Werner Budts

Werner Budts is an adult congenital cardiologist, director of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) program at University Hospitals Leuven, and a full professor at the Catholic University Leuven, Belgium. As an adult cardiologist, he began his clinical career by taking over the care of paediatric congenital heart disease patients transitioning into adolescence and adulthood.

Under his leadership, the ACHD program has grown significantly, now handling over 4,000 outpatient visits and 200 catheterizations annually, with regular referrals to electrophysiologists and congenital cardiac surgeons. He has been instrumental in advancing non-invasive imaging for congenital heart disease and performing structural and congenital interventions in adults.

In 2001, he completed his PhD thesis on pulmonary hypertension and ACHD, leading to his appointment at the University of Leuven. He teaches congenital heart disease at the School of Medicine and conducts research at the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, where he served as chair for eight years. His research interests include heart failure, advanced cardiac imaging, congenital cardiac interventions, and exercise in congenital heart disease, resulting in over 380 peer-reviewed papers and an H-index of 52 (Web of Science).

He founded the Belgian Working Group on Adult Congenital Heart Disease and served over a decade as a nucleus member and two years as chair of the Working Group on Adult Congenital Heart Disease of the European Society of Cardiology. He is currently a council member and scientific secretary of the Association for European Pediatric and Congenital Cardiology, and co-chair of the examining committee of the European Society of Cardiovascular Imaging. He has served as an associate editor for the European Heart Journal and currently holds associate editor positions in the European Heart Journal Cardiovascular Imaging and the International Journal of Cardiology, Congenital Heart Disease.

He has actively contributed to several European Society of Cardiology guidelines, including the latest on Adult Congenital Heart Disease, and regularly reviews for high-impact journals.