2021 Western A-Fib Symposium Faculty Roster
For your reference, all faculty and planners are listed below with their contact information, as it is received and authorized for release. Each of these specialists were asked to sign a disclosure noting any potential conflicts of interest related to financial relationships with a commercial interest(s) – defined as any entity producing, marketing, re-selling. or distributing healthcare goods or services consumed by, or used on patients. All disclosures received are noted below with each faculty member and planner.
(An asterisk denotes program planners)
Following is a list of faculty, moderators, planners, and section chairs, to-date:

Ahmad Abdul-Karim, MD
Director, Cardiac Electrophysiology Laboratories
St. Joseph Medical Center
Dupage Medical Group, Chicago, IL
No relevant financial relationships

Nazem Akoum, MD (*)
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships

Christine Albert, MD, MPH
Chair, Department of Cardiology
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
[email protected]
Consultant & grantee – Roche Diagnostic
Consultant & grantee – Abbott, St. Jude Medical
Amin Al-Ahmad, MD
Physician – Electrophysiology
Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia
[email protected]
Consultant – Boston Scientific
Consultant, speaker – Biosense-Webster
Consultant, speaker – Abbott
Consultant – Cardiva

Sana M. Al-Khatib, MD
Professor of Medicine
Duke University
[email protected]
Grantee – Boston Scientific
Grantee & Speaker – Abbott
Consultant, Grantee & Speaker – Medtronic

Jason Andrade, MD
Grantee – Baylis
Honoraria recipient – Biosense

Tina Baykaner, MD, MPH

Carina Blomstrom-Lundquist, MD
Senior Consultant, Professor
Uppsala University
Speaker – MSD
Consultant & Advisory Committee Member, Speaker – Bayer, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Sanofi

Johannes Brachmann, MD
Klinkikum Coburg
[email protected]
Studies – Abbott
Studies & Advisor – Medtronic

Michael Bristow, MD, PhD
President & CEO – Arca Biopharma

T. Jared Bunch, MD
[email protected]
Grantee – Altathera
Grantee – Bioehringer Ingelheim
Grantee – Boston Scientific

Hugh Calkins, MD
John Hopkins Medical Institutions
[email protected]
Consultant, honoraria recipient – Medtronic
Consultant, honoraria recipient – AtriCure
Consultant, honoraria recipient – Biosense
Grantee – Boston Scientific
Consultant – Abbott

David J. Callans, MD
University of Pennsylvania Health System
Consultant – Biosense Webster
Consultant & Speaker – Boston Scientific, Medtronic
Speaker – Abbott

Mihail G. Chelu, MD
Baylor College of Medicine
Grantee – Abbott
Grantee – Impulse Dynamics

Alexandru I. Costea, MD
Professor of Medicine, Electrophysiology
University of Cincinnati
[email protected]
Consultant – Biotronik
Consultant – Biosense Webster

Lilas Dagher, MD
Research Fellow
Tulane University School of Medicine
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships

Ralph J. Damiano, Jr., MD
Washington University
[email protected]
Grantee – Speaker – AtriCure
Consultant – Medtronic

Emile Daoud, MD
The Ohio State University
Equity holder – S4 Medical
Advisory Board Member – Biosense Webster
Advisory Board Member – Biotronik

John D. Day, MD
Intermountain Healthcare
[email protected]
Consultant – speaker – Abbott
Consultant – speaker – MediLynx
Consultant – Boston Scientific

Thomas F. Deering, MD, MBA, FHRS, FACC, FACP
Chair, Cardiac Centers of Excellence
Piedmont Heart Institute
[email protected]
Scientific Advisory Committee – Abbott
Unpaid Researcher – Abbott, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Medtronic

David D. De Lurgio, MD, FACC, FHRS
Director of EP Labs
Emory St. Joseph’s Hospital
[email protected]
Consultant – Boston Scientific, Medtroni
Consultant & Speaker – Atricure

Thomas Deneke, MD
Director Clinic for Interventional EP
Heart Center Rhon-Klinikum Bad Neustadt
[email protected]
Advisor – Imricor, InHeart
Expert panelist – Biotronik

Rahul N. Doshi, MD
HonorHealth
[email protected]
Clinical Training, Steering Committee Research Trials – Boston Scientific
Mattias Duytschaever, MD, PhD
No relevant financial relationships

Mikhael El-Chami, MD
EP Director, Emory University Hospital Midtown
Emory University
[email protected]
Consultant – Medtronic
Consultant – Boston Scientific
Consultant – Biotronik
Zayd Eldadah, MD, PhD
Director, Cardiac Electrophysiology
MedStar Health
[email protected]
Consultant – Abbott
Consultant – Cardiva
Uzodinma C. Emerenini, MD
Cardiac Electrophysiology
Tulane University
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships

Gregory Feld, MD
Director Cardiac Electrophysiology Program
Professor of Medicine, University of California San Diego
[email protected]
Consultant, equity holder – Acutus Medical, Inc.
Consultant – Medwaves, Inc.
Consultant – Vector Medical
Consultant, equity holder – Lucia Health Guidelines
Consultant – Altathera Pharmaceuticals

Roger A. Freedman, MD
University of Utah
Consultant – Abbott Medical
Consultant, educator – Cook Medical
Consultant – Merit Medical

Edward P. Gerstenfeld, MD
Chief of EP, Professor of Medicine
[email protected]
Advisory Board Member – Biosense Webster, Farapulse
Speaker – Medtronic

Hamid Ghanbari, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor
University of MichiganConsultant – Preventice, VerifyGrantee – Toyota

Rakesh Gopinathannair, MD, MA, FHRS
Cardia EP Lab Director
Kansas City Heart Rhythm Institute, HCA Healthcare
[email protected]
Consultant – Abbot, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Zoll Medical
Speaker – Pfizer

Dhiraj Gupta, FRCP
Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital
[email protected]
Grantee – Biosense Webster, Boston Scientific

M. Edip Gurol, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital
[email protected]
Grantee – Boston Scientific
Grantee – Pfizer
Grantee – AVID

David Haines, MD
Beaumont Hospital
[email protected]
Consultant & Stock Holder – Affera
Speaker – Biosense Webster
Consultant – Boston Scientific, Integer
Consultant, Steering Committee Member & Grantee – Medtronic

Janet K. Han, MD
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System / UCLA
[email protected]
Speaker – Abbott, Medtronic

Mellanie True Hills, CSP
Founder & CEO, StopAfib.org
(Advocacy organization for those living with atrial fibrillation)
[email protected]
Owner – StopAfib.org
Owner – True Hills, Inc.

Gerhard Hindricks, Prof. Dr.
Heart Center Leipzig
No relevant financial relationships

Jonathan Hsu, MD, MAS
Associate Professor, UC San Diego
[email protected]
Honoraria recipient – Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Abbott, Biotronik, Biosense-Webster, Zoll Medical, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer
Grantee – Biotronik, Biosense-Webster
Equity interest – Acutus Medical, Vektor Medical

Elaine M. Hylek, MD, MPH
Professor of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine
[email protected]
Consultant, grantee – BMS/Pfizer, Janssen, Medtronic
Consultant, speaker – Boehringer Ingelheim
Grantee – Abbott

Mark Ibrahim, MD, FACC
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Radiology Co-Director, Advanced Cardiac Imaging Fellowship Program
University of Utah
Grantee – Coronary CT angiogram
Medical Technology Software – 3D – blockages

Pierre Jais, MD
Professor Cardiology
Univ Bordeaux
[email protected]
Equity holder – Affera
Equity holder, speaker – Farapulse

Eugene Kholmovski, PhD
[email protected]
Consultant – MRI Interventions, Inc.Consultant & Ownership Interest – Marrek, Inc.

Bradley P. Knight, MD
[email protected]
Consultant, speaker, fellowship support – Abbott, Biosense-Webster, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Medtronic

Andrew Krahn, MD
Chief of Cardiology
University of British Columbia
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships
Karl-Heinz Kuck
Lanserhof
[email protected]
Grantee & personal fees – Biotronik, Biosense Webster, Impulse Dynamics

Dhanunjaya “DJ” Lakkireddy, MD, FACC, FHRS
Executive Medical Director
Kansas City Heart Rhythm Institute
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships.

Randall J. Lee, MD
Professor of Medicine
University of California San Francisco
[email protected]
Medical Director, part time – AtriCure
Consultant – CardiaCare, Milestone Pharmaceutical
Equity Holder & advisor – Adona, LifeSignals
Chan Ho Lim, BS
Applications Developer, Tulane University (TRIAD)
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships

Trudie C. A. Lobban, MBE, FRCP, Edin
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships

Christian Mahnkopf, MD
Deputy Chief of Cardiology
Director, Cardiac MRI
Klinikum Coburg
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships

John Mandrola, MD
Cardiac Electrophysiologist
Baptist Health Louisville
No relevant financial relationships.

Moussa Mansour, MD
Director, AFib Program
Massachusetts General Hospital
Consultant and grantee – Biosense-Webster, Abbott, Boston Scientific, Medtronic
Equity holder – Affera, EPD Solutions, NewPace Ltd.

Francis Marchlinski, MD
University of Pennsylvania
[email protected]
Speaker – Biotronik, Boston Scientific
Speaker & Consultant – Biosense Webster
Advisory Board Member – Abbott / St. Jude
Advisory Board Member & Speaker – Medtronic

Nassir F. Marrouche, MD (*)
Director of EP Department,
Tulane University
[email protected]
Consultant – Preventice Services
Consultant, grantee – Biosense Webster
Grantee – Abbott, Boston Scientific, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Siemens Healthineers

Christopher McGann, MD
Co-Executive Medical Director & Director Advance Imaging
Swedish Heart & Vascular
No relevant financial relationships

David McManus, MD, ScM
Chair of Medicine
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Grantee – Apple, Bristol Myers Squibb / Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Flexcon
Consultant – Bristol Myers Squibb / Pfizer, Heart Rhythm Society, Flexcon, Avandia (Boston Biomedical) Associates

Gregory F. Michaud, MD
Section Chief, Cardiovascular Electrophysiology
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Consultant & Speaker – Biosense Webster, Boston Scientific
Speaker – Abbott, Biotronik, Medtronic

Suneet Mittal, MD
Valley Hospital
[email protected]
Consultant – Boston Scientific
Consultant – Medtronic

Lluis Mont, MD, PhD, Prof.
Head of Arrhythmia Section, Cardiovascular Clinical Institute
Hospital Clinic de Barcelona
[email protected]
Lecturer, consultant, advisory board – Abbott Medical, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Biosense-Webster
Advisory board – Medlumics

Sanjiv M. Narayan, MD, PhD
Stanford University Medical Center
[email protected]
Consultant – Abbott
Royalty recipient – Uptodate
Consultant – ACC
Grantee – NIH
Patent relationship – UCSD

Andrea Natale, MD, FACC, FHRS, FESC
Executive Medical Director, Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia
Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia at St. David’s Medical Center
[email protected]
Consultant, speaker – Biosense-Webster
Consultant, speaker – Boston Scientific
Consultant, speaker – Abbott
Consultant, speaker – Medtronic
Consultant – Biotronik
Leenhapong Navaravong, MD
Cardiac Electrophysiologist, University of Utah Health
Grantee – Abbott
Grantee – Biosense-Webster
Grantee – Boston Scientific
Grantee – Medtronic

Saman Nazarian, MD, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Consultant, grantee – Circle Software
Grantee – Siemens
Grantee – ImriCor
Grantee – Biosense-Webster
Consultant, grantee – CardioSolv

Douglas L. Packer, MD
Consultant – Biotronik, MediaSphere Medical
Grantee – Abbott, Biosense Webster, Boston Scientific/EPT, CardioInsight, CardioFocus, Enosense, German Heart Foundation, Hansen Medical, Medtronic, NIH, Robertson Foundation, St. Jude Medical, Siemens, Termedical
Royalty Recipient – via licenses to Mayo Clinic & St. Jude Medical
Joint Equity w/Mayo Clinic – External Beam Ablation Medical Devices
Royalty Recipient – Wiley & Sons, Oxford, St. Jude Medical
(Unpaid Consultant – Abbott, AtriFix, Biosense Webster, Boston Scientific, CardioFocus, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, Siemens, SigNum Preemptive Healthcare, Spectrum Dynamics, Thermedical)

Rod Passman, MD, MSCE
No relevant financial relationships

David Peritz, MD
Dartmouth Hitchcock
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships
Nicholas S. Peters
Imperial College London
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships

Jeanne E. Poole, MD
Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Section Head Electrophysiology
University of Washington Physicians
[email protected]
Grantee – AtriCure
Grantee – Kestra, Inc.
Grantee – Biotronik

Eric N. Prystowsky, MD
Ascension Medical Group
Consultant – Biotelemetry
Consultant – Medtronic

Alexies Ramirez, MD, FHRS
Health First Medical Group
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships

Vivek Reddy, MD
Director, Electrophysiology
Mount Sinai Hospital
[email protected]
Consultant – Abbott, Biosense-Webster, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Cardiofocus, Cardionomic, CardioNXT/AFTx, EBR, Fire1, Impulse Dynamics, Medlumics, Medtronic, Philips, Pulse Biosciences, Thermedical
Consultant & equity holder – Ablacon, Acutus, Affera, Apama Medical, Aquaheart, Atacor, Autonomix, Axon Therapeutics, Backbeat, BioSig, Cardiac Implants, CardiaCare, Circa Scientific, Corvia Medical, Dinova-Hangzhou Nuomao Medtech, East End Medical, EPD, Epix Therapeutics, EpiEP, Eximo, Farapulse, HRT, Intershunt, Javelin, Kardium, Keystone Heart, LuxMed, Middlepeak, Nuvera, Sirona Medical, ValCare
Equity holder – Manual Surgical Sciences, Newpace, Surecor, Vizaramed

Andrea M. Russo, MD
Director CCEP Fellowship
Cooper University Hospital

Frank Sachse, PhD

Walid Saliba, MD
Cleveland Clinic
[email protected]
Advisory Board – Boston Scientific
Advisory Board – Biosense Webster

Rohan Samson, MD
Assistant Professor
Associate Program Director
Cardiovascular Diseases Fellowship
Tulane University
No relevant financial relationships

Prashanthan Sanders, MBBS, PhD
University of Adelaide
Advisory Board Member – PacemateGrantee – Microport
Advisory Board Member, Grantee & Consultant – Abbott, Boston Scientific, Medtronic

Edward J. Schloss, MD, FHRS
The Christ Hospital
[email protected]
Stockholder – AliveCor
Consultant & researcher – Boston Scientific, Medtronic

Melvin Sheinman, MD
Professor of Medicine
University of California San Francisco
[email protected]
Speaker – Abbott, Biosense Webster, Biotronik

Philipp Sommer, MD
Herz – und Diabeteszentrum NRW
Advisory Board, Abbott
Advisory Board – Biosense Webster
Advisory Board – Boston Scientific
Advisory Board – Medtronic

James D. Thomas, MD, FASE, FACC, FESC
Director, Center for Heart Valve Disease
Professor of Medicine, Northwestern University
[email protected]
Consultant – Edwards
Consultant – Abbott
Consultant – GE
Consultant, spouse employment – Caption Health

Natalia Trayanova, PhD, FHRS, FAHA

Roderick Tung, MD
Professor of Medicine & Director of Cardiac EP & EP Lag
University of Chicago
No relevant financial relationships

Mintu Turakhia, MD
Associate Professor
Stanford University
Consultant – Medtronic, Abbott, iRhythm, Novartis, Biotronic, Sanofi, Pfizer, Myokardia, Johnson & Johnson, Milestone Pharmaceuticals
Grantee – Janssen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, American Heart Association, SentreHeart, Apple, Bayer
Consultant & Grantee – Cardiva Medical

Gaston R. Vergara, MD
Cardiac Electrophysiologist
Heart Center of Nevada
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships

Elaine Y. Wan, MD
Assistant Professor, Columbia University
[email protected]
Consultant – Boston Scientific
Consultant – Medtronic
Grantee – NIH

Bassam Wanna, MD
Tulane University
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships

Oussama M. Wazni, MD (*)
Section Head, EP
Cleveland Clinic
[email protected]
Consultant – Boston Scientific
Consultant – Biosense-Webster
Speaker – Medtronic

David J. Wilber, MD
Loyola University Medical Center
Consultant & grantee – Atricure,
Grantee – Boston Scientific
Speaker – Medtronic
Consultant, advisory board member, grantee – Biosense Webster

Brent D. Wilson, MD, PhD
Director, Cardiovascular Center, Section Chief, General Cardiology/Imaging
[email protected]
No relevant financial relationships

Christina J. Wurster, MBA
All relevant financial relationships of faculty and planners were resolved prior to the symposium.
CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES:
- To share the latest and currently developing knowledge of the critical issues around atrial fibrillation and related systems involvement including, but not limited to stroke prevention, GI and gastroenterology involvement, and post-ablation bleeding.
- To facilitate a focus on new, global technologies, recent research findings, and new procedures available for improved patient care.
- To support the development and use of cost-effective procedures and treatments including but not limited to anti-fibrotic drugs, new EP techniques, and other pharmacologic agents.
- To stimulate consensus building on treatment choices for recurrent arrhythmias pre and post -ablation, mobile health applications, ablation techniques, mapping and other current and developing technologies and interventions.
- To provide a forum for global information sharing and integration of all concepts in the fields working on atrial fibrillation.