(Vienna, 05 December 2017) Wolf-Dieter-Baumgartner, expert in hearing implants at the Department of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases of MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital, has been elected President of the HEARRING Group, an international network of 30 University ENT departments, who collaborate in the field of research and development of treatment methods.
Wolf-Dieter Baumgartner's specialist field is hearing implants, in particular cochlear implants. In his function as President of HEARRING, he wants to intensify scientific collaboration between departments. Major themes are the genetic bases underlying hearing disorders (approx. 110 genes have been identified so far), as well as the combination of growth factors and surgical implants. Another area of interest is micro-robotics, that is to say atraumatic preservation of residual hearing by implanting thin, 0.2-mm intracochlear electrodes using micro-robotics.
The next meeting of all thirty ENT departments will take place in Vienna in the autumn of 2018.
About Wolf-Dieter Baumgartner
Wolf-Dieter Baumgartner was born in Vienna in 1967 and is a specialist in ear nose and throat diseases and executive Senior Doctor at the Department of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases of MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital (Head: Wolfgang Gstöttner). He has worked at the Vienna department since 1992. He has held a chair in otology and cochlear implants at the Karolinska University Stockholm since May 2012. He is visiting lecturer at Rudolfinerhaus University Campus Vienna and a member of the university division of Vienna Medical Association. He has published 115 original papers, has more than 750 other publications to his name and has already given more than 1,200 lectures in Austria and abroad.