MEET THE EXPERT in Fenestrated Endovascular Aortic Repair: Commented Live Case & Update on Bridging Stents

Eric Verhoeven, born in Belgium, received his MD degree at the University of Leuven (Belgium) in 1988 and completed his PhD thesis in 2005 at the University of Groningen.

In January 2011, he was awarded a guest professorship of surgery at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. In October 2011, he accepted a professorship in Vascular Surgery at the University of Leuven, Belgium. In 2014, he became full professor in vascular surgery at the Paracelsus Medical University of Nuremberg.

Since his early beginning of his surgical career, his main interest, both clinical and scientific, continues to be the treatment of complex aortic aneurysms with fenestrated and branched grafts, with now experience in more than 1400 cases. He presented results of his work in numerous congresses with more than 1000 official presentations, and has published over 300 articles and book chapters.

Dr Tara Mastracci is a vascular surgeon with an interest in complex aortic repair and is currently working on the St. Barts Health Cardiothoracic Team.

She studied general and vascular surgery at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and moved on to a fellowship in complex aortic repair at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.  Dr Mastracci was a consultant at the Cleveland Clinic and she also held a position as assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University for seven years. Dr Mastracci moved to London in October 2014 to lead the aortic team at a London Teaching Hospital, where she served as Clinical Director. She has now moved to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, joining their aortovascular team.

Dr Mastracci is a clinical epidemiologist by training and focuses most of her research in clinical outcomes related to disease of the aorta. She has a specific interest in endovascular aneurysm repair, stent graft design and development, the genetics of aortic disease, the social determinants of health, and the advancement of new intraoperative imaging techniques.

Most recently, Dr Mastracci’s research has focused on the use of deformation tools in the operating room, in collaboration with CYDAR medical. She has also begun to advance awareness of the impact of social deprivation in the outcomes after aneurysm surgery.

Stéphan Haulon defended his PhD-thesis in Biomaterial research in 2002. In 2006 he was appointed Professor of Vascular Surgery at Lille University, and in 2017 chairman of the Aortic Centre at Marie Lannelongue, Groupe Hospitalier Paris Saint Joseph, Paris Saclay University.

Stéphan's main interest is in aortic surgery, particularly the endovascular treatment of thoraco-abdominal and arch aneurysms.

He is co-director of the Paris Vascular Insights meeting, of the Critical Issues in Aortic Endografting Expert Symposium, and of the annual Charing Cross Symposium.

He was elected councillor of the ESVS and of the French SVS, and is a SVS member. 

Finally, Stephan was the president elect of the ESVS for 2019-2020.

Dr Resch completed his PhD on endovascular aortic repair in 1999 under guidance of Prof Krassi Ivancev. After finishing of his general surgery training 2004, he moved to Cleveland to complete the Margret A. Smith fellowship in aortic surgery under the guidance of Dr Roy Greenberg. Dr Resch returned to Sweden and received a consultant position in Vascular Surgery at the Vascular Center in Malmö in 2005. In Malmö he continued to do research focused on endovascular aortic repair and advanced imaging techniques.

He became Associate Professor of Vascular Surgery at Lund University in 2008 and served as the Chairman at the Vascular Center in Malmö 2013-2019. He is currently Professor of Vascular Surgery at Copenhagen University, the Lead of Complex Aortic Surgery at the Dept of Vascular Surgery and Copenhagen Aortic Center, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Dr Resch has published >150 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in the field of vascular surgery and is on the editorial board of several major vascular journals. Dr Resch has been supervisor for many PhD students and a number of national and international research fellows. He has been invited to speak at numerous international conferences on vascular and endovascular topics and has been a visiting professor at Mayo Clinic, Univ. of North Carolina and Univ of Massachusetts. In 2016 he was the Roy K. Greenberg Distinguished lecturer at SVS VAM and he is on the organizing committee of Critical Issues on Aortic Endografting, Paris Endovascular Aortic Course and Paris Vascular Insights.