Guy De Backer Editor

Stephan Gielen is an Associate Professor, Head of the Heart Failure Programme and an interventional cardiologist at the Heart Centre of the University of Leipzig. He is President-elect of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology, Speaker of the Working Group of Preventive Cardiology of the German Society of Cardiology, and Vice Speaker of the Working Group on Cardiac Diseases in the Elderly. After his medical education at the University of Bochum, Germany, Harvard Medical School, Boston, and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, US, he started his internship at Heidelberg University before moving to Leipzig in 1997. There he joined the research group of Professor Rainer Hambrecht, focusing on the pathophysiology of exercise intolerance in chronic heart failure (CHF) and exercise interventions in stable CHF patients. Guy De Backer graduated as medical doctor at Ghent University in 1968. He holds a special degree in cardiology and in cardiac rehabilitation and he was awarded with an additional degree in public health. From 1973 until 1988 he was a permanent research fellow at the National Fund for Scientific Research (Belgium). In 1979 he was awarded with a PhD in epidemiology at Ghent University. From 1988 onwards he was professor of medicine at Ghent University chairing the Department of Public Health from 1989-2009 and the Cardiac Rehabilitation center of the University Hospital from 1983-2009. He is the author or co-author of more than 405 publications in journals cited in SCI, SSCI or AHCI, 120 papers in other journals and more than 40 chapters in books. Guy De Backer is a member and the past-chairman of the Superior Health Council in Belgium (1996-2009) and a member and the past-president of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium (2007-2010). Professor Massimo F Piepoli is a Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College. David Wood is the Garfield Weston Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the International Centre for Circulatory Health, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, and Honorary Consultant Cardiologist to Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. With a special interest in prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD), Professor Wood has developed Guidelines on CVD prevention for the World Health Organisation, European Society of Cardiology and the British Cardiovascular Society. He has contributed to policy development through the European Heart Health Initiative, leading to the St Valentines Day declaration on CVD Prevention, and subsequently the European Heart Health Charter, which aims to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease through political advocacy.