Dr. Sibel Altintas studied medicine at Maastricht University, graduating in 2012. She then began a doctoral programme within the cardiology department at Maastricht UMC+, focusing on individual risk stratification using cardiac CT. During this period, she developed specialised expertise in assessing and reporting cardiac CT scans in close collaboration with the radiology department.

In January 2023, she obtained her PhD from Maastricht University with the thesis titled: “Mechanisms of cardiovascular disease as defined by cardiac computed tomography.”

She also completed her cardiology specialisation at Maastricht UMC+, successfully finishing her training in March 2023. Following this, she began working as a staff member at AZ Vesalius, while also undertaking a part-time fellowship at the Heart Centre Hasselt, with a focus on cardiovascular imaging, heart failure, and cardiac rehabilitation training.

Since 2023, she has been pursuing a Postgraduate Course in Heart Failure in London through the University of Zurich to further specialise in heart failure. In March 2024, she passed the European Heart Failure exam.

She is a member of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), including its Imaging (EACVI) and Heart Failure (HFA) subdivisions.

Dr. De Caluwé studied medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven were she graduated magna cum laude in 2010. Following specialty training in Leuven (University Hospital) and Hasselt (Jessa Hospital), she obtained her Certification in Cardiology in 2016. Subsequently she was trained in Leuven and Hasselt and completed a subspecialisation in Intensive Care Medicine in 2017. In 2023 - 2024 she successfully completed a certification in Heart Failure after following the 3th edition of the Postgraduate Course in Heart Failure in London.

She is currently working as a cardiologist in St Truiden (St Trudo Hospital) with a focus on Heart Failure and Hasselt (Jessa Hospital) on the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.

She is also an active member of the Belgian Working Group on Heart Failure (BWGHF). 

Amaryllis Van Craenenbroek (nephrologist UZ Leuven)

Amaryllis Van Craenenbroeck is tenured faculty and deputy head of clinic at KU Leuven University Hospital. She received her medical degree in 2008 at the University of Antwerp. Her research focuses on the underlying (epigenetic) mechanisms of vascular dysfunction in chronic kidney disease and its reversibility with exercise training. She has been awarded funding as fundamental-clinical researcher (KOOR) and FWO. Amaryllis Van Craenenbroeck serves as board member of the European Renal and Cardiovascular Medicine Working Group of the European Renal Association. In 2024, she was elected as the president of the European Association of Rehabilitation in Chronic Kidney Disease (EURORECKD).