CME Accreditation

This event is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and approved by the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society. You may claim a maximum of 12 hours (credits are automatically calculated)

For credits from other international professional bodies please see full accreditation statement.

CME Planning Committee

Annette Vegas (Course Director), Sarah Russell, Azad Mashari, Jacobo Moreno, Ahmad Omran, Fabio Papa, Pablo Perez D’Empaire, Marcus Salvatori, Michael Sullivan, Wendy Tsang, Marcin Wasowicz, Bill Wong, Carlos Ibarra, Elmari Neethling

Objectives

Demographic shifts & technical developments in therapeutic interventions and imaging are contributing to a significant expansion of the use of POCUS and TEE. In this two-day virtual symposium, our international multi-disciplinary faculty will illustrate the application of POCUS & TEE to address critical decisions in patient management across a wide range of acute care settings.

Upon completion of this program, participants should be able to

  • Describe the expanding scope of perioperative echo, including the range of modalities and new areas of application
  • Illustrate the application of TEE and POCUS to address critical point-of-care decisions in a variety of acute-care situations & settings
  • Review recent updates on the current guidelines related to the application of perioperative echocardiography in different clinical settings
  • Critically discuss factors limiting translation of echocardiography into improved patient outcomes, and outline strategies for addressing these challenges

Program – Videos Now Linked!

PDF

Day 1 : Saturday, September 23

8:45 Annette Vegas – Opening Remarks

9:00 Session 1 – The Left Ventricle

Moderators: Bill Wong, Azad Mashari

9:00 Sarka Moravcova – LV Assessment: The Basics

  • Describe the anatomy and physiology of the left ventricle
  • Review 2D quantitative and qualitative assessment of LV function according to current guidelines
  • Understand the limitations of 2D TEE in assessing LV function

9:25 Roberto Mosca – 3D LV Volume Assessment

  • Describe the current options to assess LV function using 3D TEE
  • Understand the limitations of 3D TEE in assessing LV function
  • Demonstrate practical application of 3D LV assessment using clinical examples

9:50 Jakob Labus – Assessing Fiber Motion with Strain

  • Explain the concepts of fiber motion and strain
  • Review current intraoperative imaging techniques for strain
  • Show clinical examples for intraoperative strain imaging

10:15 Massimiliano Meineri – Focused TEE to Detect Wall Motion Abnormalities

  • Describe the etiology of regional wall motion abnormalities
  • Demonstrate TEE imaging techniques for assessing regional wall motion abnormalities
  • Show clinical examples and implication of regional wall motion abnormalities

10:40 Q&A

11:00 BREAK (15 min)

11:15 Session 2 – Extracardiac Ultrasound

Curator: Andre Denault; Moderator: Marcin Wasowicz

11:15 Andre Denault – Transgastric Abdominal Ultrasound (TGAUS)

  • Present an overview of extra-cardiac organs and vasculature that TEE can interrogate
  • Describe normal intra-abdominal organs using TEE 2D imaging
  • Identify common pathologies beyond the kidney and liver

11:45 Jean-Simon Lalancette – Perioperative Role of Liver TEE

  • Review abnormal IVC, hepatic vein, hepatic artery and portal vein imaging using TEE
  • Understand the clinical significance of abnormal Doppler findings in the liver
  • Explain the hepatic artery resistance index and portal vein pulsatility index

12:10 William Beaubien-Souligny – Perioperative role of Renal Ultrasound

  • Describe normal renal anatomy and blood flow
  • Identify abnormal Doppler findings for the kidney
  • Understand the clinical significance of abnormal Doppler findings in the kidney

12:35 Andre Denault – Case Discussion

12:55 Q&A

13:15 LUNCH (45 min)

14:00 Session 3 – Tricuspid Valve

Curator: Jacobo Moreno; Moderator: Michael Sullivan

14:00 Jacobo Moreno – Two Cases

  • Present two clinical cases with tricuspid regurgitation

14:10 Ahmad Omran – Echocardiographic TV Assessment using 2D, 3D TEE: Practical TR Assessment

  • Identify important views for imaging the TV
  • Recognize the additive value of 3D TEE in assessing the TV
  • Review the assessment of TR

14:30 Annette Vegas – Pathophysiology and Assessment of Functional TR

  • Identify the mechanisms of functional TR
  • Review the assessment of functional TR using 2D and 3D TEE imaging
  • Understand the progression and management options for functional TR

14:50 David Latter – Surgical Decision-Making During Tricuspid Valve Surgery

  • Review indications for TV intervention based on current guidelines
  • Understand surgical assessment of TV
  • Explain the surgical interventions for the TV

15:10 Wendy Tsang – Percutaneous TV Interventions

  • Update the evolving percutaneous options to manage TR
  • Review patient selection and pre-assessment for percutaneous TV interventions
  • Explain the role of TEE during a percutaneous tricuspid valve intervention

15:30 Q&A

16:00 Day 1 Closing.

Day 2: Sunday, September 24

8:30 Annette Vegas – Opening Remarks

8:45 Session 4 – Mitral Valve

Curator: Fabio Papa; Moderator: Rafael Zamper

8:45 Hilda Alfaro, Michael Chu, Raffael Zamper – Minimally Invasive MV: What Does the Surgeon Need to Know, and How Does it Affect Their Approach?

  • Apply a step-wise approach to evaluate the mechanism and quantify the severity of the mitral valve disease 
  • Discuss the role of intraoperative TEE in the decision-making process
  • Review recommendations of relevant ASE guidelines or significant scientific publications pertinent to the clinical scenario.

9:15 Yannis Amador, Carolyn Teng- Echocardiographic Assessment and Surgical Management of Functional MR

  • Apply a step-wise approach to evaluate the mechanism and severity of functional mitral regurgitation 
  • Discuss the role of intraoperative TEE in the decision-making process
  • Review recommendations of relevant ASE guidelines or significant scientific publications pertinent to the clinical scenario.

9:45 Carlos Galhardo – Rheumatic Mitral Valve Disease: What are the take-home points from the new ASE guidelines?

  • Review hemodynamic considerations in the assessment of rheumatic mitral valve disease (MS/ MR)
  • Discuss technical aspects in echocardiographic imaging of rheumatic heart disease
  • Apply recommendations based on the latest ASE guideline in the intraoperative decision-making process

10:15 Q&A

10:45 BREAK (15 min)

11:00 Session 5 – Structural Heart Disease Interventions

Curator: Aidan Sharkey; Moderator Wendy Tsang

11:00 Sankalp Sehgal – Transcatheter MV Interventions: Current Evidence and Best Practice

  • Review current options for percutaneous MV interventions
  • Describe current patient selection for percutaneous MV intervention
  • Critically review the outcomes related to percutaneous MV procedures

11:20 Charles Nyman – Essential Imaging for MV SHD Interventions (MPR)

  • Describe pre-procedure MV assessment using echocardiography
  • Describe step-by-step approach to guide TEE imaging for intra-procedural intervention
  • Demonstrate complications of percutaneous MV interventions identifiable by TEE

11:45 Aidan Sharkey – Transseptal Puncture

  • Describe the anatomy of the intra-atrial septum (IAS)
  • Understand 2D and 3D imaging planes of the IAS
  • Show examples of TEE guided transseptal puncture for different percutaneous procedures

12:10 Aidan Sharkey, Feroze Mahmood, Marie-France Poulin – MV Edge-to-Edge Repair – Difficult Cases

  • Illustrate through case examples the challenges associated with complex percutaneous MV interventions
  • Identify risk factors for difficult percutaneous MV interventions
  • Present innovative solutions for complex percutaneous MV interventions

12:40 Q&A

13:00 LUNCH (45 min)

13:45 Session 6 – Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

Curator: Pablo Perez D’Empaire; Moderator: Marcus Salvatori

13:45 Katie Wiskar – VeXUS score for fluid tolerance

  • Describe the VeXUS concept
  • Review the concept of fluid tolerance using ultrasound
  • Identify significant gaps in knowledge, technique, and translation to practice of VeXUS

14:10 Sara Nikravan – Lung US in the CVICU

  • Describe an overview of lung ultrasound
  • Critically discuss evidence on the clinical value of Lung US in cardiac critical care
  • Describe common pitfalls

14:35 Felipe Teran – TEE During Cardiac Arrest

  • Define the goals of resuscitative TEE
  • Critically discuss evidence for the clinical value of TEE in resuscitation
  • Identify significant gaps in knowledge, technique, and translation to practice of resuscitative TEE

15:00 Jose Diaz-Gomez – POCUS Usefullness in ECLS/MCS

  • Describe the application of POCUS for ECLS/MCS
  • Discuss the role on the clinical value of POCUS before and during ECLS/MCS
  • Describe common pitfalls

15:25 Q & A

15:45 PEG Award and Closing Remarks

16:00 Meeting Adjournment

Hilda Alfaro MD

Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, Western University. Dr. Alfaro received her MD from Pontificia Bolivariana University in Medellin Colombia where she also completed her residency and a cardiovascular anesthesia fellowship, followed by a cardiovascular anesthesia fellowship at Western University in 2015. She completed her Master of Professional Education in Curriculum and Pedagogy from Western University in 2017. Her current research interest is investigating pulmonary vein flow as a useful tool to determine good isolation in one lung ventilation and correlation with arterial blood gases.

Micheal Chu MD MEd

Professor of Surgery & Chair, Division of Cardiac Surgery Western University. Dr. Chu studied medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, where he graduated with distinction in 2000. He then undertook a cardiac surgery residency at the University of Western Ontario and successfully completed his Royal College Examinations in June 2006. He also completed a Master's degree in Medical Education from the University of Toronto in November 2004. Following his residency, he undertook a fellowship with Dr. W.R. Chitwood, Jr. at East Carolina University in minimally invasive and robotic cardiac surgery, with a focus on complex mitral valve reconstruction. Then, he completed a fellowship in transcatheter aortic valve technology at the Herzzentrum in Leipzig, Germany with Professors F.W. Mohr and T. Walther. Dr. Chu has a clinical focus in minimally invasive mitral valve reconstruction, transcatheter valve technology and complex aortic reconstruction, including hybrid arch repair and the Ross procedure. He is an active researcher, cross appointed to the Departments of Anatomy and Biomedical Engineering, and has investigated minimally invasive and robotic mitral surgery, augmented imaging in minimally invasive valve surgery, experimental transcatheter technology and complex aortic reconstruction. Dr. Chu has also been awarded the MacEachern Award, prestigious international Francis Fontan Award and ISMICS Robert Emery Young Investigator Award for his research endeavours. He has active grants from the Heart and Stroke Foundation and Canadian Institutes of Health Research and actively participates in many multicenter surgical clinical trials. He has over 230 peer reviewed publications, 12 textbook chapters and has delivered over 220 presentations at meetings nationally and internationally. He has been a visiting professor in many countries worldwide, where he has operated and taught minimally invasive and valve reconstructive techniques. Dr. Chu has also been a Royal College Cardiac Surgery Examiner from 2014 – 2021. He is the founder and lead of the Canadian Thoracic Aortic Collaborative and continues to co-ordinate activities and meetings semi-annually. He is Co-Chair of the Thoracic Aortic Working Group of the Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN). He was promoted to Associate Professor of Surgery in 2014, Full Professor of Surgery in 2019 and is currently practicing as a consultant cardiac surgeon and Chair/Chief of the Division of Cardiac Surgery at London Health Sciences Centre and Western University, and has been holding the positions of Director of Research and Fellowship Director since 2015.

Jakob Labus MD

Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital and Medical Faculty, Cologne University Dr. Labus completed his medical training at the University of Cologne and University of Zurich and completed his residency training in Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at University Hospital of Düsseldorf in 2015. He is a member of the German Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI), the German Cardiac Anesthesia Scientific Working Group, the European Association of Cardiothoracic Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (EACTAIC) Subspeciality Committee for Echocardiography and the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE).

Feroze Mahmood MD FASE

Director, Vascular Anesthesia & Perioperative Echocardiography. Professor, Anesthesiology, Harvard Medical School Besides his clinical training as an anesthesiologist, Dr. Mahmood has completed fellowships in adult cardiothoracic anesthesia and transesophageal echocardiography at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where has served since. His clinical interests include mitral valve repair, structural heart disease and three-dimensional imaging and printing. He has published extensively on these subjects and conducts various national and international courses on the subject. He is the former course director of the SCA's Echo Week and the Boston Echo Course in perioperative transesophageal echocardiography. Prof. Mahmood is a long-time associate editor of the Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia.

Jacobo Moreno Garijo MD MSc EDA FASE

Staff Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist, Department of Anesthesia, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Clinician-Investigator, Department of Anesthesia and Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine, University of Toronto. Dr. Moreno completed clinical fellowships in Critical Care Medicine, Cardiovascular Anesthesia and Thoracic Anesthesia at Toronto General Hospital. He is certified in Advance Perioperative Echocardiography from the National Board of Echocardiography. He is an associate investigator at the Lynn & Arnold Irwin Advance Perioperative Imaging Lab (APIL) at Toronto General Hospital and is an active member of The Resuscitative TEE project and Perioperative Echocardiography Group at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He is the Director of the Toronto and Barcelona 3D Perioperative Echocardiography TEE courses.

Marie-France Poulin MD

Associate Director, Structural Heart Clinical Services; Associate Director, Interventional Cardiology Fellowship. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston. Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Dr. Poulin is a Structural Interventional Cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA. She is an Assistant Profesor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and serves as the Associate Director for Structural Heart Clinical Services, and the Associate Program Director for the Interventional Cardiology Fellowship. Her clinical and research interests include tanscatheter therapies for aortic, mitral and tricuspid repair, as well as PFO, ASD and LAA closure.

Marcus Salvatori MD MSc FRCPC

Staff Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist & Critical Care Physician, Department of Anesthesia & Pain Management, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network. Assistant Professor, Dept of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, University of Toronto. Dr. Salvatori obtained a Master of Science, University of Toronto, Department of Physiology (2005) and his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (with Merit) from Newcastle University School of Medicine, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK (2013). Dr. Salvatori completed his anesthesia residency at the University of Toronto and obtained his Fellowship, Royal College of Physicians of Canada (FRCPC) in Anesthesiology (2019). He completed a fellowship in cardiovascular anesthesia and critical care medicine at the Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network. His clinical areas of focus are cardiovascular anesthesia, echocardiography and critical care medicine.

Michael Sullivan MD

Staff Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist & Critical Care Physician, Department of Anesthesia & Pain Management, Toronto General Hospital. Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Toronto

Felipe Teran MD MSCE

Emergency Physician, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine New York City. Dr. Teran is an emergency physician and investigator at Weill-Cornell Medicine in New York City. He completed a fellowship in Emergency Ultrasonography at Mount Sinai Hospital, a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology at University of Pennsylvania, and he is testamur of the National Board of Echocardiography Critical Care Echocardiography Examination. As a translational resuscitation scientist, his research aims investigate novel resuscitation strategies in both laboratory and clinical environments, with a primary interest in novel strategies to improve cardiopulmonary resuscitation, including the use of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). He is the founder of the Resuscitative TEE Project and principal investigator of the multicenter TEE Collaborative Registry, aimed to accelerate the development of outcome-oriented research and knowledge translation on the use of TEE in emergency and critical care settings.

Katie Wiskar MD

General Internist, Vancouver General Hospital. Dr. Wiskar is a General Internist at Vancouver General Hospital and holds a clinical faculty position as a Clinical Instructor at the University of British Columbia. She completed her core Internal Medicine and General Internal Medicine fellowship at UBC. She completed her POCUS fellowship at Western University in London, Ontario; and she is a testamur of the National Board of Echocardiography's Critical Care Echocardiography Exam. She is the lead for UBC's General Internal Medicine POCUS fellowship program, one of only two such fellowships in the country. She currently splits her clinical time between attending on the Clinical Teaching Unit, and running the VGH Internal Medicine POCUS service, a clinical team which provides Hospital-wide diagnostic and procedural POCUS consultations. Her POCUS passions include VEXUS and POCUS evaluation of volume status; all things echocardiography; and clinical integration of ultrasound findings. Outside of medicine, you can find her chasing around her two young sons, or escaping into the mountains.

Yannis Amador MD FASE

Staff Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist, Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, Kingston Health Sciences Centre Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Queen's University. Dr. Amador completed residency training in anesthesiology and emergency medicine in Costa Rica. Subsequently he completed a research fellowship with Dr. Feroze Mahmood at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School followed by a clinical fellowship in cardiovascular anesthesiology at Toronto General Hospital. He is certified in Advance Perioperative Echocardiography from the National Board of Echocardiography. He is the organizer of the ulti-disciplinary echo rounds at the Kingston Health Sciences Centre and a member of the organizing committee for the POCUS workshop at the Canadian Anesthesia Society (CAS) meeting.

André Denault MD PhD FASE ABIM-CCM

Staff Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist and Intensive Care Physician, Montreal Heart Institute & Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Montreal. Dr. Denault is an academic-physician with special interests in ultrasound. His medical qualifications and specialties include internal medicine (1991), critical care medicine (1993) and anesthesia (1996). In 2010 he completed a PhD in biomedical Science at the University of Montreal. He has advanced certification in National Board in Echocardiography (NBE) in perioperative transesophageal echocardiography and critical care ultrasound. Dr Denault has written 317 peer-reviewed articles, 60 book chapters and 3 textbooks on perioperative transesophageal and critical care ultrasound. He has been invited as speaker in local, national and international meeting. He won several teaching awards including the Canadian Anesthesia Research Award in 2022. He currently works as a cardiac anesthesiologist at the Montreal Heart Institute Major interest includes right ventricular function, brain and somatic oximetry and bedside whole-body ultrasound.

Pablo Perez D’Empaire MD FASE

Staff Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist, Department of Anesthesia, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Lecturer, Dept of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, University of Toronto. Dr. Perex D'Empaire completed his undergraduate medical educaition at the University of Zulia, Venezuela. He completed his residency in anesthesiology and clinical fellowships in Critical Care Medicine and Cardiovascular Anesthesiology at the University of Toronto. He is a Fellow of the American College of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM) and the American Society of Echocardiography (FASE). He is certified in Advance Perioperative Echocardiography (Advanced PTEeXAM) and Critical Care Echocardiography (CCEeXAM) by the National Board of Echocardiography.

Jean-Simon Lalancette MD

Cardiologist, Critical Care Fellow, Montreal Heart Institute. Dr. Lalancette complete his medical training and cardiology residency at the Quebec Heart and Lung Institute. He is currently a clinical fellow in critical care at the Montreal Heart Institute. His research interests include echocardiography in all its forms: bedside, peri-operative and formal studies, including echocardiography teaching and simulation with virtual and augmented reality.

Azad Mashari MD

Staff Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist, Department of Anesthesia & Pain Management, Toronto General Hospital. Assistant Professor, Dept of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, University of Toronto. Dr. Mashari completed his residency and fellowship training in cardiovascular anesthesiology at the University of Toronto. He is the director of the Advanced Perioperative Imaging Lab (APIL) at Toronto General Hospital and chair of the planning committee for the Toronto Perioperative Echo Symposium. His research focuses on applications of medical image computing, 3D modeling and 3D printing in medical education and perioperative care.

Massimilano Meineri MD PhD FASE

Co-Chair Department of Anesthesia, Herzzentrum Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Toronto. Dr. Meineri completed Fellowship training in Cardiac Anesthesia from Toronto General Hospital, where he went on to become the director of perioperative echocardiography and founding director of the Lynn and Arnold Irwin Advanced Perioperative Imaging Lab. His academic focus is perioperative echocardiography. He is Diplomate in advanced Perioperative transesophageal echocardiography. He’s involved in development of on line echocardiography teaching resources for the Perioperative Interactive Education website (pie.med.utoronto.ca). He has organized and lead numerous point of care ultrasound courses around the world. His main research interest is 3D intraoperative echocardiography.

Roberto Mosca MD

Staff Anesthesiologist, University Hospital of South Manchester. Dr Mosca graduated in Naples, Italy, followed by training in the UK. He is passionate about echo particularly training and quality assurance in the OR environment. He is a British Society of Echo examiner, an active member of the EACTAIC echo subcommittee where he regularly lectures and runs the Manchester TOE training program. He is a highly respected Echo trainer and runs the quality assurance program for intraoperative TOE in Manchester.

Sara Nikravan MD

Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist, Director of POCUS, University of Washington, Seattle. Dr. Nikravan trained in Anesthesiology at Washington University in Saint Louis and completed a fellowship in Critical Care Medicine and Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology at Stanford University, where she subsequently served as faculty and directed the Critical Care Ultrasound (CCUS) training program. She is the Director of Point of Care Ultrasound and Associate Program Director of the Residency program in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Washington. Dr. Nikravan is a past president and chairperson for the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) ultrasound committee and Critical Care Ultrasound (CCUS) course. She is an editor for the Critical Care Ultrasound textbook 2nd edition and past chairperson of the SCCM CCUS Board Review course. She is a member of the National Board of Echocardiography’s Exam Writing Committee and has lectured both nationally and internationally at the SCCM, ASA, IARS, SOCCA, ASRA, ATS, ASE, SCA echo week, and SOAP over the last decade.

Fabio de Vasconcelos Papa MD MScCH FASE

Staff Anesthesiologist, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto. Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Toronto. Dr. Papa graduate from University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine where he also finished his anesthesia residency. He completed his clinical fellowship in Cardiovascular Anesthesiology at the University of Toronto. Dr. Papa is Fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography (FASE), Associated Editor of the Brazilian Journal of Anesthesiology (BJAN) and completed a Master in Health Practitioner in Clinical Education at Data Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Dr. Papa has a major clinical interest in perioperative transeophageal echocardiography, POCUS and Curriculum development.

Aidan Sharkey MD

Staff Anesthesiologist, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston. Instructor in Anaesthesia, Harvard University. Dr. Sharkey graduated from the School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin and undertook his residency training in Anesthesia from the College of Anesthetists of Ireland. He subsequently completed a Cardiac Anesthesia fellowship at Toronto General Hospital in Canada, and later became an attending anesthesiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Aidan Sharkey is an Instructor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School, with clinical and research interests including echocardiography, interventions in structural heart disease, and point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS).

Wendy Tsang MD FASE

Staff Cardiologist and Clinician Investigator, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network. Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto. Dr. Tsang is the head of the Complex Valve clinic at Toronto General Hospital. She completed her medical degree at Queen’s University and went on to complete her Adult Cardiology fellowship at the University of Toronto. She then completed a CIHR-funded Multimodality Cardiac Imaging research fellowship at the University of Chicago. During that time, she also obtained a Master’s degree in Health Studies. She was a member of the writing groups for both the 2012 ASE/EACVI 3D Guidelines and the 2015 ASE/EACVI Chamber Quantification Guidelines. She also serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography and is a member of the Royal College of Physician and Surgeon’s Area of Focused Competency subcommittee in Adult Echocardiography. She currently holds a Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada National New Investigator Award. Her research focuses on congenital and valvular heart disease, 3D echocardiography, and artificial intelligence.

Raffael Zamper MD PhD

Staff Anesthesiologist, Cardiac Anesthesia Program Director and Cardiac Anesthesia Fellowship Coordinator, Faculty of Medicine. Assistant Professor, Western University, London ON. Dr. Zamper, graduated from Medicine University of Sao Paulo, Brazil and completed his anesthesiology residency at the General Hospital of The University of Sao Paulo. He completed his PhD on coagulation in cirrhotic patients undergoing liver transplantation at the Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital, Sao Paulo. He subsequently completed clinical fellowships in cardiac anesthesia and perioperative echocardiography and ultrasound at the London Health Science Center, Western University where he currently works as staff anesthesiologist and director of the cardiac anesthesia fellowship program.

Bill Wong MD

Staff Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist, Trillium Health Partners, Toronto

William Beaubien-Souligny MD PhD

Nephrologist & Principal Scientist, Centre Hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal. Dr. Beaubien-Souligny is a nephrologist and principal researcher at the CHUM. His activities are supported by the FRQS and the KRESCENT program of the Kidney Foundation of Canada. He has authored 80 peer-reviewed publications since 2017. His main areas of interest include acute renal failure, renal replacement therapy in intensive care, hemodynamic monitoring, and bedside ultrasound. He is the principal investigator of a CIHR-funded multicenter randomized clinical trial on fluid management in acute renal failure.

Jose Luis Diaz-Gomez MD FASE

Staff Cardiac Anesthesiologist & Intensive Care Physician, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. Dr. Diaz-Gomez completed his higher education in Medellin, Colombia, where he obtained his MD from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana. After his residency in anesthesiology at Universidad de Antioquia from 1999 to 2001, he completed a fellowship in critical care medicine at Universidad del Valle - Fundacion Valle del Lili in Cali, Colombia. In the following three years, he served as a critical care specialist at Clinica Universitaria Bolivariana in Medellin, Colombia. In 2004, Dr. Diaz-Gomez moved to Cleveland, Ohio, to complete a residency at the Cleveland Clinic. From 2010 to 2012, he served as a cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesiologist and intensivist. During his seven years there, he received several recognitions, including Anesthesiology Resident of the Year in 2007 and Attending Anesthesiologist of the Year in 2011. He also served as an assistant professor of anesthesiology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. Between 2012 and 2019, Dr. Jose Diaz-Gomez worked at Mayo Clinic Florida in Jacksonville as a cardiac anesthesiologist, intensivist, neurointensivist, associate professor of anesthesiology, and one year at South Florida Critical Care as an intensivist and critical care ultrasonography consultant. Dr. Diaz-Gomez is recognized with the 2023 Star Faculty Award for Excellence in Patient Care at Baylor College of Medicine. And he is obtaining a master’s in applied science degree in patient safety and healthcare quality at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg of Public Health. He has started the academic promotion process for achieving his professorship in anesthesiology at Baylor College of Medicine.

Carlos Galhardo Jr. MD FASE

Director of Adult Cardiac Anesthesia, National Institute of Cardiology, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Dr. Galhardo completed his medical training and anesthesia residency at the Rio de Janeiro State University in Brazil followed by a clinical fellowship in cardiac anesthesia and critical care at the Toronto General Hospital in Canada. He is a fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography (FASE) and Board Certified in Advanced Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography (NBE, USA). He is a current member of the Enhanced Recovery After Cardiac Surgery (ERACS) subcommittee at the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA). From 2015 to 2020, he served on the International Committee of the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA). His research interests include enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS), patient blood management (PBM), coagulation monitoring by viscoelastic tests, and perioperative echocardiography.

David Latter MD CM

Cardiac Surgeon, St Michael’s Hospital; Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto. Dr. David Latter graduated from McGill University in 1982. He completed residencies in General Surgery and Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at McGill University (1982-1989) and a clinical fellowship in Thoracic Transplantation at Stanford University in California (1990).  Dr. Latter was a member of the Division of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital, McGill University from 1991 to 1996.  In 1996, Dr. Latter was appointed to a position at the University of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital Division of Cardiac Surgery and has been a Professor in the Department of Surgery since 2015. During his 22 years at the University of Toronto, Dr. Latter has held various positions, including Chair of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Examination Board (2001-2004), Program Director of the Cardiac Surgery Residency Program (2003-2009), Acting Chair of the Department of Surgery (May 2010-April 2011). Director of Clinical Fellows (2006-2016) and Vice Chair of Education (2008-2016) for the University of Toronto Department of Surgery, Director of MD Admissions and Student Finances (2019-present), and Division Head of Cardiac Surgery St Michael’s Hospital (2011-2022). Dr. Latter specializes in adult cardiac surgery with a special interest in mitral valve surgery. 

Sarka Moravcova MD

Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist, Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals.

Charles Nyman MBBCH

Staff Anesthesiologist, Assistant Director, Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Fellowship Program, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston. Instructor, Harvard Medical School

Ahmad Omran MD, FACC, FESC, FASE, FECVI

Staff Cardiologist, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network. Dr. Omran completed his fellowship in echocardiography at Toronto General Hospital in 1996 and subsequently collaborated with Tirone David in developing intraopertive imaging techniques to support the development of novel techniquest for aortic and mitral valve repair. He is the author of landmark papers on TEE assessment of mitral valve anatomy and suitability for mitral valve repair and created the first map of TEE classification of the mitral valve segments and scallops which is still in use in many centers. Dr. Omran has published more than 35 papers in role of TEE in valves repair and contributed chapters in 5 textbooks of echocardiography including chapter of role of 3D TEE in cardiac operating room in the “Nanda’s Comprehensive Textbook of Echocardiography”. He is certified by National Board of Echocardiography and European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) and is an active member of American and European societies of echocardiography. He is currently working as staff cardiologist supporting the perioperative echocardiography program at Toronto General Hospital. He is a highly regarded teacher in echocardiography and runs the quality assurance program for intraoperative TEE at Toronto General Hospital.

Sankalp Sehgal MD

Staff Cardiac Anesthesiologist, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Harvard Medical School, Boston Dr. Sehgal specializes in anesthesia for cardiothoracic surgery, vascular and thoracic procedures, and is a member of the structural heart program. His research focuses on cardiothoracic surgical outcomes, advanced perioperative echocardiography as well as cardiac electrophysiology lab. He is a a co-investigator the TRILUMIATE and TRISCEND trials for tricuspid valve interventions. He is the former associate vice-chair of education (2014-16), section head for peri-operative echocardiography (2014-18) and mentor for the Annual New York TEE conference sessions (2016-18). He has been an invited panel speaker at numerous annual national and international conferences including the Indian Association of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Anesthesiologists (IACTA) International TEE Webinars, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) conference, New York State Society of Anesthesiologists (NYSSA) PGA conference and the Annual Perioperative and Critical Care Echocardiography workshop, India.

Carolyn Teng MD

Cardiovascular Surgeon, Kingston Health Sciences Centre Dr. Carolyn Teng completed her medical degree at the University of Toronto and residency in cardiac surgery at McGill University. She then went on to a fellowship in North Carolina focusing on minimally invasive and robotic cardiac surgery with an emphasis in mitral valve repair.  Dr. Teng spent more than 12 years at Southlake Regional Health Centre leading the minimally invasive and transcatheter mitral valve program until recently being recruited to Kingston General Hospital.

Annette Vegas MD FASE

Staff Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist & Critical Care Physician, Department of Anesthesia & Pain Management, Toronto General Hospital. Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Toronto. Prof. Vegas graduated from medical school at McGill University (Montreal) and completed an anesthesia residency at the University of Toronto. She concluded a cardiac anesthesia fellowship at Toronto General Hospital, where she has practiced since 1994. She has an interest in echocardiography and has developed web-based educational materials (http://pie.med.utoronto.ca) for teaching both transesophageal and transthoracic echocardiography. Annette has extensively published journal articles and book chapters, authored textbooks and co-edited textbooks related to echocardiography. She is a professor of anaesthesiology and an elected fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography (FASE). In 2020 Dr. Annette Vegas reassumed the role of director of Perioperative TEE at Toronto General Hospital.

Marcin Wasowicz MD PhD

Staff Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist & Critical Care Physician, Department of Anesthesia & Pain Management, Toronto General Hospital. Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Toronto.

Competing Interests Policy

Faculty will declare all relevant relationships and potential competing interests during their presentation.

Faculty COI statements will be posted here when available.

Should a conflict of interest be identified a variety of strategies will be employed for mitigation, as recommended by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (https://www.royalcollege.ca/rcsite/cpd/accreditation/toolkit/faqs-on-accreditation-e ). These include revision of the presentation topic or focus; peer review of the content in question to ensure scientific integrity and balance. If the concern raised is not addressed by these methods, an alternate speaker for the topic will be sought out, or the topic removed from the program.

Information For Faculty

Preferred Format for Pre-recorded Videos:
Codec: Prores 422Format: .mov (also known as quicktime)Resolution: 1920 x 1080 preferredFrame rate: 29.97 , 30, 59.94, or 60 frames per second (fps)

 

You will be sent a secure link to a cloud space to upload your videos.