A top surgeon at Germany’s largest congenital heart disease surgery center has been recruited to join Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Dr. Viktor Hraska will help lead Children’s Hospital’s Herma Heart Center and serve as the division chief of Congenital Heart Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Hraska will also be a professor of surgery at the medical college.
“Viktor’s hiring is additional confirmation that we’re a lead heart center, not only nationally but internationally,” said Dr. Peter Frommelt, interim chair of the Herma Heart Center. “To be able to attract someone of his quality and reputation is a real feather in our cap.”
Frommelt said Hraska is expected to start at Children’s this summer.
Hraska is surgeon-in-chief at the German Pediatric Heart Center in Sankt Augustin, Germany. In addition, he is currently the congenital heart disease chair of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery.
“We are extremely pleased that a world-renowned pediatric cardiovascular surgeon, researcher and educator such as Dr. Hraska is joining our outstanding team at MCW,” said Dr. Joseph Kerschner, dean of the school of medicine and executive vice president of MCW. “His indisputable talents and expertise will accentuate the excellence that defines our top-tier national pediatric cardiovascular program.”
Children’s Hospital’s Herma Heart Center is ranked the fifth-best pediatric cardiology and heart surgery program in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.
“The Herma Heart Center team has led groundbreaking work that has produced some of the best outcomes in the world for pediatric heart surgery,” said Peggy Troy, president and CEO of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. “With Dr. Hraska’s talents and leadership added to those of our entire Herma Heart Center team, Children’s will continue to provide cutting-edge and sought-after procedures that few hospitals in the country can.”
