Transesophageal Echocardiography Multimedia Manual

Dr. Andre Denault is an academic-physician with special interests in ultrasound. He is a Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Montreal. His medical qualifications and specialties include internal medicine, critical care medicine and anesthesia. In 2010, he completed a PhD in biomedical Science at the University of Montreal. He has advanced certification from the National Board in Echocardiography (NBE) in perioperative transesophageal echocardiography and critical care ultrasound. Dr Denault has written over 350 peer-reviewed articles, 71 book chapters and 3 textbooks on perioperative transesophageal and critical care ultrasound. He is a sought-after speaker at local, national and international meetings. He won several teaching awards, including the Canadian Anesthesia Research Award in 2022. He currently works as a cardiac anaesthesiologist at the Montreal Heart Institute. He is the director of research in the department of Anesthesia and the director of the whole-body ultrasound fellowship program at the University of Montreal.

Dr. Annette Vegas, FRCPC, FASE, graduated from McGill University medical school (Montreal, Canada) and completed her anesthesia residency at the University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada). Following a cardiac anesthesia fellowship at Toronto General Hospital (TGH) she became an attending staff anesthesiologist at TGH in 1994 where she continues to practice in the operating room and cardiovascular intensive care unit. She is a Professor of Anesthesia at the University of Toronto and currently Director of Perioperative Echocardiography at TGH. Her clinical interests include cardiac anesthesia, adult congenital heart disease and transesophageal echocardiography. She is a developer of the educational website http://pie.med.utoronto.ca/. Her publications include books on echocardiography that she authored and edited, along with several book chapters and papers. She continues to enjoy travel and has delivered lectures at many international meetings. She is a well-respected educator and has been honoured with teaching awards and awards for continuing medical education related to echocardiography, including the 2022 American Society of Echocardiography Outstanding Achievement in Perioperative Echocardiography award.

Dr. Pierre Couture is a cardiac anesthesiologist working at the Montreal Heart Institute since 1997. He is a Clinical Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Montreal. He has written 96 peer-reviewed articles, mostly related to cardiac anesthesiology and transesophageal echocardiography. He is also a co-Editor of three textbooks of perioperative transesophageal echocardiography. He was the first anesthesiologist trained in transesophageal echocardiography at the University of Montreal with specific interest in diastology, cardiac surgery, and coronary artery diseases.

Dr. Marco Julien, MD, received his medical degree from Universite de Montreal, Canada. He completed further training in cardiac anesthesiology at Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand, and Royal Brompton Hospital, United Kingdom. He is Assistant Director of the Anesthesiology Department and Director of Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography at the Montreal Heart Institute, Canada, with specific interests in congenital heart disease, transcatheter structural interventions and minimally invasive cardiac surgery.

Dr. Etienne Couture, MD, obtained his medical degree at the Universite de Sherbrooke. He completed his anesthesiology training at the Universite Laval in Quebec City before completing a critical care fellowship at Universite de Montreal and a fellowship in adult cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA. Dr Couture is a clinical professor in the Department of anesthesiology and critical care medicine of Universite Laval and works as anesthesiologist & intensivist at the Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Quebec.

Dr. Jean Buithieu graduated from the Universite de Montreal and the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. He is a clinical cardiologist and vascular internist affiliated with the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) where, for the last 20 years, he heads the Echocardiography Laboratory and Non-invasive Cardiology Department. He is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at McGill University's Faculty of Medicine. Besides general cardiology and CCU practice, his clinical activities include transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography, vascular imaging, intravascular ultrasonography, intracardiac echocardiography and 3D imaging in ultrasound and CT imaging. He is an active member of the structural heart disease team and interventional echocardiography where he participates in international research, development and teaching of innovative cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology devices in animal and human studies.

Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif is the Research Center Director at the Montreal Heart Institute and Professor of Medicine at the University of Montreal. He received his medical degree (MD) in 1987 from the University of Montreal and specialized in cardiology and research in Montreal and Boston until 1994. Dr. Tardif holds the Canada Research Chair in personalized medicine and the University of Montreal endowed research chair in atherosclerosis. His research covers the molecular and genomic aspects of atherosclerosis and related diseases and also involves animal models, mechanistic and observational clinical studies as well as early clinical trials and large international randomized clinical trials. Dr. Tardif is or has been the international principal investigator or part of the study leadership of several large clinical trials in the field of atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Tardif has authored more than 840 scientific articles and has won multiple awards, including the Research Achievement Award of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, Distinguished Lecturer Award of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Genesis Award of BIOQuebec (for his outstanding contributions to life sciences), Armand-Frappier Award of the Government of Quebec (the highest scientific honour) and the Margolese National Heart Disorders Prize (for his outstanding contributions to the treatment, amelioration, or cure of heart disorders). Because of his accomplishments, Dr. Tardif was named a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and he inducted into the Order of Canada (the highest distinction in Canada).