Baltic Atherosclerosis Conference 2021

Biography: Gustavs Latkovskis, MD, PhD is a cardiologist and Professor of Medicine at the University of Latvia. He is one of the key opinion leaders on cardiovascular prevention in Latvia with particular focus on lipids. In 2015, he established the Latvian Registry of Familial Hypercholesterolemia which has collected data on more than 700 individuals and identified more than 350 patients with FH diagnosis and almost 300 patients with possible FH in Latvia. Dr. Latkovskis graduated cum laude in Medicine at the Latvian Medical Academy (currently Riga Stradins University) in 1995 and completed his clinical training in internal medicine and cardiology in Riga, Latvia. He defended PhD thesis at the University of Latvia in 2006 on the topic "Impact of genetic variations of interleukins on the course of coronary heart disease". Dr. Latkovskis has been involved in several clinical trials and published on cardiovascular medicine-related topics, including dyslipidemias, clopidogrel resistance and novel markers. He has co-authored more than 50 publications in international peer-reviewed journals with h-index 15, three national guidelines and three national scientific statements. In Latvia and other Baltic Countries, he is a recognized lecturer on topics such as lipids, hypertension and cardiovascular prevention. He is currently Board Member at the Latvian Society of Cardiology and the Baltic Atherosclerosis Society as well as Board Member and Chairman of the Certification Council of the Latvian Medical Association. He has been president of the Baltic Atherosclerosis Society in 2013-2017. He is also a member of various international societies including ESC, EAS and AHA. In 2019, he was elected as a corresponding member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences.

Biography: Prof. François Mach, born in 1961, is an expert in the field of cardiology, in particular with regard to the development and progression of atherosclerosis diseases. After obtaining his MD at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, he studied internal medicine and cardiology at Geneva University Hospital. He then went on to complete a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Prof. Peter Libby, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston (1995-1999). Following his return to Switzerland in 2000, he became full Professor of cardiology, and in 2006 he was appointed Head of the cardiology department at Geneva University Hospital. Between 2012-14, he was the President of the Swiss Society of Cardiology. François Mach is the author of more than 350 High Impact Factor publications, has obtained several European research grants.
As director of the cardiology basic science laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine University of Geneva, Prof. François Mach and his research group have developed animal models of atherosclerosis, acute myocardial infarction, chronic myocardial ischemia and ischemic stroke. During the last 10 years, the group of Prof. François Mach has substantially contributed to a better clarification of the inflammatory mechanisms underlying atherosclerosis and its acute dramatic complications, such as myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke, both in human cohorts and animal studies.
For several years now, Prof. François Mach has also been strongly implicated in clinical research in the field of lipidology, by contributing to the design and completion of several clinical research projects and multi-center studies focussed on lipid lowering agents, such as statins and, more recently, anti-PCSK9. In addition, he is also responsible of several Swiss cohorts of atherothrombotic patients.

Biography: Professor Margus Viigimaa is the Research Chief of the Centre of Cardiology, Centre of Cardiology, North Estonia Medical Centre and Head of the Centre for Cardiovascular Medicine, Tallinn University of Technology.
Medical Doctor (cum laude), Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu (EST), PhD, postdoctoral research in Germany, Sweden, UK and Japan.
He has published more than 300 original scientific papers, H-index is 41 and number of citations is 31403 (Scopus database). M. Viigimaa is the editorial board member of several journals: Cardiology, Blood Pressure, High Blood Pressure & Cardiovascular Prevention, Journal of System Hypertension, Arterial Hypertension, Romanian Journal of Cardiology, Russian Journal of Cardiology, Journal of Cardiology and Therapy.
He is the President of the Baltic Atherosclerosis Society, past president of the Estonian Society of Cardiology, Membership Committee member of the European Society of Cardiology, Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology, past Council member of the European Society of Hypertension, Chairperson of the European Society of Hypertension Working Group on Hypertension and Sexual Dysfunction.
Prof. Viigimaa is honorary member of the Swedish Society of Hypertension, Hungarian Society of Hypertension, Bulgarian Hypertension League, Association of Cardiologists of Kazakhstan, Estonian Society of Cardiology and Estonian Society of Hypertension. He is holding the Red Cross III class Service Order of the Republic of Estonia, Tallinn city Order of honor and Gold medal of the Ukraine National Academy of Medical Sciences.