Ludwig K. von Segesser: Editor-in-Chief of EJCTS and ICVTS from 2000 to 2010.

Fig. 1. Past Editor-in-Chief Ludwig Karl von Segesser. The European Journal of Cardio-thoracic Surgery (EJCTS) was established in July 1987 as the official scientific publication of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. The first two Editors-in-Chief of the Journal were Professor Hans Borst and Professor Marko Turina. They were very successful in establishing and developing the Journal into a respected and internationally accepted journal in our field. The search for the new Editor-in-Chief began in June 2000 and, after careful review of all applications, Professor von Segesser (Fig. 1) was chosen for this prestigious and important post within EACTS for many good reasons. Ludwig von Segesser graduated from the Medical School of the University of Basel, Switzerland, in 1978 and successfully passed the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (ECFMG, USA) and the Visa Qualifying Examination (VQE, USA). After a three-year period of residencies within the Department of Surgery at Geneva University Hospital (1980–1983), he became a staff member in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at Geneva University. In 1985, he passed the ‘Texas State Board of Medical Examiners’ at Austin, TX, USA, and received an Institutional Licence. In 1986, he worked at the Texas Heart Institute under the guidance of Denton A. Cooley MD as a clinical fellow. After his return to Switzerland he moved from Geneva to the Department of Cardio-Vascular Surgery in Zürich in 1987 and became staff member (Oberarzt) in Professor Turina’s team. His academic career continued in 1989 when he became Assistant Professor (‘Privat-Dozent’) at the University of Zürich. In 1996, he was elected as Clinical Professor and Head of the Department of Cardio-Vascular Surgery of the University Hospital Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland. Professor von Segesser was also elected President of the Swiss Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, President of the Swiss Heart Foundation, and became the Chairman of the Department of Surgery and Anesthesiology of the CHUV, Lausanne in 2005. He is a member of more than 30 scientific societies worldwide, has contributed to more than 1700 publications, of