Editor Name: Aris Lacis

Designation: Professor

University: P. Stradins University

Country: Latvia

Biography: Aris Lacis is a cardiac surgeon and professor. He has graduated from Riga Medical Institute in 1961. From 1964 till 1969 Aris Lacis worked as a General and Thoracic surgeon at Riga P.Stradins University, Riga. From 1969 till 1994 he worked as a Thoracic and Cardiac surgeon at the Latvian Centre for Cardiovascular Surgery. Since 1994 till now Aris is the Head of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery Department at University Children’s Hospital, Riga. Aris Lacis is the President of the Latvian Society for Cardiovascular Surgery and the President of the Latvian Association for Pediatric Cardiologists. He is author for 374 scientific publications, 3 monographs and 13 patents and also have been an investigator in more than 10 clinical trials including cardiosurgical procedures performed under deep hypothermia, hybrid procedures etc. In May 2009, for the first time in the world, he performed a transcutaneous intra myocardial delivery of bone marrow derived autologous progenitor cells for treatment of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy in a child at an early age. In November 2010, for the first time he performed an intrapulmonary implantation of autologous stem cells in a patient with end stage pulmonary hypertension.