Prof. Gaetano Thiene’s research interests have been across cardiovascular medicine and pathology, particularly in clinicopathologic studies and clinical translation of basic research as well as surgical pathology of native and prosthetic valves. He first reported Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy as a major cause of sudden death in the young and in athletes (NEJM 1988) and has contributed to the elucidation of its genetic basis (Human Genetics 2004). He is a principal architect of the Italian programme in which all young individuals who participate in sports activities are screened for potential cardiovascular problems. Prof. Thiene is the leader of the group in Padua which has worked at the interface between pathology and genetics in the cardiomyopathies and has identified several disease-causing mutations, correlating them with the clinical and pathological features of the disease. He has published 1015 reports of original investigations and reviews in Index leading journals of pathology and cardiovascular medicine, and in addition has co-authored and/or co-edited 25 monographs.