(Paris/Vienna, 14 April 2025) Daniel Zimpfer, Professor of Cardiac Surgery and Head of the Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Aortic Surgery at MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna, has been awarded the 2025 EACTS Innovation Grant Award by the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. The basis for this award is the development of a novel artificial heart – the so-called ShuttlePump.
This artificial heart was developed at MedUni Vienna's Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Aortic Surgery to close a central gap in the treatment of patients with bilateral heart failure. Previous systems were often too large, could not be used permanently or had insufficient haemocompatibility. The ShuttlePump offers an innovative solution: it works in a pulsating manner with only one moving, contactlessly operated piston and does not require any valves. This allows it to support both the body and lung circulation simultaneously.
Zimpfer developed the project together with Marcus Granegger and Krishnaraj Narayanaswamy (also from the University Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Aortic Surgery at MedUni Vienna) and in collaboration with the Charité – University Hospital Berlin and ETH Zurich. Initial tests have confirmed the feasibility of the concept. "With the help of the EACTS Innovation Grant, we now want to develop a fully functional prototype and further investigate the haemocompatibility of the ShuttlePump," says Daniel Zimpfer.
About the person
Daniel Zimpfer studied medicine in Vienna and completed his specialist training in cardiac surgery and vascular surgery at MedUni Vienna. He holds an MBA in Health Care Management (Vienna University of Economics and Business) and completed a postgraduate course at Harvard Medical School. In 2012, he took over as head of the mechanical circulatory support programme and, since 2014, he has headed the surgery for congenital heart defects. In 2019, he took up the professorship for paediatric heart surgery at MedUni Vienna. In 2022, he accepted a professorship and department head position for cardiac surgery at Med Uni Graz and returned to MedUni Vienna in 2024, where he took up the professorship for cardiac surgery (§98) and the management of the University Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Aortic Surgery. Zimpfer is a member of numerous national and international professional associations and guideline committees, and is Chair of the EACTS Heart Failure Taskforce.