Our Journal is excited to announce 2 new associate editors who will start their terms in January, Drs Antonio Abbate and Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai. Both are prominent physician–scientists whose work is well known to cardiovascular investigators. Our new associates offer complementary skills and perspectives that will help expand the Journal's mission to function as a dynamic platform for sharing ideas and findings with the scientific community and for encouraging communication among our readers.

Antonio and Giuseppe have been close friends for 22 years. They started their cardiology and research careers together at the Catholic University of Rome, Italy, having been recruited there by the renowned Prof Attilio Maseri (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attilio_Maseri), a charismatic figure, with a brilliant mind for investigation. One of the common quotes from Prof Maseri was to explore the hidden side of the moon,1 a directive still relevant today in medical research. Prof Maseri and his outstanding team made up of individuals like Filippo Crea, Luigi Biasucci, and Giovanna Liuzzo created a “school” in Rome, Italy, that formed and inspired several generations of physician scientists. Although they had taken different career paths, Antonio and Giuseppe are still tied by a devotion to Prof Maseri and his school. Figure 1 shows the last time that the 2 met up with Prof Attilio Maseri at an American College of Cardiology session nearly 15 years ago.

FIGURE 1.:

From left to right, Antonio Abbate, Attilio Maseri, and Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai.

Dr Antonio Abbate (Fig. 2) joined the University of Virginia in July 2022 as the “Ruth C. Heede” Professor of Cardiology in the Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center. He is an experienced clinician, mentor, and established researcher, specializing in general cardiology, cardioimmunology, and cardio-oncology. A native of Fondi, Italy, Dr Abbate received his Medical Degree from the University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome and his clinical training in Cardiovascular Medicine and a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Cardiology from Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, Italy.

FIGURE 2.:

Dr Antonio Abbate.

Dr Abbate spent 15 years as an attending physician at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where he rose to the rank of Professor of Medicine as the “James C. Roberts, Esq.” Professor of Cardiology in the VCU Pauley Heart Center. At VCU, he served in several leadership roles including Vice Chair of the Division of Cardiology, Medical Director of the Clinical Research Unit, Associate Chair for Research in the Department of Internal Medicine, and Associate Director of the Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research. Dr Abbate has coauthored over 660 PubMed-cited articles with more than 33,021 citations. He has contributed to hundreds of peer-reviewed publications related to his investigator-initiated research on the role of interleukin-1 and inflammation in cardiovascular diseases that has been funded by the National Institute of Health and the American Heart Association, in addition to his industry-sponsored research.2–5 During his career, Dr Abbate has received multiple awards for his research, teaching, and mentoring, including the inaugural Thames-Kontos Distinguished Mentor Award from the School of Medicine at VCU, and was named among the Top Cardiologists in the country by Forbes Magazine. Dr Abbate is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine, and Cardio-Oncology and is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and European Society of Cardiology. On a personal note, Antonio is blessed with 2 wonderful women in his life, wife Vera and daughter Gerardina.

Dr Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai (Fig. 3) was born in San Remo, Italy. He obtained his MD diploma magna cum laude at the University of Milan, Italy, in 1999 and subsequently pursued specialist training in cardiovascular medicine, obtaining his cardiologist diploma magna cum laude in 2004 at the Catholic University in Rome. In 2004–2005, he completed his fellowship in interventional cardiology at the Invasive Cardiology Unit of St. Raffaele University Hospital, Milan. In the ensuing years, he served as an Assistant Professor in Cardiology, first at the University of Turin, followed by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. In late 2011, he joined the Department of Medico-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies of the Sapienza University of Rome, Latina, Italy, and in January 2018 was promoted to Associate Professor in Cardiology. He also attended doctoral courses in biomedical statistics at the Biometrics and Medical Statistics Institute of the University of Milan and obtained a Master's degree in Statistics from the University of Tor Vergata in Rome.

FIGURE 3.:

Dr Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai.

Dr Biondi-Zoccai has coauthored more than 1020 articles indexed in PubMed, as well as several book chapters. He has more than 52,000 citations, placing him in the list of Top Italian Scientists—Biomedical Sciences and among the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers. He is Editor-in-Chief of an international biomedical journal (Minerva Cardiology and Angiology), serves on the Editorial Board of several biomedical journals (including the European Heart Journal), and has edited several textbooks, ranging in topics from network meta-analyses to umbrella reviews, diagnostic meta-analyses, hybrid cardiovascular imaging, and transcatheter aortic valve implantation. Dr Biondi-Zoccai has also applied for, or registered, several patents for cardiovascular diagnosis and therapy and received many national and international awards for excellence in research and science. His research interests include advanced biostatistical methods, evidence-based medicine in cardiology, modified risk products of tobacco, primary and secondary cardiovascular prevention, and translational cardiovascular therapeutics.6–9 On a personal note, Giuseppe informs me that his main professional (pre)occupation is being the father of 3 awesome boys, Giuseppe, Giovanni, and Attilio (named after the late Attilio Maseri) and the husband of a similarly awesome woman, Barbara. His “hobby of choice” is that of being an academic cardiologist.

With these 2 academic cardiologists on board, the Journal is well positioned, as we near completion of the first quarter of the 21st century, to navigate new challenges and directions in cardiovascular research.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author greatly appreciates the careful reading of this editorial and thoughtful suggestions of Dr Raffaele Altara, the Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands, and the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS.

REFERENCES 1. Maseri A. Inflammation, atherosclerosis, and ischemic events—exploring the hidden side of the moon. N Engl J Med. 1997;336:1014–1016. 2. Bonaventura A, Vecchie A, Dagna L, et al. Endothelial dysfunction and immunothrombosis as key pathogenic mechanisms in covid-19. Nat Rev Immunol. 2021;21:319–329. 3. Del Buono MG, Bonaventura A, Vecchie A, et al. Pathogenic pathways and therapeutic targets of inflammation in heart diseases: a focus on interleukin-1. Eur J Clin Invest. 2023. doi:10.1111/eci.14110. 4. Abbate A, Toldo S, Marchetti C, et al. Interleukin-1 and the inflammasome as therapeutic targets in cardiovascular disease. Circ Res. 2020;126:1260–1280. 5. Chiabrando JG, Bonaventura A, Vecchie A, et al. Management of acute and recurrent pericarditis: JACC State-of-the-Art Review. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2020;75:76–92. 6. Giordano A, Corcione N, Barbanti M, et al. Features and outcomes of bailout repeat transcatheter aortic valve implantation (tavi): the bailout acute tavi-in-tavi to lessen events (battle) international registry. Clin Res Cardiol. 2023. doi:10.1007/s00392-023-02239-8. 7. Giordano A, Mas-Peiro S, Fichtlscherer S, et al. Long-term outcomes following transcatheter aortic valve implantation with the portico self-expanding valve. Clin Res Cardiol. 2023. doi:10.1007/s00392-023-02252-x. 8. Briguori C, Di Iorio A, Riviezzo G, et al. Intravenous volume expansion to prevent contrast-associated acute kidney injury. J Invasive Cardiol. 2023;35. 9. Rodriguez-Granillo AM, Salvatori C, Procopio FG, et al. Risk of selection bias in observational comparative research on left main revascularization strategies. JACC Cardiovasc Interv. 2023;16:1000.