(Vienna, 6 August 2026) Thomas Staudinger took up a professorship in the field of intensive care medicine (§99/4) at the beginning of August. In terms of content, his work focuses on clinical research into severe lung failure and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), as well as the care of critically ill patients with haematological and oncological conditions. Furthermore, the professorship focuses on the academic representation and further development of the specialist field of "Intensive Care Medicine" within the Department of Medicine I, in the areas of research, teaching and training.
As a specialised field of internal medicine, intensive care medicine had not previously been academically represented at the Medical University of Vienna. The specialised field of "intensive care medicine" is a crucial common denominator across all internal medicine disciplines; modern internal medicine is no longer conceivable today without intensive care medicine. Not least, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the high importance and necessity of intensive care. Internal medicine intensive care is set to benefit greatly from increased coordination and consolidation of research and teaching agendas, as well as national and international networking. The professorship is intended to strengthen the link between internal medicine intensive care, the specialist fields within internal medicine, the basic research institutes, and also the academically established discipline of "Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine", in order to further consolidate MedUni Vienna’s position as an internationally recognised centre for highly competent, innovative intensive care and research.
Furthermore, "Internal Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine" is to be better and more clearly reflected in teaching and training, thereby enhancing the discipline’s appeal both internally and in the public eye. The demand for intensive care is increasing in many areas of medicine, becoming more complex and requiring significant resources; consequently, MedUni Vienna’s responsibility to provide students and doctors with the best possible training, to motivate them and to prepare them for the challenges of everyday professional life must be fulfilled and developed in the best possible way.
About the person
Thomas Staudinger obtained his PhD from what was then the Faculty of Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna and completed his training at University Hospital Vienna, Department of Medicine I, as a specialist in internal medicine and intensive care medicine. His habilitation thesis (2001) was entitled: "Problems and prognosis in critically ill haematological and oncological patients".
He has headed the Intensive Care Unit at the Department of Medicine I since 2012, and since last year has served as the department’s second deputy director. The research activities of Thomas Staudinger’s research group are reflected in numerous publications, as well as in participation in international studies and research groups, in some cases as principal investigator. A key feature of his teaching is the practice-oriented elective course in internal intensive care medicine, which has been established for many years.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Thomas Staudinger was one of the media "faces" of intensive care medicine, shedding light on the gravity of the situation, the reality of patient care and the associated social implications in a way that was accessible to the general public and grounded in scientific evidence. For this role, he was honoured as "Personality of the Year" on behalf of MedUni Vienna at the "Superbrands Gala". The jury recognised Staudinger’s role as a "COVID-19 explainer" and role model.
Thomas Staudinger holds several positions within national and international scientific societies. Since 2021, he has been President of the Austrian Society for Internal and General Intensive Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine (ÖGIAIN). For several years now, he has been responsible for organising Austria’s largest congress dedicated solely to intensive care medicine, the Vienna Intensive Care Medicine Days, which take place annually in February at the Lecture Centre of University Hospital Vienna.