CHALLENGES IN COMPLEX PCI

Gabriela Tirado Conte is an interventional cardiologist at Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain. She was awarded her degree in medicine at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, Venezuela, in 2012. She completed her general cardiology training in 2017 at Hospital Clínico San Carlos. Later, she received a grant from the Spanish Society of Cardiology to undertake an interventional cardiology fellowship at Hospital Clínico San Carlos from 2017 to 2019. She then worked as a full-time interventional cardiologist at Hospital Clínico Lozano Blesa, Zaragoza, Spain, in 2019. She returned to Madrid in 2020 and has since been working in the interventional cardiology unit. She was awarded the ‘Rio Hortega’ grant from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III to undertake clinical academic work in interventional cardiology. Her main areas of expertise are structural cardiac disease, specifically transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), and transcather mitral and tricuspid valve repair. She has published several original research articles in the field of TAVR, as well as in mitral edge-to-edge therapy and left atrial appendage closure. Currently, she is working on a prospective randomized clinical trial for the prevention of atrial fibrillation in TAVR, and in the Navitor(TM) low- and intermediate-risk registry, amongst other studies.

Prof Javier Escaned is Head of Section (Interventional Cardiology Section) at Hospital Clinico San Carlos / Complutense University (Madrid, Spain). He trained in the United Kingdom as Specialist in Cardiology and obtained his PhD in The Netherlands. Author of >700 indexed scientific articles on interventional cardiology, imaging and physiology (h-index 100) and over 30 years of experience as PCI operator, he regularly lectures and performs live cases at major scientific and educational meetings. He is a recipient of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Silver Medal and the Andreas Grüntzig Award for his contributions to the fiedl fo Interventional Cardiology. Main areas of expertise include complex PCI, intracoronary diagnostics and functional coronary angiography. His track record in coronary physiology comprises being investigator on pioneer FFR trials like DEFER (1998), collaborator with Justin Davies in the validation and clinical implementation of iFR, and developer of new tools for the assessment of coronary microcirculation. Editorial roles include Deputy Editor EHJ, Advisory Editor Eurointervention, editor of the textbooks “Coronary Stenosis: Imaging, Structure and Physiology” and “Physiological Assessment of Coronary Stenoses and the Microcirculation". Recent board positions include EAPCI board / Education Committee Chair, ESC WG Coronary Pathophysiology and Microcirculation, EuroCTO Board. Recent trials as Principal Investigator include ADVISE II, DEFINE FLAIR, SYNTAX II, PIONEER IV, Cerebral-Coronary-Connection (C3), DCR4Contrast, INOCA LongCovid and AID ANGIO. Additional interests are philosophy and music.

Dr Justin Davies is a board member of Monaco Cardio at the Princess Grace Hospital, Monaco, and an interventional cardiologist with over 15 years of experience as a leading educator in the field. His clinical and academic career was established at Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London, where he built an international reputation for innovation in cardiovascular medicine. Over the course of his career, he has successfully mentored 15 PhD students, published more than 500 peer-reviewed papers — including landmark studies in the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet — and holds 20 patents in cardiovascular medicine and technology. He was the co-principal investigator of the DEFINE-FLAIR study, which helped establish iFR (Instantaneous Wave-Free Ratio), a diagnostic technique he invented, as a globally adopted standard in coronary physiology. His work reflects a unique blend of scientific innovation, academic leadership, and clinical excellence. In addition to his research and academic commitments, Justin is CEO of Cerebria AI, where he leads the development of next-generation AI-powered cardiovascular imaging and physiology tools. Under his leadership, Cerebria AI is advancing cutting-edge solutions that integrate artificial intelligence with frontline cardiology to enhance clinical decision-making and patient outcomes. Combining deep clinical expertise with entrepreneurial vision, he continues to guide international ventures through funding, regulatory pathways, and commercialization, while remaining committed to transforming cardiovascular care on a global scale.

Dr Pablo Salinas is an interventional cardiologist at Hospital Clínico San Carlos in Madrid, Spain. He earned his medical degree from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and completed his training in cardiology and interventional cardiology at Hospital La Paz in Madrid. He later obtained his PhD from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. With over a decade of experience, Dr. Salinas is a highly skilled operator in complex percutaneous coronary interventions (CHIP and CTO). His expertise also includes patent foramen ovale closure, left atrial appendage closure, and pulmonary embolism intervention. Throughout his research career, Dr. Salinas has authored more than 100 indexed publications and is actively involved in multicenter clinical trials in the fields of PCI, stroke prevention interventions, and pulmonary embolism treatment. His clinical approach emphasizes the refinement of interventional techniques to achieve optimal outcomes while prioritizing the patient’s perspective and experience. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Salinas is actively engaged in education and training at a teaching university hospital with an international interventional fellowship program. He frequently participates in educational events and live case demonstrations. Outside of his professional commitments, he enjoys photography, tennis, and hiking mountain trails.

Pilar Jimenez Quevedo is a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at Clinico San Carlos University Hospital in Madrid. She received her medical degree from the University of Navarra in 1997 and Doctor cum laude in Medicine from the Complutense University of Madrid (2007). She obtained her Specialist Certification in Cardiology after training at Clinico San Carlos University Hospital in Madrid in 2003. She obtained her Masters in Interventional Cardiology from the Complutense University of Madrid in 2005 . Subsequently she completed a prestigious Research Fellowship at the Texas Heart Institute, Houston, USA between 2005-2006. Since 2006, she has been an Interventional Cardiology Consultant at Clinico San Carlos University Hospital in Madrid with a focus on both clinical and research activities. She is currently a Clinical Tutor of the Cardiology Resident training program. She is a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and served as a member of the board of directors of the Spanish Interventional Cardiology Society from 2015 to 2017. Her H index is 46. She has published 200 articles in indexed publications and more than 200 presentations at congresses. Since 2015, she has been responsible for the Spanish national TAVI registry.

Dr Roberto Spina is an Interventional Cardiologist trained in Australia and the USA and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He specialises in transcatheter structural heart interventions, having undertaken a Structural Heart Intervention Advanced Fellowship at the New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in New York, USA, and complex coronary intervention. He strongly believes in the routine use of intravascular imaging in performing percutaneous coronary intervention.

Dr Vasileios Panoulas is a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals, part of the Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Imperial College London. He has clinical expertise that encompasses both general and interventional cardiology. He is a high volume PCI and TAVI (trans catheter aortic valve implantation) operator with interest in complex high risk PCI and use of mechanical circulatory support (MCS) in patients with cardiogenic shock. Dr Panoulas' research interests involve clinical outcomes with new generation TAVI devices, use of MCS in patients presenting with cardiogenic shock, management of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and hypertension. Other interests include speckle tracking and hand-held echocardiography and cardiovascular disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Prof Kunadian is a Professor of Interventional Cardiology holding a Personal Chair at Newcastle University and Honorary Academic Consultant Interventional Cardiologist Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Prof Kunadian has an international reputation in interventional cardiology and cardiovascular research, making her a sought-after and respected speaker at prominent national and international meetings. She has championed diversity in her specialty as a role model; only 5% of interventional cardiologist are female in the UK, <1% are clinical academics/researchers and only female interventional cardiologist holding a University Personal Chair. She is also recipient of the UK Department of Health National Clinical Excellence Bronze Award. She is UK Chief Investigator in many multicentre clinical trials with major grant awards including from the British Heart Foundation. She has published >180 peer reviewed publications in major journals. She is UK’s 1st female to be appointed as the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society Research and Development Working Group lead. She has been chosen by the British Heart Foundation as their panel member for the Bias and Biology Campaign addressing the disparity of care among female patients with heart disease. She was the Chair/Lead author on the ESC/EAPCI Consensus document on INOCA which has raised the awareness of this condition worldwide. She has campaigned on the national media including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and newspapers to improve the care of patients with heart disease in particular women and heart disease. She is one of the commissioners on the Lancet Commission to reduce the global burden of heart disease in women by 2030. She was awarded Winner of the UK Times and the Sunday Times We Are The City Rising Star Award for 2018. In 2022 she was nominated for the British Heart Foundation Heart Hero Research Engagement Award. She was also nominated for the 2023 Northern Power Women Awards- Disruptor Good Category.