(Vienna, 15 July 2026) At the start of July, Sigrid Sandner will take up a professorship in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine (§ 99 (4)). The Medical University of Vienna is thus appointing an internationally recognised cardiac surgeon and researcher whose work has played a key role in shaping the further development of coronary bypass surgery in recent years. As Head of the Coronary Surgery Programme at the Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Aortic Surgery at MedUni Vienna, she combines cutting-edge clinical medicine with internationally recognised research and the development of evidence-based treatment standards.
After completing her medical degree at MedUni Vienna, Sigrid Sandner undertook a research fellowship lasting several years at Harvard Medical School in Boston and subsequently specialised in cardiac and vascular surgery. In addition to her clinical training, she obtained a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from Cornell University in New York. Today, she is one of the world’s leading academic cardiac surgeons in the field of coronary surgery. Alongside her professorship at MedUni Vienna, she is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine. Furthermore, she holds leading positions in international professional societies, including the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). Since 2026, she has also been an Associate Editor of the journal Circulation, one of the world’s most renowned journals in cardiovascular medicine.
Sigrid Sandner’s research focuses on improving long-term outcomes following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). She has gained international recognition in particular for her work on antithrombotic therapy following bypass surgery. Her research has made a significant contribution to establishing the scientific basis for modern strategies in secondary prevention following CABG. Building on this work, she led the ESC/EACTS Clinical Consensus Statement on antithrombotic therapy following CABG, as well as the AHA Scientific Statement on secondary prevention following CABG, thereby playing a leading role in shaping international treatment guidelines.
Another focus of her research is the further development of coronary bypass surgery. In this context, she investigates strategies to improve long-term outcomes following bypass surgery, the optimisation of arterial bypass techniques, minimally invasive and hybrid revascularisation procedures, and the causes of differing treatment outcomes between women and men. As Principal Investigator of several international randomised trials – including TiCAB, ROMA: Women, ODIN, PRINCE and SMARTFLOW – she is working with research partners in Europe and North America to develop new evidence-based treatment strategies for patients with coronary heart disease.
As Head of the Coronary Surgery Programme, Sandner aims to further establish Vienna as one of the world’s leading centres for science-driven coronary surgery. Already today, more than 80 per cent of the programme’s patients are being cared for as part of prospective registries or randomised clinical trials. As a result, scientific questions arise directly from clinical practice and feed into research, and new findings can be rapidly translated into patient care.
Teaching and the promotion of early-career researchers are a central part of her academic work. Sandner is actively involved in the training of students and doctors at MedUni Vienna, as well as in international continuing professional development programmes. She is Course Director of the STS CABG Academy, a faculty member of the EACTS Academy and, through her professorship at Weill Cornell Medicine, supervises early-career researchers in the Master’s programme in Clinical Epidemiology.