VALVULAR HEART DISEASE AND PULMONARY HYPERTENSION
Valve heart disease (VHD) and pulmonary hypertension (PH) represent important clinical subjects. In the Heart Valve Clinic we study novel insights into valve cell biology and tissue architecture, new mathematical models of valve geometry, 4-D flow mechanics, myocardial fibrosis and disarray and impact on prognosis of novel preventive and therapeutic measures. Technological developments for diagnosis and outcome prediction are pursued. PH associated or not with VHD is followed in the HAP Clinic, where we study genetic and humoral mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis, histopathology, flow mechanics, microvascular behaviour and heart lesions. The role of clinical data, imaging and biomarkers in outcome is studied.
To ensure the excellence of our project we involve a network of clinicians, imagiologists, cell biologists, physicists.
RESEARCH TEAM
Ana Almeida, MD, PhD
GROUP LEADER
Ana G. Almeida graduated In Medicine from the Lisbon School of Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. She obtained her PhD in Medicine/Cardiology at the Lisbon School of Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal (2001). Her present position is Associated Professor (2005) with Aggregation (2010). She is a Senior Consultant of Cardiology at the Santa Maria University Hospital – CHULN EPE(Lisbon) and the Chair of Echocardiography, CMR/CT and the Chair of the Valve Heart Clinic. She is the Scientific Secretary of CCUL. She is a Fellow and the Co-chair of the CMR Certification Board, European Society of Cardiology, and the Chair of the WG Nuclear Cardiology, CMR/CT, Portuguese Society of Cardiology. ORCID: 0000-0003-0360-4363
E-mail: anagalmeida@gmail.com
Brás-Rosário, Luís, MD, PhD
Luís Brás Rosário did his PhD (‘Distinction and Laudation) in 2005 in Medicine and Physiology, and in 1988 his Degree in Medicine, both at the Lisbon School of Medicine of the Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.
He is Assistant Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and he is Regent of Instrumentation and Signal Transduction of the Biomedical Engineer Course since 2015. He was a Fellow at the Cardiovascular Department, Brigham & Women Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massasuchets, USA (1995/1996)
He is currently a staff Cardiologist at the Coronary Care Unit of the Cardiology Department, Cardiology Department, Santa Maria University Hospital – CHULN, E.P.E.
Since 2016 he is a Member of the TACTICS Group – Internacional Alliance for Regenerative Therapies in Cardiovascular Syndromes.
He was an Independent PosDoc at Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal (2006 to 2011); and a Research Fellow at the Autonomic Nervous System Unit, Lisbon School of Medicine of the Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal (2002 to 2006). In 1995 he was a Research Fellow at the Department of Physiology, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London.
He is a member of the American Physiological Society (Cardiovascular Section); he is also an International Fellow of the American Heart Association (Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences) and a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology – Member of the Working Groups of Myocardial Function; Cellular Biology of the Heart; Working Group of Cardiovascular Regenerative and Repair Medicine.
Co-Researcher in Structural and Heart Coronary Disease.
E-mail: lsrosario@medicina.ulisboa.pt
Carrilho-Ferreira, Pedro, MD
Graduated in Medicine from the Lisbon School of Medicine of the Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, in 2007. Specialist in Cardiology and subspecialist in Interventional Cardiology. Consultant Cardiologist at the Department of Cardiology, Santa Maria Hospital – CHULN, E.P.E., Lisbon, Portugal since December 2014. Scientific advisor for the purpose of Integrated Master’s in Medicine of the Lisbon School of Medicine of the Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, since 2011. Guest Assistant of the University Clinic of Cardiology, Lisbon School of Medicine of the Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, since 2013.
Areas of interest: Coronary heart disease; acute coronary syndromes; coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention; intracoronary imaging; valvular heart disease; percutaneous structural intervention.
E-mail: pcarrilhoferreira@gmail.com
Fazendas, Paula, MD
PhD student
Medical Degree (Lisbon School of Medicine of the Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal), graduated magna cum laude. Cardiology Fellowship: Hospital Garcia de Orta, Almada (very good with excellence). In 2000-2001, six-month fellowship in Stress, Transesophageal and Contrast Echocardiography, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. From 2017, started the PhD Thesis Program in the Lisbon School of Medicine of the Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.
Present position: Senior Cardiologist, Hospital Garcia de Orta, Almada; previous positions: Attending Cardiologist (Hospital Egas Moniz, Lisbon; Hospital de Torres Vedras). Certification in 1995 with the United States Medical Licensing Examination and in 2014 by EACVI in Transthoracic Echocardiography (recertified until 2024). Present Research Interests: Stress echocardiography, exercise physiology; three-dimensional echocardiography; valvular heart disease; myocardial deformation imaging; left ventricle dyssynchrony; coronary artery disease.
E-mail: pfazendas@hotmail.com
Ferreira, Ricardo, MD
Graduated in Medicine from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra and Cardiothoracic Surgery specialization in the Cardiothoracic Surgery Service at the Santa Maria University Hospital – CHULN, E.P.E, Lisbon, Portugal. His present position is Specialist in Cardio-Thoracic Surgery Service of this Hospital. He is a Guest Assistant of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Beira Interior. Among other projects, he has been developing research activity in the area of inflammatory response associated with cardiac surgery in collaboration with the Gulbenkian Institute of Science. His main research Interests are in the area of reduction of the surgical impact in the cardiac and thoracic area based on minimally invasive approaches and patient outcome control, namely in valve heart diseases.
Co-Researcher in Structural and Coronary Heart Disease
E-mail: rmferreirast@gmail.com
Gonçalves, Susana
Susana Gonçalves is currently working as a Senior Echocardiographer at department of Cardiology- Santa Maria University Hospital – CHULN, E.P.E., Lisbon, Portugal where she has been in this position since 2001. At present she is performing and reporting cardiac ultrasound tests (2D, M Mode, Doppler, Tissue Doppler, Strain and Strain Rate Imaging, Speckle tracking, 4D), and assisting the team in the performance of echocardiography stress tests, transoesophageal, and contrast echocardiography. Additionally, she is a supervisor of the echocardiography traineeships of cardiopulmonary technicians from Escola Superior de Tecnologia de Saúde de Lisboa since 2002 and participates in the training of the medical students from the Department of Cardiology, Santa Maria University Hospital – CHULN, E.P.E., Lisbon, Portugal .
Susana Gonçalves participated in several research projects at Department of Cardiology where she is also responsible for the coordination, monitoring and quality control of the cardiopulmonary technicians research work since 2008. She is certified by European Association of Echocardiography – European Society of Cardiology with the “Accreditation in Adult Transthoracic Echocardiography “since 2009.
Co-Researcher in Paramyloidosis
E-mail: susanafdgpires@gmail.com
Filipe A. Gonzalez, MD
E-mail: filipeandregonzalez@gmail.com
Lousada, Nuno, MD
Graduated in Medicine from the Lisbon School of Medicine of the Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. He obtained his Cardiology specialization in 1988 in the Santa Marta Hospital in Lisbon. He is a Cardiology Consultant in Pulido Valente Hospital, CHULN, E.P.E, Lisbon, Portugal from 2000 to the present. He is currently the Chair of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program and the Heart Failure Ambulatory Clinic of Cardiology Service, Heart and Vessels Department. Main research and clinical interests: pulmonary hypertension, heart failure, cardiac pacing.
E-mail: nunojlousada@netcabo.pt
Martins, Susana, MD
Graduated in Medicine from the Nova Medical School. She obtained her Cardiology specialization in 2000 in the Santa Marta Hospital in
Lisbon. She was a Cardiology Consultant from 2000 to 2005 in Nossa Senhora do Rosário, Barreiro and Santa Marta Hospital and in Santa Maria University Hospital – CHULN, E.P.E, Lisbon, Portugal from 2005 to the present. Currently she is Co-Chair of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program. She obtained a Master degree in Vascular Pulmonar Diseases from Bologna University Hospital (Professor Nazareno Galiè) in 2011. She is teaching at the Lisbon School of Medicine of the Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal as Invited Assistant of Medicine/Cardiology since 2008. Main research and clinical interests: pulmonary hypertension, heart failure, intensive care in Cardiology.
E-mail: la63@sapo.pt
Nobre, Ângelo, MD
Co-Researcher in Structural and Coronary Heart Disease
E-mail: angelolucasnobre@gmail.com
Plácido, Rui, MD
Completed his medical degree in 2009. Underwent general internship in 2010, and residency training in cardiology in 2016 at Cardiology Department, Santa Maria Hospital – CHULN, E.P.E.Lisbon, Portugal, where he is currently a specialist in Cardiology. His main fields of interest are Cardiac Imaging, Heart Failure and Pulmonary Hypertension. He teaches Cardiology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. Dr. Rui Plácido completed the Masterclass in Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension (Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust) in 2016. He achieved the International Master Degree In Pulmonary Vascular Diseases certified by the University of Bologna. He finished the 2nd Post-graduated Course In Heart Failure (ESC Heart Failure Association, ESC Heart Academy, Zurich Heart House, University Hospital of Zurich), with a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Heart Failure. Certified in Adult Transthoracic Echocardiography and Adult Transesophageal Echocardiography by the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging.
E-mail: placidorui@gmail.com
Sousa, Catarina, MD PhD
Catarina graduated in Medicine from the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon in 2004. In 2006, she started her medical residency in Cardiology at Hospital Pulido Valente. Her training included a rotation in the Intensive Care Unit at Saint Thomas Hospital and in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. Catarina is an invited assistant at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon. She completed her PhD in 2022 in Cardiovascular Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. She is currently working as a graduate assistant in Cardiology at the Heart and Vessels Department of the CHULN.
Co-Researcher in Structure and Coronary Heart Disease
Email: catarinasousacardio@gmail.com
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Enguita F, Almeida AG et al. Role of microRNAs on the left ventricle reverse remodeling after aortic valve replacement in patients with aortic valve stenosis. Focus Valv Heart Dis 2019; 1:8
Elvas L, Almeida AG et al. Calcium Identification and Scoring Based on Echocardiography. An Exploratory Study on Aortic Valve Stenosis. J Pers Med. 2021;11:598
Stepien E, Costa MC, et al. The circulating non-coding RNA landscape for biomarker research: lessons and prospects from cardiovascular diseases. Acta Pharmacol Sin. 2018;39:1085
Rodrigues T, Silva BV, Plácido R et al. Comparison of 5 acute pulmonary embolism mortality risk scores in Int J Cardiol Heart Vasc. 2022;39:100984
Sousa C, Nogueira P, Pinto FJ. Insight into the epidemiology of infective endocarditis in Portugal: a contemporary nationwide study from 2010 to 2018. BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2021;16;21:138
E-Book
Almeida AG, Pinto FJ, Enguita F. “Role of MicroRNA in the regulation of CV disease_on Focus remodelling”. Ed CCUL, 2019.