As the European Union moves towards implementing the Safe Hearts Plan, the moment has come to turn ambition into action.
Structural Heart Disease (SHD) remains underdiagnosed and unevenly treated across Europe. If fully leveraged, the Safe Hearts Plan can be a catalyst for meaningful change — driving earlier detection, strengthening patient pathways, reinforcing centres of excellence, and ensuring fair and timely access to care for all.
To help shape this next phase, the EU Structural Heart Disease Coalition is convening policymakers, clinicians, patient representatives and health system leaders at the European Parliament to focus on what matters most: delivery.
From strategy to implementation
This high-level discussion will explore how to accelerate progress on structural heart disease through:
- Smarter and more systematic screening
- Faster and more efficient referral pathways
- Stronger integration of centres of excellence
- Action to address gender and regional inequalities in access to care
- Better alignment between EU ambition and national implementation
By bringing together EU and national decision-makers alongside frontline experts and patient advocates, the event will focus on translating the Safe Hearts Plan into concrete improvements for patients across Europe.
Event Details
🫀 Delivering Impact: How the EU Safe Hearts Plan Can Transform Structural Heart Disease Care
📅 25 February 2026
🕚 11:00–13:00
🏛️ European Parliament, Brussels – Room A5E 3
💻 Hybrid format (in person and online)
✅ Please note in-person registration is now closed: to follow the event online, register here: https://lnkd.in/gNxh7uD9
Hosted by Tomislav Sokol, Member of the European Parliament (EPP), and supported by the EU Structural Heart Disease Coalition.
Confirmed Speakers
- Tomislav Sokol — Member of the European Parliament (EPP), host
- Brando Benifei — Member of the European Parliament (S&D)
- Olivér Várhelyi — European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare
- Dr Rafael Gonzalez-Manzanares — Cardiologist and clinical researcher, Reina Sofía University Hospital / CIBERCV / CNIC
- Grzegorz Owsianik, PhD — Team Leader (NCD Portfolio), DG RTD, European Commission
- Prof. Thomas Modine — Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery, Bordeaux University Hospital
- Emily Phillips — EU Policy and Advocacy Coordinator, European Society of Cardiology
- Aurelijus Veryga — Member of the European Parliament (ECR)
- Arunima H. — Senior Health Policy and Research Manager, ILC
- Prof. Martine Gilard — Director of Interventional Cardiology, Brest University Hospital
- Jens Näumann — CEO, Initiative Herzklappe e.V. (patient advocacy)
- Florence Ranson — Presenter and Moderator
By convening political leadership, clinical excellence, and patient advocacy under one roof, this event will help ensure that the Safe Hearts Plan delivers measurable impact for people living with structural heart disease across the European Union.
Join us in shaping the next chapter of cardiovascular care in Europe.