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Edda Tschernko takes up professorial chair at MedUni Vienna

Chair in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine with emphasis on Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery
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(Vienna, 01 April 2020) Edda Tschernko, Deputy Head of the Division of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna is taking over the professorial Chair for Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine as of 01 April 2020.

Tschernko's research work focuses on the protective ventilation of intensive care patients with respiratory limitations such as ARDS and COPD and protective ventilation strategies for intensive care patients on mechanical ventilation with no pre-existing lung disease following cardiac surgery. In addition to this, she is a member of the Steering Committee of the international PRoVENT (Practice of Ventialtion in critically ill patients without ARDS) Study Group.

Her other research interests include animal-experimental studies on the penetration of antibiotics into lung tissue, including comparison of the antibiotic concentration in healthy tissue versus the concentration in ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) lung tissue  by means of micro-dialysis measurements and chemical analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples. These studies aim to determine new approaches for adequate dosage of antibiotics in the critically ill patient. She is working on this project with colleagues from the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and the Biomedical Center of the Medical University of Vienna.

Tschernko’s other stated research objectives are to expand research into unilateral ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) in an animal model (drug testing via distribution patterns and efficacy in the healthy versus pathological lung on the same model) and outcome-based science in intensive care medicine with the emphasis on quality-of-life following a prolonged stay in intensive care with determination of measurable predictors for a favourable prognosis in terms of quality-of-life following an extended period of intensive care stay.

As far as teaching is concerned, Edda Tschernko favours the increased use of modern, practice-oriented forms of education for students by means of simulation (SIM training group of the CTV Division) and closer links with basic research in postgraduate training. Here she is also keen to encourage a critical approach to recent publications for implementation in daily clinical practice.

About Edda Tschernko
Edda Tschernko studied medicine at Leopold Franzens University in Innsbruck, where she started her specialist training (general anaesthesia and intensive care medicine, minor subject surgery), which she subsequently completed at the University of Vienna. From 1996 until 1998, she spent an Erwin Schrödinger scholarship at the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine of Loyola University, Chicago, USA (focusing on breathing mechanics in COPD). On her return, she worked as a supervisor (consultant Senior Doctor) at the Division of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia & Intensive Care Medicine, gaining her postdoctoral qualification in anaesthesiology & intensive care medicine in 1999. Since 2007, Tschernko has been Deputy Head of the Division of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at MedUni Vienna's Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine.