Candidates for Ordinary Member Responsible for Communication

The Election Committee (ELCOM) has thoughtfully chosen the following candidates from the nominations, utilizing criteria centered on qualifications, experience, and commitment to our Society. We have full confidence in their ability to lead EAS to further success.

Following outgoing member Prof Jeanine Roeters van Lennep at the end of 2024, the incoming candidate will assume the position. Their term of office will span from 2025 to 2028.

We are pleased to announce the candidates for the position of Ordinary Member Responsible for Communication ( 2025-2028):

Dr. Pierre Sabouret

Senior Investigator-Cardiology Department-Heart Institute-Pitié Salpétrière

Biography

My research is focused on cardiovascular diseases, management of risk factors including emerging risk factors, epidemiological surveys and randomized clinical trials evaluating new drugs or new strategies incorporating CV imaging in the risk assessment. Main goals are to optimize management of patients and fill the gaps in the fields in which further research is mandatory (chronic inflammatory diseases, CVD in the young and women, polygenic risk scores…)

Vision statement

My current vision about the position of ordinary member in communication is to collaborate with the staff and members of the EC to define the main objectives of communication with different targeted populations. As you obviously know, the messages should be personalized according to the different populations: community of experts, “non-experts” healthcare professionals involved in cardiovascular prevention and communication to the population and media.

After the priorities of communication will be defined by the EC and members of EAS, several program should be build and adapted to the several audiences in order to improve awareness of cardiovascular risks, detection of dyslipidemia, not only for HoFH but also for HeFH individuals, who remain underdiagnosed and undertreated.

Regular appointments may be performed not only with newsletters but also with podcasts and webinars to touch a larger audience. Continous medical education should be applied all year long as it remains crucial to repeat key messages to the different audiences.

Leaders of national societies should be encouraged to actively participate to the events in view to better highlight their work and to improve when needed the collaboration between them and with other scientific societies. Sessions and interactions with ASCVD patients may be reinforced in order to increase the knowledge among high-risk patients.

Online surveys may be proposed to better determine what are the perceptions of current guidelines and potential barriers to the implementation of guideliens by HCP.

Concerning my experience in communication, I started to collaborate with media in 2001, writing first mainly for Cardiologie Pratique, a popular bi-monthly French journal, focused on continuous medical education for French cardiologists. Then I also became the Scientific Director of AXIS-TV which provides 2-3 sessions a month on cardiovascular topics for diabetologists, cardiologists and lipidologists in an interactive way. Sessions are short (15 to 45 minutes) to attract a large audience of healthcare professionals. We also perform podcasts and webinars.

I’m currently Associate Editor of 2 pubmed indexed journals: Archives of Medical Sciences and Minerva Cardiology-Angiology. I’m also reviewer for some EHJ.

My position of President of the National College of French Cardiologists will end in October 2024, and therefore I am glad to be available for projects at an European level.

These 3 years of President also gave me the opportunity to optimize the communication.

You already know that I’m very active on social media which provided me the opportunity to collaborate with experts worldwide, especially those from the EAS.

I’m quite conscious that the challenges that the position offers are highly relevant and require an important personal involvement, but as I like to be very active with exciting projects, I am confident that, with an expert team with you, we can take these challenges head-on and produce an effective and original communication to healthcare professionals, patients and collaborate in a friendly and productive atmosphere with national and international societies.

It would be a great honor for me to be considered by my peers as a valid candidate in the crucial field of communication.

I am grateful for your support and friendship and count on you for many collaborations inside the European Atherosclerosis. Teamwork is the most efficient and friendly to work for our scientific society.

Current positions

(Information on all positions, both within companies and other Societies)

Companies

  • Member of National or International Boards since 2008 for Astra-Zeneca, Amgen, BMS, Daiichi Sankyo, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi.
  • Scientific Director of AXIS TV – Cardiologie Pratique

Other Societies

  • Expert for the HAS 2008-2014 (Haute Autorité de Santé-France)
  • President of the National College of French Cardiologists (CNCF)
  • President of the Scientific Committee of CNCF
  • General Secretary of CNCF

Maintaining Integrity in EAS Scientific and Clinical Activities

EAS manages conflicts of interest to maintain integrity in scientific and clinical activities organized by its members. This includes guidelines, consensus papers, journals, congresses, and educational content. Please see the complete disclosure of potential conflicts of interest below.

You have to be full member and logged in to view Faculty Conflict of Interest Disclosures

Professor Katariina Öörni

Head of Atherosclerosis Research Laboratory, Wihuri Research Institute

Biography

Dr. Katariina Öörni is Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Helsinki, and she leads the Atherosclerosis Research Laboratory of Wihuri Research Institute in Helsinki, Finland.

Katariina Öörni’s research interests are centered on the development of atherosclerotic lesions, particularly in examining the molecular mechanisms related to accumulation of apoB-containing particles in the arterial intima. Most recently, she has identified aggregation-prone LDL as a novel risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and her research group showed that the presence of aggregation-prone LDL can predict future cardiovascular deaths independent of conventional risk factors, including LDL cholesterol levels. The aggregation-prone LDL particles were found to be rich in sphingolipids and the group was able to demonstrate a causal role for these lipids in LDL aggregation using in vitro and in vivo models. The goal of Katariina Öörni’s research program is to understand how the blood plasma-derived lipoproteins accumulate in the arterial wall and trigger there local inflammatory responses which precipitate and promote atherogenesis. 

Katariina Öörni is a council member of the Finnish Atherosclerosis Society and represents Finland in the Organizing Committee of the European Lipoprotein Club and in the council of the Scandinavian Society for Atherosclerosis Research. She has been the secretary and treasurer of the Scandinavian Society for Atherosclerosis Research in 1998-2006. She is a Co-Editor of Atherosclerosis, the official journal of EAS. She received the Esko Nikkilä Memorial Lecture Award from the Scandinavian Society for Atherosclerosis Research in 2019.

Vision statement

As the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) continues to make strides in cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis research and education, our communication strategy plays a pivotal role in amplifying the Society’s impact. With a primary audience comprising experts, researchers, and students in the vascular biology and cardiovascular research sectors, and a secondary audience that includes science communicators, policymakers, and the general public, our mission is to foster a well-informed and engaged community.

To build upon our robust digital engagement through educational programs, congresses, and publications, I propose an enhanced collaboration between the EAS communication team and the social media team of our official journal, Atherosclerosis. This synergy will not only enrich our content strategy across diverse platforms like Twitter/Threads/Bluesky, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook but also drive reciprocal traffic between EAS and the journal, enhancing visibility and outreach.

Our content strategy will increasingly embrace a dynamic mix of regular posts showcasing research highlights, achievements of young scientists, interactive content like polls and quizzes, live sessions for real-time engagement, and encouragement of user-generated content to foster a community-centric environment.

Key engagement strategies will include targeted hashtag campaigns to boost content reach, strategic partnerships with other scientific societies – including the national societies – to broaden our audience, and a robust feedback loop to ensure our communication remains responsive and community-driven. By leveraging analytics, we will continuously refine our approach, ensuring our communication resonates and engages effectively.

Implementing this strategic communication plan will enhance the society’s online presence and promote its official scientific journal, Atherosclerosis, ensuring the impact of EAS in the scientific community.

Current Positions

(Information on all positions, both within companies and other Societies)

Companies

  • None

Other societies

  • Scandinavian Society for Atherosclerosis Research 1994–Secretary and treasurer 1998–2006; Board member 2016–2020
  • American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2000–
  • European Vascular Biology Organization 2005–
  • Finnish Atherosclerosis Society 2007–Board member 2015–2022
  • European Atherosclerosis Society 2009–
  • European Lipoprotein Club 2009– Board member 2016–2020

Maintaining Integrity in EAS Scientific and Clinical Activities

EAS manages conflicts of interest to maintain integrity in scientific and clinical activities organized by its members. This includes guidelines, consensus papers, journals, congresses, and educational content.
Please see the complete disclosure of potential conflicts of interest below.

You have to be full member and logged in to view Faculty Conflict of Interest Disclosures

Back to all candidates >