ISMICS Annual Awards

Drawing on over 30 years of clinical and teaching experience, Dr. Hartmuth Bittner treats patients at the Lafayette, Indiana, practice Cardiac Surgery Associates S.C. Additionally, he has served as associate professor of surgery at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center since 2019. Dr. Hartmuth Bittner is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery (ISMICS).

Formed by the participants in the 1997 World Congress of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery held in Paris, France, the society unites surgical centers and doctors supporting the advancement of less-invasive methods of heart surgery around the globe. Besides offering its members many networking and educational opportunities, the organization presents multiple annual awards, including the following three:

The Cardiac Robotic Investigator Award
Selected and announced at the ISMICS Scientific Annual Meeting, this award recognizes the best abstract about robotic cardiac surgery. Awardees receive a monetary prize to cover their travel expenses to the meeting and a one-week fellowship at the Robotic Cardiac Surgery Program at the University of Chicago Medicine, where they can observe and train for the case. The Cardiac Robotic Investigator Award is available thanks to a donation by a grateful patient and seeks to enhance robotic cardiac research and training.

Young Investigator Award
Eligible contestants include fellows and young surgeons with less than five years of clinical experience. Members of the ISMICS Program Committee evaluate papers presented during ISMICS Scientific Annual Meeting. Only abstracts that the Committee has reviewed and accepted for an eight-minute oral presentation continue to the final round.

The Gründeman Scientific Research Award
Named after former ISMICS secretary Paul F. Gründeman, MD, PhD, the organization has been granting this award for research or early innovations related to minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery (MICS) since 2018. ISMICS looks for research with a solid concept and applicability to MICS, which also meets a clinical need and is feasible for introduction in clinical practice. Both research into new techniques or applying MICS to existing procedures are eligible.