ESO Spirit of Excellence awards

The winners of the Spirit of Excellence Award 2024 were announced during a live event at ESOC 2024. Scroll down to meet the winners and nominees who were recognized for their commitment to stroke care excellence and for their outstanding contributions to raising the standard of treatment in their hospitals and communities. 

spirit of excellence awards

SPIRIT OF EXCELLENCE WINNERS AND NOMINEES 2024

Safouris Apostolos
APOSTOLOS SAFOURIS

Dr Safouris is supervising neurologist in the ESO-accredited Stroke Unit of Metropolitan Hospital in Piraeus, Greece, a member of the ESO Stroke Unit Accreditation Committee and an advocate for ESO certification. He is developing, with the University of Ioannina, a mobile app for mapping thrombolysis and thrombectomy centers in Greece. 

Joaquin Garcia
JOAQUÍN GARCÍA

Dr García is chief of nurses in the stroke unit of University Hospital Torrecardenas in Almeria. He has provided leadership in standardising stroke nursing care, pioneered a protocol for treating at CT in his hospital, trained all hospitals in his region in dysphagia screening protocols, and is a vocal advocate for quality monitoring.

Paweł Wrona
PAWEŁ WRONA

Dr Wrona is extremely active in improving stroke care, not only in his own region, Małopolskie, but also elsewhere in Poland. He enthusiastically supports the FAST Heroes campaign, advocates for quality monitoring and RES-Q, and is actively involved in stroke education and generating an interest in stroke among future doctors. 

Yurii Cherednychenko
YURIY CHEREDNYCHENKO

Dr Cherednychenko is an interventional neuroradiologist at Mechnykov Dnipro Regional Hospital, Ukraine. Thanks to him there are more than 30 specialists working across the country who began their journey under his guidance. He is also an internationally renowned expert in endovascular medicine, and a pioneer in combat trauma and stroke.

SOE Nominations - Lithuanian Neurologists
TEAM OF NEUROLOGISTS

Assoc. prof. Aleksandras Vilionskis and Profs. Vaidas Matijosaitis, Antanas Vaitkus and Dalius Jatužis play a crucial role in stroke care development in Lithuania, including through education and promoting quality monitoring. They share best practices and promote simulation-based learning among countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Anita Arsovska
ANITA ARSOVSKA

Prof. Arsovska is head of the department for emergency neurology at the University Clinic of Neurology and professor at University “Ss Cyril and Methodius” Faculty of Medicine in Skopje. She has been working on implementing the Atroke Action Plan in her country, promoting stroke prevention and raising stroke awareness. 

Dániel Bereczki
DÁNIEL BERECZKI

Prof. Bereczki, a past president of the Hungarian Stroke Society, is head of the Neurology Clinic in Semmelweis University in Budapest, as well as national RES-Q coordinator. His legacy includes leading the development of a stroke network in central Hungary involving more than 10 stroke centers and the national ambulance services. 

Hrvoje Budincevic
HRVOJE BUDINČEVIĆ

Assist. Prof. Budinčević, a specialist in intensive care and cerebrovascular diseases, is deputy head of neurology and head of the stroke and intensive care unit at Sveti Duh University Hospital in Zagreb. A recognised leader in stroke development, especially in the field of quality monitoring, he shares his expertise throughout the country.

Matteo Rovera
MATTEO ROVERA

Dr Rovera is an 118 EMS doctor at the Ospedale Maggiore della Carita, in Novara, Italy. In 2022, he was appointed as ASLS instructor, a role he embraced with passion, becoming the coordinator of the first national ASLS team. He has created an online stroke course for volunteers which lead to 1000+ people being trained in only 3 months.

Michal Bar
MICHAL BAR

Prof. Bar is his country’s leading strokologist and a key member of the Cerebrovascular section and the Angels Steering Committee. As a direct result of his work, 33 Czech stroke centers received ESO stroke unit certification in 2022. He has co-created the FAST PLUS scale for predicting LVOs and promoted its nation-wide implementation.

Nicolás Lopez
NICOLÁS LÓPEZ

Dr López’s commitment to improving outcomes for stroke patients goes beyond his hospital, the Doctor Balmis General University Hospital in Alicante. His tireless work impacting the entire Valencian Community includes development of the CODICT App, which promotes the importance of quality monitoring among the region’s hospitals. 

Rositsa Krasteva
ROSITA KRASTEVA

Dr Krasteva of UMHAT Medika - Russe is a member of the working group for the development of the National Stroke Action Plan 2030, a member of the Bulgarian lytics advisory board, and a member of the executive board of the Bulgarian Medical Association - Ruse branch. She is an avid and warm advocate of the Angels Initiative in Bulgaria.

Silvia Nica
SILVIA NICA

Dr Nica is en emergency physician and chief of the emergency room at the University Emergency Hospital Bucharest, one of Romania’s biggest and most crowded hospitals. An important Angels collaborator, she has been involved in the majority of prehospital trainings in Bucharest, and passionately shares her knowledge as an ASLS trainer.

Zdravka Poljakovic
ZDRAVKA POLJAKOVIĆ

Prof. Poljaković is head of the department of intensive care and cerebrovascular diseases at University Hospital Zagreb, and president of the Croatian Neurological Society. She founded and leads the Reference Center for Intensive Neurology and Endovascular Treatment of Brain Stroke and Vascular Malformations of the Ministry of Health.

Spirit of Excellence Award Winners and Nominees 2023

The winners of the Spirit of Excellence Award 2023 were announced during a live event at ESOC 2023. Meet the winners and nominees recognized for their commitment to stroke care excellence and for their outstanding contributions to raising the standard of treatment in their hospitals and communities. Read more

Spirit of Excellence Award Winners and Nominees 2022

The winners of the Spirit of Excellence Award 2022 were announced during a live event at ESOC 2022. Meet the winners and nominees recognized for their commitment to stroke care excellence and for their outstanding contributions to raising the standard of treatment in their hospitals and communities. Read more

Spirit of Excellence Award Winners and Nominees 2021

The winners of the Spirit of Excellence Award 2021 were announced during a live event at ESOC 2021. Watch the video or scroll down to meet the winners and nominees recognized for their commitment to stroke care excellence and for their outstanding contributions to raising the standard of treatment in their hospitals and communities. Read more

Spirit of Excellence Award Winners and Nominees 2020

In 2020, 20 healthcare professionals from all over Europe were nominated for the Spirit of Excellence Award. Among the nominees there were many outstanding neurologists of course, but there was also a paramedic and two exceptional nurses. Read more

Spirit of Excellence Award Winners 2019

Among the exceptional people whom we honoured in 2019 was a patient and his wife who had served as our inspiration and reminded us of what we were fighting for. Read more

Spirit of Excellence Award Winners 2018

The 2018 winners of the Spirit of Excellence Award demonstrated how our project had grown: These heroes without capes came from Slovakia, Romania, Italy, Spain and Ukraine. Read more

Spirit of Excellence Award Winners 2017

The Spirit of Excellence Award was launched in 2017 to honour members of the Angels community for exceptional contributions to stroke care. Read More

Honours wall

The Angels Initiative is proud to honour the winners of the ESO and WSO Angels Awards, the EMS Angels Awards and the Spirit of Excellence Awards.