Dr Ignatios Ikonomidis,MD ,PhD, FESC, EACVI, Professor of Cardiology, Director of Echocardiography and the Laboratory of Preventive Cardiology, 2nd Cardiology Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Attikon Hospital, Rimini 1, 12462, Haidari, Greece E-mail: ignoik@gmail.com igikon@med.uoa.gr tel +30 6944805732, fax: +30 2105832192 Dr Ignatios Ikonomidis is Professor in Cardiology in the 2nd Cardiology Department, Attikon Hospital, Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece (elected to full professor on the 28/8/2020 from the post of associate professor). He is the Head of the Echocardiography and the Laboratory of Preventive Cardiology of the 2nd Cardiology Department, and he runs the Clinic of Cardiometabolic disease and Smoking Cessation. He works in the field of non-invasive cardiovascular imaging. He has a national and worldwide reputation and is regarded as one of the leading experts in the field echocardiography and inflammation in CV diseases. As a result, he is a member of the accreditation committee for cardiac ultrasound for European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging Certification and Greek Health Authorities member of EACVI committees, ESC Council of Hypertension and fellow of the European Society of Cardiology. He is the president of the board of International Association on Smoking Control and Harm Reduction (SCOHRE) and president elect of the Hellenic College of Cardiology. He was a nucleus member of the ESC WG of Aorta and Peripheral Vascular Diseases) and contributed to the 2024 ESC Guidelines for the management of peripheral arterial and aortic diseases. He is the first author of a consensus document of HFA, EACVI and ESC WG of Aorta and Peripheral Arterial Diseases on the role of ventricular –arterial coupling in cardiac diseases . He was also the president of the Greek WG of Aorta&Peripheral Vascular Diseases (2018-2020) and of Diabetes and Heart (2024-2026). He has published novel work about the effects of medically-assisted smoking cessation and novel smoking products on cardiovascular function. He has a particular interest on cardio-vascular imaging and investigated the effects of aortic function on cardiac function especially after therapeutic interventions using natural products (e.g. olive oil, Q10, etc.) and /or medication with several publication on the topic of aortic stiffness, carotid atherosclerosis and aortic aneurysms and investigated the diagnostic and prognostic value of novel echocardiography markers in heart failure. He has published over 360 highly-cited original papers and contributed in several medical textbooks.