Faculty

Professor Orhan Uzun has been working as a Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist at Cardiff and Vale UHB since July 2001. He qualified from Istanbul University Medical Faculty in 1986 and became Consultant Paediatrician and completed his MD in 1992 at the same university hospital. Professor Uzun worked as a Chief Resident in Neonatology at Istanbul University Medical Faculty from 1992 to 1993. He completed Paediatric Cardiology Subspecialist Training at Yorkshire Heart Centre, in Leeds during 1993-1999 and briefly worked as a Locum Consultant in Leicester. He completed 2-year supra-specialist training in Cardiac Electrophysiology and Radiofrequency ablation at St Paul’s Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, in 1999-2001. He undertook Fetal Cardiology and additional Paediatric Electrophysiology training at Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada, in 2001. He has been at the forefront of teaching and training nationally and internationally in fields of electrophysiology, sport cardiology and sudden death syndromes, remote arrhythmia monitoring, telemedicine, ECG, cardiac arrhythmias, echocardiography and fetal cardiology.

He is the founding president of the Welsh Fetal Cardiovascular Network. He is the founding and past president of Welsh Paediatric Cardiovascular Network. He is the founder of Welsh Heart Families Support and Research Group. He has been the scientific paediatric session organiser, session advisor, faculty, chair and lecturer for the Heart Rhythm Congress since 2008 to date. He has been formally appointed to the Heart Rhythm Congress as the paediatric programme lead in 2022. He is a Professor at Cardiff University, School of Medicine and Professor at Swansea University, Faculty of Sport Sciences and Engineering

His research interests are fetal and childhood arrhythmias, electrophysiology, sudden death and inherited arrhythmias, inherited cardiomyopathies, pacing and defibrillation, non-invasive rhythm monitoring, paediatric and fetal echocardiography, cardiovascular changes during pregnancy, exercise and sport physiology, single ventricle and heart failure, artificial assist device in Fontan circuit, telemedicine, remote arrhythmia monitoring, and medical device innovation. He has had national and international collaboration with Cardiff University, University of Bristol, Birmingham University, Bath University, Toronto University-Hospital for Sick Children, University of Pristina-Kosovo, Tetovo-Macedonia, University of British Columbia- Vancouver BC Children’s Hospital, Istanbul-Ankara-Ordu in Turkey, Lund-Sweden, Amsterdam-Netherland, Wisconsin-USA, Berkeley-USA, Colorado-USA, Maryland, USA, Bangalore-India and Swansea University Faculty of Sport Sciences and Engineering. He is a member of Welsh Cardiovascular Research Network and Alumni of BHF.

He has been commissioned to write a fetal cardiology textbook as the chief editor by Cambridge University Publishers. He has been preparing to submit Paediatric Arrhythmia Textbook Proposal. He has published 5 book chapters, over 80 journal papers, 130 conference presentations as well as giving over 100 invited lectures at national and international meetings. Awards: 2013 Best Secondary Care Educator-Teacher Award, Welsh Deanery, Cardiff University. 2013 NHS Innovation Award, Wales. 2014 Clinical Excellence Bronze Award. 2016 BMJ Best Cardiology Team Award, UK. 2018 Clinical Excellence Silver Award. 2022 Best Educational Supervisor Award. 2022 Clinical Excellence Gold Award. 2023 Arrhythmia Pioneers SVT Award, Heart Rhythm UK

Dr. Crispi is a consultant at BCNatal (Hospitals Clínic and Sant Joan de Déu) and an Associate Professor at the University of Barcelona. She has become a recognized clinical expert in fetal cardiac imaging and physiology and established a unique clinic on fetal cardiac function, incorporating new imaging tools for assessing the fetal heart, enabling follow-up fetal growth restriction, congenital heart diseases, and other relevant complications. She leads a research line on Fetal Cardiac programming that has produced >250 research papers (Hindex 50) demonstrating the vital importance of the fetal heart in the adaptation to placental diseases, preeclampsia, and other prenatal conditions.

Dr. Sanz Cortes is an Associate Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. She is an internationally known fetal maternal medicine expert specializing in fetal interventions. Her main research areas are placental abnormalities and fetal heart. Particularly fetal cardiac findings in multiple pregnancies and fetal brain development in cardiac defects.

Dr. Limperopoulos studies the causes and consequences of adverse prenatal environments and brain and placental development in high-risk fetal, preterm and infant populations. As Center Director at the Developing Brain Institute at Children's National, she develops novel tools and precision medicine solutions to diseases that originated in the womb but don’t fully manifest until adulthood. Central to her research is applying advanced MRI techniques to identify important biomarkers and to better elucidate the timing and evolution of impaired brain maturation, as well as the brain’s adaptive responses. Her lab applies advanced imaging techniques to identify early brain and placental biomarkers of risk and resilience for neurodevelopmental impairment. Her goal is to develop early and reliable signals that can identify the high-risk fetus prior to irreversible brain injury.