(Vienna, 02 February 2026) Philipp Emanuel Bartko took up the professorship for Structural Heart Disease (§ 99 - 1) at the Medical University of Vienna on 1 February 2026. This professorship addresses a highly innovative and dynamically growing field of cardiology that focused on the diagnosis and treatment of structural heart diseases, particularly heart valve disease.
Structural heart disease, a central group of conditions in cardiovascular medicine increasingly requires individualised, often minimally invasive treatment concepts. State-of-the-art care is based on close collaboration of conservative, interventional and surgical treatment strategies, as well as highly specialized cardiovascular imaging and risk stratification.
At the Department of Medicine II, Philipp Bartko directs the structural heart disease program as well as the structural heart intervention program. In this role, he is centrally involved in diagnostic evaluation, interdisciplinary treatment planning and the development of transcatheter-based treatment concepts. Collaboration within the Comprehensive Centre for Cardiovascular Medicine (CCVM) plays a key role, particularly in coordinating clinical care, research, and academic teaching. Collaborative decision-making is further pursued in the "Heart Team", involving cardiology, cardiac surgery, anaesthesia, radiology, vascular surgery and angiology, in order to develop individual therapeutic concepts. This interdisciplinary collaboration has enabled several novel interventional procedures to be jointly developed, implemented and clinically established. Consequently, the Medical University of Vienna has gained a paramount role in driving innovation in the field of structural heart disease, both nationally and internationally. The procedures implemented include transfemoral tricuspid and mitral valve implantation and leaflet modification procedures.
One of the main areas of focus of the professorship is transcatheter-based valve interventions, including transcatheter valve implantations. The scope of work includes, in particular, complex and high-risk interventions, combined procedures and the treatment of patients with advanced structural heart disease. These procedures are performed in a state-of-the-art hybrid operating theatre.
Philipp Bartko places particular emphasis on teaching at the Medical University of Vienna and on mentoring medical students, PhD students and colleagues in training. In addition, an international fellowship program in the field of structural interventions has been established.
After completing his medical studies and PhD program in vascular biology, Philipp Bartko completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital (Advanced Valve Disease Research Fellowship, Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship).
In his research and teaching, Bartko focuses on the pathophysiology, quantification and prognosis of structural heart disease, as well as the further development of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. The professorship thus contributes to the further development of a central field of innovation in cardiovascular medicine at the Medical University of Vienna.