Prof. Yves Cottin

Professor Yves Cottin is Head of the Cardiology Department (Chef du Service de Cardiologie) at CHU Dijon Bourgogne — the principal university hospital of the Burgundy region and one of France's leading academic medical centres. With more than 28 years of specialist practice, he has established himself as one of France's foremost academic cardiologists, with particular distinction in the management of acute coronary syndromes (ACS), heart failure, and cardiac rehabilitation.

Prof. Cottin's career has been defined by his commitment to combining high-quality clinical care with rigorous outcomes research. He is the creator and scientific director of the RICO (obseRvatoire des Infarctus de Côte-d'Or) registry — a prospective registry of all patients hospitalised for acute myocardial infarction in the Côte-d'Or department of Burgundy. Running continuously since the 1990s, RICO has become one of France's most important sources of real-world data on heart attack management and outcomes, capturing changes in practice, patient characteristics, and survival over more than two decades. The registry's findings have been published in leading cardiology journals and have contributed directly to French and ESC guideline development.

At CHU Dijon Bourgogne, Prof. Cottin leads a comprehensive cardiology service with 24/7 primary PCI capability for STEMI patients across the Burgundy region. His department manages the acute phase of heart attacks, the transition to cardiac rehabilitation, and long-term secondary prevention — providing a continuum of care that he has shown, through his research, to significantly improve patient survival and quality of life. He also runs a dedicated heart failure clinic and an atrial fibrillation management programme.

Prof. Cottin is a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC) and an active member of the SFC Heart Failure Working Group. He participates regularly in SFC and ESC annual congresses and is a sought-after collaborator for multicentre French and European ACS research.

Prof. Yves Cottin completed his medical studies at a French Faculty of Medicine, qualifying as Docteur en Médecine and subsequently earning his Doctorat ès Sciences (PhD) through research focused on the epidemiology and outcomes of acute myocardial infarction — the scientific genesis of what would become the RICO registry. He undertook his specialist training (Internat de Cardiologie) within the Burgundy regional hospital system, gaining broad clinical experience across the spectrum of cardiovascular disease before subspecialising in interventional cardiology and heart failure.

He was appointed Professeur des Universités – Praticien Hospitalier (PU-PH) in Cardiologie at the Université de Bourgogne — the highest academic-clinical appointment in the French hospital-university system — in recognition of his dual excellence in clinical cardiology and cardiovascular epidemiology research. This appointment represents the summit of the French academic medical career pathway and reflects the sustained quality of his research, teaching, and clinical service.

Prof. Cottin holds Fellowship of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC), awarded in recognition of his contribution to European cardiovascular medicine through research, guideline development, and clinical excellence. He has been a member of the SFC's executive committees and working groups for heart failure and acute coronary syndromes and contributes to training and curriculum development for French cardiology specialty trainees.

Prof. Cottin's clinical expertise centres on the acute and long-term management of coronary artery disease, with specific mastery of the interventional management of acute myocardial infarction. CHU Dijon Bourgogne's cardiology department, under his leadership, operates a 24/7 primary PCI service for the Burgundy region, and Prof. Cottin is experienced in all aspects of primary PCI for STEMI — including emergency coronary angiography, aspiration thrombectomy, and drug-eluting stent implantation — as well as the management of cardiogenic shock complicating acute MI.

In heart failure, he runs a dedicated outpatient clinic for the comprehensive management of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), incorporating guideline-directed medical therapy optimisation, device therapy referral (for ICD and CRT patients), and heart failure education programmes. He is experienced in cardiac MRI interpretation, which he integrates into the assessment of cardiomyopathy aetiology and myocardial viability evaluation.

Cardiac rehabilitation is a major clinical and research focus. Prof. Cottin's department runs a structured cardiac rehabilitation programme for post-MI and post-cardiac surgery patients, integrating supervised exercise training, cardiovascular risk factor management, psychological support, and patient education. His research has repeatedly demonstrated the survival and quality-of-life benefits of participation in cardiac rehabilitation, contributing to increased uptake of this evidence-based intervention in France.

Prof. Cottin's most important research contribution is the RICO registry (obseRvatoire des Infarctus de Côte-d'Or), which he created and has directed for over two decades. This prospective, population-based registry has enrolled thousands of consecutive patients hospitalised with acute myocardial infarction in the Côte-d'Or department of Burgundy, providing longitudinal data on temporal trends in infarct management, patient demographics, treatment quality, and outcomes. RICO data have been published in journals including the European Heart Journal, Heart, and the International Journal of Cardiology, and have been cited in ESC and French guidelines for ACS management.

His research on cardiac rehabilitation has demonstrated that participation in structured rehabilitation programmes after acute MI is associated with a significant reduction in all-cause and cardiovascular mortality — findings that have been published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology and have contributed to French national recommendations on cardiac rehabilitation programme access and referral.

With more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, Prof. Cottin is one of Burgundy's most prolific cardiovascular researchers. He has received the Prix de Recherche of the Société Française de Cardiologie for outstanding scientific contribution, and is a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC). He collaborates with the ESC Heart Failure Association on registry harmonisation and outcome standardisation initiatives across European countries.

CHU Dijon Bourgogne is the principal academic hospital of the Burgundy region, conveniently located on the Paris–Lyon TGV high-speed rail line — making it easily accessible from Paris (approximately 1.5 hours), Lyon (approximately 1 hour), and international airports at both cities. International patients seeking specialist cardiology care for acute coronary syndrome management, heart failure treatment, or cardiac rehabilitation are welcome.

For elective international referrals, prior cardiology investigations including echocardiography reports, cardiac MRI, stress test results, and coronary angiography images can be shared in advance for remote review by Prof. Cottin's team. The CHU Dijon Bourgogne international patient services office coordinates appointment scheduling and can assist with medical documentation and insurance liaison. Consultations are conducted in French and English. For heart failure patients requiring ongoing follow-up, telecardiology and video consultation pathways can be established in coordination with referring cardiologists in the patient's home country.

Prof. Yves Cottin has received the Prix de Recherche of the Société Française de Cardiologie (SFC), the French Cardiac Society's research prize, in recognition of the scientific quality and clinical impact of his work on acute coronary syndrome epidemiology and cardiac rehabilitation outcomes. He is a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC), a distinction awarded to cardiologists who demonstrate outstanding contribution to the field.

His RICO registry is recognised nationally by the SFC and the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) as a model for regional cardiovascular quality surveillance, and has been cited in ESC Clinical Practice Guidelines for ST-elevation myocardial infarction. He serves on the editorial board of cardiovascular journals and is a peer reviewer for the European Heart Journal and Circulation. Prof. Cottin is regularly invited to present the RICO registry findings at SFC annual meetings, ESC Congresses, and international cardiology symposia, cementing his reputation as France's leading voice in real-world ACS outcomes research.