Draft:Borut Geršak

BORUT GERŠAK (born 1960), cardiac surgeon, department head since 2006

Early years and education
Borut Geršak (born 1960), a cardiac surgeon first studied nuclear physics at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (in Cambridge, MA), but soon changed his mind and continued his studies at the Ljubljana Medical Faculty, from which he graduated in 1985. Three years later, he received his master’s degree and became a specialist surgeon in 1991. He received his doctorate in 1994. Since 2006, he has been the head of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the UMC. Geršak initially taught lab classes in first aid and cardiovascular surgery as an assistant instructor at the Medical Faculty; later he began teaching cardiovascular surgery, initially as an assistant professor and subsequently as an associate and full professor. His students were enthusiastic about his contemporary approach, and in 2003 he received the Božidar Lavrič Award for best instructor. Even during his studies he focused on research and carried out two cardiac research projects. At the beginning of his career, he cooperated with the Jožef Stefan Institute and helped develop a multi-channel ECG. Later, he began working with the institutes of biology, anatomy, and pharmacology, where he continued his interdisciplinary research. He heads and participates in many Slovenian and international projects on cardiac rhythm disorders.

Career
Geršak’s work represents a great contribution to cardiac surgery in Slovenia and the international environment. He introduced heart-valve surgery on a beating heart, and was the first in Slovenia and among the first in the world to perform marginal artery bypass surgery on a beating heart without cardiopulmonary bypass in 1997. In 1999, he revived and further developed the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation. However, his efforts in minimally invasive procedures are of major importance. He introduced the first endoscopic aortic and tricuspid valve surgeries on a beating heart, which he demonstrated in many European countries and in the US. In recent years, Geršak has focused on the surgical treatment of terminal heart failure and the use of mechanical heart support, the use of biological heart valves and tissue engineering, and the use of computer technology in cardiovascular surgery. Geršak is one of the coordinators of the European project Augmented Reality in Surgery, in which he is responsible for the clinical application of robots in surgery. Geršak has presented his professional achievements and findings in many articles, especially in international journals (see the bibliography in the appendix). He is a member of the editorial boards of several international journals, such as the Brazilian Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery and Interactive CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery. In 2007, one of the world’s leading journals on cardiovascular surgery, The Heart Surgery Forum, appointed him an assistant editor. He was also one of the founders of the Slovenian Surgeons’ Association and has served as a member of many international surgical societies and associations. In 2004, he organized a congress of the European Association of Cardiovascular Surgery in Ljubljana, during which leading surgeons from Europe and elsewhere performed surgeries in Ljubljana, including Ricardo Lima (Brazil), Claudio Muneretto, Giovanni Deriu (Italy), Stephan Shueler (UK), and Edouard Kieffer and Olivier Jegaden (France). In 2007, he was named personality of the year by the Slovenian newspaper Delo, which demonstrates that the importance of his work has become well known to the general public and that he is pursuing the right mission.