histone methyltransferase SETD7 restores angiogenic response in experimental diabetes - Presented by Mr S. Mohammed (Zurich, CH)
ESC WG on e-Cardiology:
2022
- Recurrence of atrial fibrillation following pulmonary vein isolation: impact of body mass index on one- and three-year outcomes - Presented by N. Milstein (New Jersey, US)
- Telemedical monitoring and coaching improves survival and hospitalisation rates in heart failure - Presented by K. Knoll (Munich, DE)
2021
- Trends in infective endocarditis mortality in the United Kingdom and EU 15+ countries between 1990-2019: an analysis of the Global Burden of Diseases database - Presented by Doctor M. Hammond-Haley (London, GB)
Download - Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cardiology services at a tertiary cardiac centre in a low- & middle-income country in Asia - Presented by Doctor F. Cader (Dhaka, BD)
Watch
ESC WG on Myocardial Function:
2022
- Atrial-specific reduction of Kir2.1 channel pore diameter in addition to loss of inward-going rectification underlies inducible atrial fibrillation in a mouse model of short QT syndrome type 3 - Presented by A. Moreno Manuel (Madrid, ES)
- Aberrant interaction between TEAD1 and Lamin A/C causes cardiomyopathy - Presented by S Yamade (Tokyo, JP)
2021
- Gpr126 domains control different cellular mechanisms of ventricular chamber development - Presented by Miss S. Srivastava (Erlangen, DE)
- Implication of sphingolipid metabolism gene dysregulation and cardiac sphingosine-1-phosphate accumulation in heart failure - Presented by Miss L. Perez Carrillo (Valencia, ES)
ESC WG on Pulmonary Circulation & Right Ventricular Function
2022
- Two-year quality of life after acute pulmonary embolism: results from the FOCUS study – Presented by A. Mavromanoli (Mainz, DE)
- Mortality related to pulmonary embolism in the United States before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: An analysis of the CDC Multiple Cause of Death database - Presented by I. Farmakis (Mainz, DE)
2021
- Case fatality rate and fatal bleeding complication in patients with pulmonary embolism and patent foramen ovale - Presented by Dr. Lukas Hobohm (Mainz, DE)
- Senescent endothelial cells exacerbate pulmonary hypertension through notch-mediated juxtacrine interaction with pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells - Presented by Dr. Risa Ramadhiani (Kobe, JP)
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