Program

• Demands, Challenges and Practicalities of Cardiac Screening Elite Female Footballers - Dr. Eddie Craghill
• Case Based Insights Into Decision Making In Football Cardiology – A Conversation Between Two Sports Cardiologists. - Prof. Marta Sitges & Prof. Guido Pieles
• Q&A moderated by Dr. Harald T. Jørstad

Learning objectives

• Learn how to organize successful cardiac screening in an elite women’s football setting
• Obtain knowledge common pitfalls which may compromise care and detract from the athlete’s experience
• Practical insights in the decision making process if an athlete is “Ready to Play”
• Individualized decision making in athletes

Certificate*: All delegates can receive a certificate of attendance.
* Note: To receive a certificate, please fill in your full name and email address when leaving the webinar.

Moderator: Dr. Harald T. Jørstad, MD, PhD
Sports Cardiologist
Head of Cardiac Care Unit/Cardiac Emergency
Amsterdam UMC
Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Dr. Harald T. Jørstad (1980) is a senior attending cardiologist and a consultant cardiologist in sports and prevention at the Amsterdam UMC and the Sports Medical Center Papendal. He furthermore chairs the national Sports Cardiology Section of the Netherlands Society of Cardiology, and the Netherlands Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF) cardiac screening programme. He has a personal distinction as an NOC*NSF ‘High Performance Partner’. He was the Lead of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology Young Community (2020-2022), and currently chairs the EAPC Accreditation sub-committee. He pioneered the first sports cardiology fellowship in the Netherlands, and is currently the head of the sports cardiology residence programme at the Amsterdam UMC. He is also the head of the Cardiac Care Unit/ Cardiac Emergency Room at the Amsterdam UMC. His research focusses on elite athletes, pre-participation screening, imaging in athletes, return-to-sports after COVID-19, and network medicine and multidisciplinary decision-making in athletes with cardiovascular disease.

Speaker: Dr. Eddie Craghill, MBChB (Hons), MRCGP, MFSEM, MSc, DCH, DRCOG, DFSRH
Women’s Team Support Doctor
Manchester United
Manchester, United Kingdom

Dr. Eddie Craghill is Manchester United Women’s Team Support Doctor having joined the club at the start of their inaugural 2018/19 season. Alongside his role at the club, Eddie works two days a week as a GP partner in Chorley. Before joining Manchester United, he was the Academy Doctor at Burnley FC between 2016 and 2018 following on from several years’ experience of medical provision in Rugby League. He remains the Crowd Doctor for St Helens RFC.
Eddie obtained his medical degree from the University of Liverpool in 2009 before completing GP training in 2014. He was awarded a Masters in Sport and Exercise Medicine from the University of Bath in 2019 and more recently gained Membership of the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine.

Presentation Title: Demands, Challenges and Practicalities of Cardiac Screening Elite Female Footballers
Women’s football is one of quickest growing sports in the UK. At the elite level, the player pool continues to widen as young girls have increasingly visible role models. This increased exposure and financial rewards drives competition and professionalism at the higher end of the game. In this climate, it’s vital that the medical care offered to these athletes can match the World Class standards found elsewhere.
This presentation offers insight into how to co-ordinate a safe and enjoyable cardiac screening program in an elite setting. Female specific components are addressed as well as challenges which can arise.

Speaker: Prof. Marta Sitges, MD, PhD
Director of Cardiovascular Institute
Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain

Prof. Marta Sitges has been staff cardiologist since 2001 at the Cardiovascular Institute in Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, Head of Cardiac Imaging from 2013 to 2015 and Director of the Cardiovascular Institute since October 2015. Her main research interests currently consist in cardiac imaging, valvular heart disease and cardiac remodeling particularly in the athlete. She has published more than 300 peer reviewed papers and presented more than 350 lectures in National and International meetings She is the coordinator of the Sports Cardiology Group at Hospital Clinic and responsible of the program of Sports Cardiology at FC Barcelona since 2009. She is also Professor at the Medical School of the University of Barcelona where she has supervised more than 25 Degree, Master and PhD thesis

Presentation Title: Case Based Insights Into Decision Making In Football Cardiology – A Conversation Between Two Sports Cardiologists.

Speaker: Prof. Guido Pieles, FRCPCH MD, PhD, DPhil, MScHE
Consultant Adult and Paediatric Sports and Congenital Cardiologist
Head of Sports Cardiology and Screening at Aspetar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital Doha, Qatar
Lead for Sports Cardiology Services at Qatar 2022

Prof. Guido Pieles is a Consultant Adult and Pediatric Sports and Congenital Cardiologist. After obtaining his medical degree at the University of Marburg, Germany, a PhD in Philosophy of Medicine at Hanover and a Cardiology DPhil at Oxford University, Prof. Guido trained in child and adult congenital and sports cardiology at the Bristol Heart Institute, UK and the Hospital for Sick Children Toronto, Canada.
He is passionate about all sports and activities but is particularly interested in football cardiology and is consulting sports cardiologist for all teams at Manchester United FC. He served as a member in the English Football Association sports cardiology advisory group, is president elect of the Association of European Pediatric and Congenital Cardiology (AEPC) Sports Cardiology working group, member of the EAPC Task force on Childhood Cardiovascular Health and Pediatric liaison officer at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Sports cardiology Nucleus.
Prof. Guido´s passion for research focuses on developing innovative imaging methods to monitor cardiac performance and improve cardiac care of elite athletes and increase the exercise and sports participation of children and adult with and without heart disease. He has attracted funding in this field from leading research charities and councils such as British Heart Foundation, UK NIHR and UK MRC and leads an innovative research partnership program with Canon Medical Systems Ltd. to innovate imaging of the heart.

Presentation Title: Case Based Insights Into Decision Making In Football Cardiology – A Conversation Between Two Sports Cardiologists.
Decision making in elite sports cardiology is moving away from rigid guidelines to an athlete centred, individualised decision making pathway. This helps to make informed joint decisions, but also creates challenges in balancing safety in sports with the career aspirations and expectations of athletes and sports organisations. The speakers, both working as sports cardiologists at the highest level in European football, will give practical insights in the decision making process with the help of cases.