WELCOME MESSAGE FROM THE ESC PRESIDENT

Dear Colleagues,

It gives me great pleasure, as President of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), to invite you to attend the Forum of Leadership and Management in Cardiovascular Medicine from 16 to 18 June 2016 in the beautiful city of Vienna.

Over the years we have witnessed substantial changes in the way health care is organized and delivered in the different parts of the world. Cardiovascular Medicine providers, being responsible for the management of the number one cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, have special responsibility in engaging in the processes that may improve the delivery of health care in their own institutions and countries.

The new times demand good preparation including the refinement of leadership capacities and development of improved managerial skills. This is where scientific societies as well as academic institutions can and should play a major role by organizing programs that can achieve those goals. The complexity of the challenges we face in the world we live in clearly shows the need to reply accordingly by assembling and engaging the best possible brain power and organizational skills we can afford.

The Forum of Leadership and Management in Cardiovascular Medicine (LMCmed) is precisely one example where a plethora of different specialists, including health care professionals, managers, decision and policy makers, among others, representing different geographical and institutional settings, can provide an excellent opportunity to interact and to exchange ideas, knowledge, experiences and best practices around health policy, health economics, health management, and health leadership.

The ESC fulfills its mission of reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease through a whole breath of different activities where the engagement of our community is crucial for its success. Therefore ESC sees the LMCmed as an excellent example of a transversal Program that will certainly enrich all of those who will be able to participate. The diversity and quality of the already confirmed speakers will certainly guarantee the quality of the Program.

Come to Vienna, 16 to 18 June 2016 and I am sure you will live through an incredible experience that will help you to shape the future.

Looking forward to welcoming you in Vienna for a wonderful event.

Fausto Pinto, MD, PhD, FESC
President, European Society of Cardiology
Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Head, Cardiology Dpt, University Hospital Sta Maria, Lisbon, Portugal

MESSAGE FROM THE FORUM CHAIRMAN

Dear Colleagues,

Modern health care systems across the globe, irrespective of their geography, organisational structure and economic status, aspire to deliver effective, readily available, easily accessible, safe, qualitative and efficient health care services to those in need. Nonetheless, this endeavour has been more challenging than ever before, due to a combination of prevailing demographic, technological, societal and economic trends.

Despite immense efforts over the past decades many inequalities, gaps, and inefficiencies exist in the care of citizens across and within different countries and socio-economic groups, creating a sub-optimal and unacceptable reality. The aforementioned impose a vivid need to develop new sets of personal and organisational skills, to challenge the status quo, to share learnings and best practices, to change our way of thinking and to find innovative approaches to the health care business.

The management in cardiology forum will bring together a plethora of stakeholders, including health care professionals, managers, academics, decision and policy makers, as well as analysts, from a variety of geographical and institutional settings. The forum will give them the opportunity to interact and to exchange ideas, knowledge, experiences and best practices around health policy, health economics, health management, and health leadership matters.

In particular, well acknowledged and reputable leaders will analyze and discuss in depth the dynamics and trends in the epidemiology and burden of disease, the evolution and appraisal of new medical technologies, the role of information and data, and the factors determining the effective organization and financing of healthcare services.

The course, on the other hand, will also focus on themes such as leadership, management, change, innovation, partnership, human resource handling, and motivation. Through the active and interactive engagement of aspiring leaders with a multi professional and multicultural group of professionals, this event is bound to be prolific for all the parties involved.

In this context, allow me, on behalf and as Chair of the Organizing Committee, to invite you to Vienna next June.

Prof. Panos E. Vardas MD, PhD (London)
Professor of Cardiology, University of Crete
Immediate ESC Past President
Chairman European Heart Agency (ESC) Brussels