Francesco Saia is a Senior Interventional Cardiologist at the University Hospital of Bologna, and an expert on coronary and structural heart interventions. He is author or co-author of more than 280 publications in indexed, peer-reviewed medical journals and several book chapters; and co-editor of several medical books. In addition, he serves on the Editorial Boards of the journals: Eurointervention, Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions, British Journal of Cardiology, and Giornale Italiano di Cardiologia.
Nazzareno Galiè is a Full Professor at the University of Bologna, Director of the School of Specialization in Cardiovascular Medicine, and Director of the Master in Pulmonary Vascular Diseases program at the University of Bologna. He has formerly served as Chairman of the Working Group on Pulmonary Hypertension of the Società Italiana di Cardiologia; as Chairman of the Working Group on Pulmonary Circulation and Right Ventricular Function of the European Society of Cardiology; and as a member of the Scientific Council of the European Society of Cardiology. In addition, he is the author or co-author of more than 250 publications in indexed, peer-reviewed medical journals.
Hiromi Matsubara is Deputy Director of the National Hospital Organization Okayama Medical Center, the institute with the most experience in Balloon Pulmonary Angioplasty worldwide. His research interests have focused on clinical and physiological aspects of pulmonary hypertension. He started balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension in 2004 and experienced about 3,000 procedures of BPA in more than 500 patients during past 17 years. He has made Department of Cardiology at Okayama Medical Center as the largest BPA center in Japan.