The North American Thrombosis Forum (NATF) assembled a first-of-its-kind global, multidisciplinary taskforce of healthcare providers and trainees, communication experts, mental health experts, and patients who have had VTE to help devise patient-centered recommendations for communicating a VTE diagnosis and its consequences in the acute care setting and beyond. Taskforce members were tasked with conceptualizing a clinician-facing tool to convey

  1. the essential information to be communicated to a patient, both at the point of VTE diagnosis and in the weeks to months that follow, and
  2. evidence-based best practices for communicating this information.

Scientific Chairs:

F.A. (Erik) Klok, MD
Department of Medicine – Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Leiden University Medical Center The Netherlands

Erik Klok is a Professor of Medicine and internist vascular medicine specialist at the Leiden University Medical Center. His studies focus on diagnosing and treating venous thrombosis. He has a dedicated focus on evaluating and improving long-term healthcare outcomes in patients with venous thrombosis.

Grégoire Le Gal, MD, PhD
Professor, Division of Hematology of the Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa
Physician, Thrombosis Program, Division of Hematology at Ottawa Hospital
Senior Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Clinical Epidemiology Program
Canada

Professor Le Gal’s primary research interest is the diagnosis and management of venous thromboembolism (VTE), including the clinical diagnosis of VTE, and the derivation and validation of clinical decision rules for VTE. He is a member of the international advisory board of the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, and a reviewer for main general internal medicine and thrombosis Journals. He has been the principal investigator of several multicenter multinational projects on the diagnosis and management of VTE.

Scott Woller, MD
Professor in Research at Intermountain Health
Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine
United States

Dr. Woller’s academic interests reside in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of venous thromboembolic disease. Dr. Woller is a Utah Chapter Governor of the American College of Physicians (Class of 2025). Dr. Woller is Co-Chair for the American College of Chest Physicians Clinical Practice Guideline that addresses antithrombotic therapy for venous thromboembolic disease, and co-chair for the peer review committee of the inaugural AHA/ACC guidelines for the treatment of pulmonary embolism. Dr. Woller is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and attends at the Intermountain Medical Center, Murray UT.

Project Manager & Editorial Chair:

Aviva Schwartz, MA
Director of Education, North American Thrombosis Forum
United States
Aviva oversees the strategic direction of NATF’s educational pipeline and manages the planning, development, and production of NATF’s clinician and patient programming. She is the Editorial Manager for NATF’s Action Initiatives and scientific manuscripts and serves as the Co-Chair of NATF’s Medical Advisory Board.

Research Assistant:

Samarth Mishra, MD Candidate
Medical College of Georgia
United States
Samarth is a second-year medical student at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, GA. His research interests are broad but primarily include patient-centered communication and the prevention of blood clots and cardiovascular disease.

Taskforce Members:

Ana Thereza Rocha, MD, MHS, PhD, FCCP
Associate Professor of the Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) and of the School of Medicine and Public Health of Bahia (EBMSP)
Pulmonary/Critical Care Physician and Master of Health Sciences in Clinical Research – Duke Clinical Research Institute
Brazil / United States
Dr. Rocha is a specialist in pulmonology and critical care medicine and is a researcher in the areas of venous thromboembolism and smoking.

Dieuwke Luijten, MD
PhD Candidate
Department of Medicine; Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Leiden University Medical Center
The Netherlands
Dr. Luijten studied medicine at the University of Leiden (2014-2021), worked as a researcher/PhD candidate at the Thrombosis and Hemostasis Department of the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) from 2021-2024, and is currently working as a pulmonology resident at LUMC. Her research focuses on clinical outcomes after a pulmonary embolism, in particular the prevention of long-term complications and the detection of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.

Jackeline Hernandez-Nino, MD, MS
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine
Atrium Health
Wake Forest School of Medicine
United States
Dr. Hernandez’s areas of research interest include mixed methods research, with a focus on quality of life after VTE, improving healthcare disparities, and the integrated, coordinated care of VTE survivors beyond hospital discharge. 

Jeffrey Habert MD, CCFP, FCFP 
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine     
Canada
Dr. Habert is a Family Physician in Thornhill and has been practicing for the last 35 years.He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is co-editor of Canadian Primary Care Today and a member of the Diabetes Canada: Dissemination & Implementation Committee. Dr. Habert is also one of the co-authors of the recently released 2023 CANMAT MDD Guidelines and the Canadian ASA in Primary Prevention Guidelines. He is the past co-chair of the Thrombosis Canada Clinical Guides.

Julie Bayley, PhD
Patient Representative
United Kingdom
Julie is a vascular patient, having had multiple deep vein thromboses since 2008, with venous stenting finally resolving significant pain and mobility in 2018. She is a Health Psychologist and works in university research.

Kerstin de Wit, MBChB, MD, MSc, MRCP, FRCEM, FRCPC 
Professor in Emergency Medicine, Queen’s University
Canada
Professor de Wit works clinically in Emergency Medicine and Thrombosis Medicine. She is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Emergency Venous Thromboembolism and leads a program of research to improve the emergency diagnosis and management of pulmonary embolism and intracranial bleeding.

Liesbeth van Vliet, PhD
Assistant Professor, Leiden University
The Netherlands
Dr. van Vliet’s research focuses on how communication can help and harm when patients are confronted with a serious illness.

Nancy Mburu
Patient Representative
Logistics Expert
Kenya
I have worked in administrative roles and finance and am currently settled in logistics. I love how dynamic it is and how a new day can come with new sets of challenges in which yesterday’s answers will not work. 

I’m happy to have survived a pulmonary embolism at the age of 43, and three years later, I’m still going strong. That experience taught me how resilient I can be if I put my mind to it. It has made me live today as if it’s my last day. I am honored to be part of this work.

Pantep Angchaisuksiri, MD
Professor of Medicine at the Department of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University
Thailand
Dr. Pantep Angchaisuksiri is a Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Hemostasis and Thrombosis Unit in the Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, at Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. He is the President of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH).

Parham Sadeghipour, MD, FAHA, FESC
Interventional Cardiologist
Professor of Cardiology
Head of Vascular Disease and Thrombosis Research Center, Rajaie Cardiovascular Institute, Tehran
Iran
Dr. Sadeghipour is an interventional cardiologist dedicated to peripheral and aortic diseases intervention. Research interests include venous thromboembolism, aortic disease, aortic coarctation, and prosthetic valve thrombosis.

Rosa Talerico, MD
PhD Candidate
Internist, Department of Geriatric, Orthopedic, and Rheumatologic Sciences,
Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Italy
Dr. Talerico is an internist and a final-year PhD student at the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli in Rome. Her research interests include prevention, diagnosis and treatment of venous thromboembolism. Recently, her clinical interest is focusing intensely on the management of splanchnic venous thrombosis.

Professor Simon Noble
Professor of Supportive Oncology
Cardiff University
United Kingdom
Professor Noble is a clinician and runs the  South East Wales Cancer-Associated Thrombosis (CAT) service seeing 400 new patients per year. He has published extensively on patient experience and quality of life associated with CAT.

Toby Richards, MD, FRCS, FRACS, DipPOM
Professor of Surgery, University of East London
Hon. Professor Institute of Clinic Trials and Methodology UCL
Hon. Professor Department of Anaesthesia & Perioperative Medicine Monash University
Australia / United Kingdom
Toby Richards is a Clinical Academic. Dual-trained both in the UK and Australia, he is a practicing vascular surgeon specializing in the management of complex venous disease and deep venous thrombosis. He leads an international program of medical research and has led more than 45 clinical trials and supervised more than 15 PhD students. His team is a regular contributor to the scientific literature with over 250 publications. He is particularly interested in evidence-based practice and the patient voice in research.