Physicians and Faculty
Robert E. Michler, MD, Chairman
Robert E. Michler, MD, earned his international reputation as a leading cardiothoracic surgeon and researcher across a number of subspecialties, including complex cardiac surgery, heart transplantation, valve repair surgery, ventricular reconstruction for congestive heart failure and minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Of particular note, Dr. Michler was one of the first to perform minimally invasive and robotic surgery in heart patients. His pivotal work in robotics led to FDA approval of this advanced technology for mitral valve repair and coronary artery bypass surgery. And as the lead investigator in groundbreaking FDA trials, he is pioneering the safe use of injections of autologous human muscle cells and stem cells into diseased heart muscle to treat heart failure.
In his role as professor and university chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Dr. Michler applies his dynamic leadership to expand Montefiore-Einstein's role at the forefront of surgical innovation. As he expresses it, "We are living in a time of enormous promise and new treatment breakthroughs for patients with heart disease. My goal is to build on the rich legacy and renowned expertise at Montefiore and Albert Einstein by assembling an unparalleled team of specialists who provide cutting-edge treatment to our patients." Dr. Michler's vision for the future includes developing new surgical approaches that re-define "state-of-the-art" care through heart remodeling, surgery for valve repair and treatment of atrial fibrillation, minimally invasive and robotic surgery, heart-assist devices and heart transplants, stem cell research and myoblast injections.
Dr. Michler is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University and received his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School, where he was a Leopold Schepp Scholar. He completed both his residency in general surgery, his fellowships in cardiothoracic surgery and transplantation at Columbia University, and was chief resident in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. Michler was a tenured associate professor of Surgery at Columbia University and the director of Cardiac Transplantation at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. Most recently, Dr. Michler was the John G. and Jeanne B. McCoy chair and chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Ohio State University, where he was instrumental in building the Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital and served as its first executive director.
