Join us for this informative webinar tailored for people living with rare bleeding disorders, their families, caregivers, and the broader community. Cardiovascular Issues and Other Comorbidities brings together clinical expertise and lived experience to explore how ageing with a bleeding disorder is linked to cardiovascular health and the management of additional comorbidities.

Speakers: Prof Bruna Gigante (Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm), Prof Roger Schutgens (University Medical Center Utrecht), and Prof Alison Dougall (Dublin Dental University Hospital)

There will also be time for live interaction and audience Q&A.

This webinar is part of the Ageing Well with Rare Bleeding Disorders series organised by the EHC in partnership with ERN-EuroBloodNet. The series includes four sessions held between January and May 2026, each addressing key challenges of ageing with a bleeding disorder through expert-led discussions and patient perspectives. This fourth session is organised in collaboration with ERN GUARD-Heart.

This webinar series is part of the broader Living Well, Ageing Well, the EHC Ageing Project 2025–2026, which brings together experts, patients, and caregivers to explore topics such as frailty, ageing and bleeding, cardiovascular health, and comorbidity management.  

About the speakers

Bruna Gigante

Bruna Gigante is an Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet and senior consultant in cardiology at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. For many years, she has been doing clinical and cardiovascular epidemiological research, leading and contributing to studies aimed at discovering genes and biomarkers to disentangle the individual predisposition to atherothrombosis, published in high-ranked journals. She is Chair Elect of the Working Group on Thrombosis of the European Society of Cardiology and participates in a regional expert group on anticoagulant treatment.

Roger Schutgens

Roger Schutgens is a Consultant Haematologist at the University Medical Centre Utrecht. His main responsibilities include care, research and education in the area of benign haematology and clotting diseases. Prof. Schutgens is the Head of the Van Creveldkliniek, an international expertise centre for rare and inherited benign haematologic disorders, thrombosis and haemostasis. He holds a position on the steering board of Child Health at the UMC Utrecht. He is Chair of the EAHAD European Glanzmann Thrombasthenia Working Group. Prof Schutgens areas of focus include patients predisposed to bleeding, congenital abnormalities of platelets and hypercoagulable conditions, and he has published over 270 peer-reviewed articles.

Alison Dougall

Alison Dougall is Dean of the Dental Hospital at Trinity College Dublin and Director of the clinical doctorate programme of Special Care Dentistry. She is a Consultant in Medically Compromised Dentistry with a research interest in bleeding disorders, inclusion health, disability and ageing. She has led the dental service at the National Centre of Coagulation in Dublin for the last 20 years and was the dental subject expert on the most recent WFH Comprehensive Care Guidelines. She has over 50 peer-reviewed publications, and in 2017, she won the Irish Health Leaders Award for her work designing dental care pathways for people with bleeding disorders. In 2022, she won the John Tomes medal of the Royal College of Surgeons of England for the global influence and reach of her work. She is a member of the European Rare and Inhibitor Network (ERIN) of the EHC, and an honorary life member and fellow of the International Society of Disability and Oral Health.