Syncope and Transient Loss of Consciousness

David G. Benditt, M.D. was born in Winnipeg, Canada. He received a B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering and an MD degree from the University of Manitoba. Following completion of postgraduate training in Internal Medicine, he moved to Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina where he completed a fellowship training in cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology. Thereafter, Dr Benditt joined the faculty of the Cardiovascular Division in the Dept of Medicine at the University of Minnesota where he established its training and research program in clinical cardiac electrophysiology

Dr. Benditt is currently Professor of Medicine and Co-director of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He has been an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, and President of both the American Heart Association-Minnesota Affiliate and the North American Society for Pacing and Electrophysiology (NASPE). Dr Benditt has recently been honored with the Pioneer in Pacing and Electrophysiology Award of the Heart Rhythm Society. He is a Fellow of both the American College of Cardiology, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS). He is a member of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), and of the Council of Presidents of HRS. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Interventional Electrophysiology (JICE), and is a member of the Editorial Board of Europace. He has been a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), The Journal of Cardiac Electrophysiology, and the American Journal of Cardiology (AJC). He has participated in many professional society Guidelines and Consensus reports, most recently the Syncope guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology. He is a medical consultant to the US Federal Aviation administration on evaluation of individuals with transient loss of consciousness, as well as to several medical device manufacturers. His principal research interests are directed toward the fields of autonomic control as it applies to syncope (fainting), and implantable and external devices for cardiac rhythm management.

Michele Brignole, MD FESC

From 1996, he is the chief of the Department of Cardiology of Ospedali del Tigullio, Lavagna, Italy.
He is Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology.
He was the chairman of the Task Force on Syncope of the European Society of Cardiology.
He is currently the President of AIAC, Associazione Italiana di Aritmologia e Cardiostimolazione.
The main research field has been diagnosis, pathophysiology and therapy of syncope and rhythm disturbances and radiofrequency catheter ablation of arrhythmias; he has published:
- 164 original papers currently quoted on Medline; he was first name in 75 of them.

Antonio Raviele, MD, FESC

Graduated with honors in Medicine and Surgery at Universita' degli Studi di Napoli of University of Napoli in 1971
Specialized in Cardiology at Florence University in 1974
Since 1995 Chief of the Cardiology Division and since 2000 Chief of the Cardiovascular Department of the Umberto I Hospital of Venice-Mestre , Italy
From 2000 to 2004 President of AIAC, Italian Association of Arrhythmology and Cardiac Pacing; from 2004 to 2006 Past-President of the same Association
Founding Father and current General Secretary of ECAS, European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society
Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and fellow of the Heart Ryhtm Society

W. Wieling. MD, PhD

Scientific and professional experience
1984- present. Head research group physiology and pathophysiology of the circulation of the Cardiovascular Research Institute of the AMC. This research group is a collaboration of clinicians, physiologists and engineers and its main interest is research on the short-term regulation of the circulation using non-invasive technologies.
1994- present associate professor Department of Internal Medicine, director syncope unit Academic Medical Centre
1999- 2004 member of the Executive Committtee of the European Society of
Cardiology Task Force on Syncope

Major areas of research interest
1. Autonomic nervous system control of the circulation in health and disease
2. Physiological strategies to improve orthostatic intolerance
3. Evaluation and treatment of syncope