Carlo Di Mario

Born in Modena, Italy, Professor Di Mario graduated in Medicine in 1980 and specialised in Cardiology at the University of Padua in 1984. He trained in interventional Cardiology at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Netherlands, where he completed a PhD thesis in Intravascular ultrasound and Doppler. He served between 1996 and 2002 as research director for interventional cardiology at the University Vita-Salute of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan. In 2003 he was appointed Consultant Cardiologist at the Royal Brompton hospital and Professor of Clinical Cardiology at the National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College of Sciences, Medicine & Technology. He was appointed in 2006 Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and in 2010 Senior Investigator of the National Institute of Health Research. He became Full Professor of Cardiology at the University of Florence and Director of Structural Interventional Cardiology in the Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy in September 2016. Interventional cardiology is the main focus with 480 PCIs in 2019 (70 primary angioplasties). Prof Di Mario maintains an active clinical involvement in coronary angioplasty with special interest in treatment of chronic total occlusions, bifurcations, calcified lesions and diffuse disease. Recently the focus shifted to structural interventions, with more than 250 patients treated (PFO closure, LAA closure, MitralClips, etc). In 2019 133 TAVI procedures were performed with 0.7% mortality despite an STS of 4.1 and average age of 84.6 years, starting implantation of Acurate and Lotus valves. Prof Di Mario is a certified active implanter of Medtronic Evolut R and Pro, Edwards Sapien 3 and Ultra transcatheter aortic valves. He has 13 years of experience with MitraClips and started implants of CardioBand in 2017. Affiliations: He served as Secretary of the Working Group on Interventional Cardiology of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and became President of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions between 2009 and 2011. Research: Professor Di Mario pioneered the use of intracoronary Doppler, pressure measurement (FFR and iFR), intravascular ultrasound, optical coherence tomography and near infrared spectroscopy. These techniques have become the gold standard for physiological assessment of lesion severity and have revolutionised the technique of stent implantation with the use of high pressure dilatation.