Bio
Prof. Dr. Fausto Catena was born on 1 November 1971. He completed his degree in Medicine and Surgery (MD) at the University of Bologna, Italy. He received a Ph.D. in Physiology and Physiopathology from Bologna University. From 2000 to 2011, he was a Consultant General Surgeon at the Department of General, Emergency and Transplant Surgery at St. Orsola-Malpighi University Hospital, University of Bologna, Italy. He has been a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (UK) since 2012. In 2013, he received the Italian national certification as a full professor of general surgery. From 2012 to 2020, he was the Chief of the Department of Emergency and General Surgery at Parma University Hospital, Italy. Since 2021, he has been the Chief of the Department of General and Emergency Surgery at Bufalini Hospital Cesena, Italy. Prof. Dr. Catena has written more than 800 scientific papers (more than 400 on PubMed, H index = 49), 40 book chapters, and 5 Books. He won 20 national and international scientific prizes. He has performed more than 4000 medium–high-level surgical procedures. Prof. Dr. Catena is the Editor-in-Chief of the World Journal of Emergency Surgery and is the Editor of more than 10 other journals. Prof. Dr. Fausto Catena’s research activity is focused on emergency surgery (acute cholecystitis, adhesions, intra-abdominal infections, and trauma), renal transplantation (graft preservation), oncologic surgery (GIST and carcinomatosis–HIPEC), colorectal surgery (elective and emergency colorectal cancer, and diverticular disease), and abdominal wall surgery (biological prostheses).

Bio
Dr. Belinda De Simone, born in Rome, Italy, graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University "Sapienza" of Roma. Her ambition to become a Visceral Surgeon led her to Parma, Italy, where she trained at the University of Parma under the guidance of her mentor, Prof. Fausto Catena. Then, following the advice of her mentor, she went to Paris to be educated by one of the best minimally invasive surgeons, an expert in bariatric surgical procedures, Prof. Chouillard, at the academic hospitals of Poissy and Saint Germain en Laye. Dr. De Simone joined the World Society of Emergency Surgery board in 2022. She was responsible for scientific research from 2020 to 2023 at the Poissy and Saint Germain en Laye hospitals, and was the Principal Investigator for the ChoCO-W global observational study focused on the management of severe cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic; the Artificial Intelligence in emergency and trauma surgery (ARIES) project; the operative management of acute abdomen injury after BAriatric surgery (OBA) project; and the management of surgical patients in the emergency setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. De Simone splits her professional life between France and Italy, cultivating her multiple interests in surgical research and life as a female surgeon, committed to promoting the importance of education in emergency surgery for improving the management of frail and critically ill surgical patients. Research interests: emergency surgery and trauma management; geriatric emergency surgery; treatment of intra-abdominal infections and proper use of antibiotics; long-term outcomes of metabolic surgery; abdominal wall surgery and complex hernia repair; Artificial Intelligence implementation in emergency and trauma surgery.

Bio
Dr. Benedetto Ielpo is an Italian surgeon currently working in Spain in the Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Unit of the Parc Salut Mar Hospital of Barcelona. His main research interest is minimally invasive surgery, both laparoscopic and robotic. Certified with the European Board of HPB Surgery and Surgical Oncology, he also works as an associate professor at the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona. He is currently the Elected Secretary of the Spanish Chapter of the American College of Surgeons and the President and founder of the ACIE (Association dei Chirurghi Italiani in Europa—Association of the Italian Surgeons in Europe.

Bio
Prof. Dr. Marc Pocard completed his residency in Paris hospitals and during the same time period studied colorectal cancer biology at the Institut Curie. He worked for 5 years as a surgeon at the Gustave Roussy Institute in Paris during which time he also had the opportunity to work on peritoneal metastatic diseases. In 2006, he worked as a nominated professor in digestive surgery at the Paris Diderot University. He developed a peritoneal metastasis treatment program, in association with the French RENAPE network for rare peritoneal cancers. In 2009, he created a research unit at the INSERM on angiogenesis and, again in 2019, a research unit specifically devoted to basic and translational research on peritoneal metastasis. He practices HIPEC and PIPAC in a routine manner and is involved in clinical trials related to peritoneal metastasis. In 2018, he co-founded the International Society for the Study of Pleura and Peritoneum, named ISSPP, and was elected as the first president of the ISSPP society.

Bio
Mauro Podda is a Consultant General, Emergency Surgeon and Clinical Lecturer in Surgery at the Department of Emergency Surgery of Cagliari University Hospital “Policlinico Universitario Duilio Casula”. His particular research interests are minimally invasive gastric, pancreatic, colorectal, and general emergency surgeries. He is a member of the editorial board of several scientific journals and reviewer for the British Journal of Surgery, British Medical Journal, International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer-Assisted Surgery, Annals of Internal Medicine, World Journal of Surgery and World Journal of Emergency Surgery.

Bio
Dr. Gianluca Pellino has an M.D. degree. He holds a Ph.D. in Translational Medicine and is an associate professor of general surgery at the Università della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy. He is currently serving as a research coordinator at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, and is Profesor Asociado in General Surgery at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona UAB. He has served as a colorectal surgeon at the Unit of Colorectal Surgery of the University Hospital "La Fe", Spain, and as a European Coloproctology Fellow since 2017. Dr Pellino studied medicine at the Medical University of Naples and graduated in 2008. Since 2022, he has been a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. He is a Fellow of the European Board of Surgery in coloproctology upon passing the exam of the European Board of Surgical Qualification in 2018. In 2018, he received the status of International Fellow of the American Society of Colorectal Surgeons, and in 2020, he received the status of Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He serves as a member of the Guidelines Committee and Communication Committee of the ESCP and a member of the SICCR Research Committee. He has served as the co-chair of EuroSurg (2017–2019) and the National co-lead (Italy) for the GlobalSurg 3 Study and is a local PI of several multicentric studies. He is the vice-chair of ItSurg Collaborative. Dr. Pellino is also the Chairman of Young ESCP and a former member of the Young Committee of the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation and is a member of the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery, the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, Asociación Española de Coloproctología, Asociación Española de Cirujanos, Grupo Español de Trabajo en Enfermedad de Crohn y Colitis ulcerosa, the Italian Group for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, and the Italian Society of Surgery. His special interests are inflammatory bowel diseases, colorectal cancer, and proctology, with particular emphasis on the surgical treatment of these diseases and surgical training.

Bio
Dra. Ana Ma González, MD., PhD., works at Hospital del Mar in the Emergency Surgical Unit and is an Associated Professor at Pompeu Fabra's University of Barcelona (Spain). Her passion in Emergency Surgery started when she was a Surgical Resident. She was born in Sabadell (Barcelona, Spain). After graduating in Medicine from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, she joined the Residency Training Program on Surgery at Bellvitge University Hospital, becoming a Certified General Surgeon in 2016. She completed her training in Trauma Surgery at the Trauma Unit of the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital at Witwatersrand University (Soweto, Johannesburg). There, she gained great experience in penetrating trauma. Since 2016, her has worked at the Surgical Emergency Unit in Hospital del Mar. She obtained her PhD in the Autonomous University of Barcelona, with a dissertation on Acute Cholecystitis Risk Factors. She is also the local Director of the Emergency Surgery Course of the Spanish Association of Surgeons and staff member of the Emergency Master at the Medical Science Institute. She passed the European Board of Surgical Qualification (EBSQ) examination in February 2023, and she has the honor to be Fellow of the European Board of Surgery in Emergency Surgery. She joined as a Committee Member in the Visceral Trauma Section and Emergency Surgery Section of the European Society of Trauma and Emergency Surgery in May 2023, where she represents the Emergency Surgery Section in the Research Committee Section. She is also an instructor in ATLS and DSTC/DATC courses. Her current interest is on Emergency Surgery, Trauma Surgery and Surgical Infection. When she is not in the ER or OR, she can be found outdoors, trekking with her two beloved dogs.