LEADERSHIP

2022 saw some exciting and groundbreaking changes to EACTS’ leadership team, as we welcomed new Officers and Councillors to EACTS’ Council.

In October, Patrick Myers became our new Secretary General taking over from Rafa Sádaba. Patrick brings significant experience and knowledge to the position, having previously held several leadership roles within EACTS including Chair of the Acquired Cardiac Disease Domain.

We also welcomed our new President, Patrick Perier, and Vice-President, Franca Melfi. Widely respected amongst the cardiothoracic community, their expertise and experience are invaluable to guide the strategic direction of the Association. Amongst his goals during his tenure as President, Patrick is committed to promoting greater collaboration with developing parts of the world that are underserved in terms of cardiac surgery.

As our first female Vice-President, Franca Melfi represents a paradigm shift for the organisation. Her leadership qualities and pioneering work in robotic surgery are an inspiration to women surgeons around the world. Franca is driven to increase EACTS membership across thoracic surgeons.

New EACTS Council members

Franca Melfi – Vice President

Nabil Hussein – Resident Committee Chair

Rafa Sádaba – Education Committee Chair

Filip Casselman – Acquired Cardiac Disease Domain Chair

Robust governance

Our domains, task forces and committees work hard to ensure we are addressing the most prevalent and important topics in cardiothoracic surgery across all strands of our activities. For example, we established two task forces in 2022 - the Robotic Surgery Task Force and Aviation Medicine and Cardiac Surgery Task Force – to ensure we stay up to date and fully engaged in all new and emerging evidence and techniques in robotic surgery and aviation medicine and identify specific training requirements that will benefit our members and their patients.

We introduced new governance processes, including a formal nomination procedure and enhanced structure, to enable more members to take an active role in our domains and task forces, increasing the diversity of these memberled groups and encouraging greater inclusivity.

New terms of references have also been implemented to give domain and task force members a better understanding of their roles and responsibilities. Importantly, these changes mean that members who volunteer their time to support EACTS can focus on making the strategic decisions that are critical to driving the organisation forward.

A stronger executive team

Over the past 12 months EACTS has undergone a period of reorganisation which includes growing and strengthening our executive team. In addition to welcoming new team members, we have devolved more of the day-to-day running of the organisation to the Windsor-based team, with clear responsibilities and areas of work to ensure we are well placed to meet the needs of members and provide critical support to our leadership, committees, domains and task forces.