Julie De Backer, MD, PhD, FESC, is a genetic cardiologist at Ghent University Hospital, Belgium. She heads the Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) clinic and coordinates interdisciplinary programs for ACHD & Heritable Thoracic Aortic Disease (HTAD) patients, with a focus on patient centered care. She is appointed full professor at the Ghent University. Her translational research focuses on in-depth cardiovascular profiling in Marfan syndrome and HTAD, exploring geno/phenotype relationships. Julie De Backer and her team employ genetic animal models in search for novel treatment targets. She is an active member of VASCERN, ESC’s Aorta and Peripheral Vascular Disease Working Group, and the Montalcino Aortic Consortium. She co-chaired the 2020 ESC ACHD guidelines and chairs the 2025 ESC pregnancy guidelines.