Maria Hayes RGN, BNS, MSc (Clinical Practice), MSc (Advanced Practice), RANP, RNP, RNR (Rad), FFNMRCSI, Honorary Teaching Associate RCSI, FHFA, AFIPC, FESC. Maria works as a registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Cardiac Surgery at Blackrock Clinic Dublin and as an Assistant Professor of Nursing at University College Dublin. She is past president of the Irish Nurses Cardiovascular Association (INCA). She was previously the European Nurse advisor on the study group on Valvular Heart Disease. She is a current member of the ACNAP Education Committee and task force. She is a committee member of CONNECT Cardiac Surgery International Nursing & Allied Professional Research Network. She was awarded the FFNMRCSI Fellowship of the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery RCSI; the Fellowship of the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure Association, and the Fellowship of the European Society of Cardiology.