Robert E. Michler, MD, has served as the Surgeon-in-Chief of the Montefiore Medical Center since 2008. He is Chairman of the Department of Surgery (2007) and Chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery (2005) at the Montefiore Medical Center. Dr. Michler holds the Samuel I. Belkin Chair and is Professor with Tenure at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Dr. Michler is an internationally renowned cardiothoracic surgeon and researcher. He is a highly sought after surgeon and known leader in several surgical specialties, including complex multiprocedural cardiac surgery, mitral and aortic valve repair surgery, surgery for congestive heart failure, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, and heart transplantation. 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 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of this advanced technology for mitral valve repair and coronary artery bypass surgery.

He is an NIH-funded investigator, serving as Principal Investigator for the NIH/NHLBI-sponsored Cardiothoracic Surgical Clinical Trials Network. He has participated in over 50 clinical trials including the use of myoblasts and stem cells for heart failure.

In 2017, Dr. Michler received the Vladimir Borakovsky Prize from the Russian Ministry of Health in Moscow for “his personal contributions to the development of cardiovascular surgery”.

Dr. Michler lectures extensively, both nationally and abroad, and is a regular Expert Opinion author on heart related topics including stem cell therapies, ischemic mitral regurgitation and ischemic heart failure. Over the years, Dr. Michler has provided regular commentary to NBC Nightly News, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

In his unique role as Chairman of both the Department of Surgery and the Department of Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery, Dr. Michler applies his dynamic leadership to expand Montefiore-Einstein's role at the forefront of surgical innovation. In 2017, he was responsible for establishing the Lung and Heart-Lung transplantation and end stage pulmonary failure program at Montefiore-Einstein.

Formerly, Dr. Michler held the John G. and Jeanne Bonnet McCoy Endowed Chair, tenured Professor of Surgery, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Director of Heart & Lung Transplantation at The Ohio State University Medical Center. He also served as the Associate Director of the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute. Dr. Michler was integral to the planning, design, and philanthropic development for the Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital. Dr. Michler served as the first Executive Director of the Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital.

Before joining The Ohio State University faculty, Dr. Michler was a tenured Associate Professor of Surgery at Columbia University and Director of the Heart Transplant Program at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.

Dr. Michler received his undergraduate education Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University. He received his medical education at Dartmouth Medical School where he was a Leopold Schepp Scholar. Dr. Michler completed his residency in General Surgery, a fellowship in Cardiothoracic Transplantation and a fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, followed by a fellowship in Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery at Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Michler has received numerous honors including “Person of the Week” by ABC World News Tonight, the Pace Humanitarian Award, and “The Order of Christopher Columbus” by Hippolito Mejia, President of the Dominican Republic.

Williams JB, Peterson ED, Brennan JM, Sedrakyan A, Tavris D, Alexander JH, Lopes RD, Dokholyan RS, Zhao Y, O’Brien SM, Michler RE, Thourani VH, Edwards FH, Gross T, Marinac-Dabic D, Smith PK. Endoscopic Association between endoscopic vs open vein-graft harvesting and mortality, wound complications, and cardiovascular events in patients undergoing CABG surgery. JAMA. 2012;308(5):475-84.

Michler RE, Rouleau JL, Al-Khalidi HR, Bonow RO, Pellikka PA, Pohost GM, Holly TA, Oh JK, Dagenais F, Milano C, Wrobel K, Pirk J, Ali IS, Velazquez EJ, Lee KL, Di Donato M. Insights from the STICH trial: Change in left ventricular size after coronary artery bypass grafting with and without surgical ventricular reconstruction. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2013;146(5):1139-1145.

Michler RE. Surgical Options for the Management of Ischemic Cardiomyopathy.Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine. 2013;15(5):518-532.

Acker MA, Parides MK, Perrault LP, Moskowitz AJ, Gelijns AC, Voisine P, Smith PK, Hung JW, Blackstone EH, Puskas JD, Argenziano M, Gammie JS, Mack M, Ascheim DD, Bagiella E, Moquete EG, Ferguson TB, Horvath KA, Geller NL, Miller MA, Woo YJ, D'Alessandro DA, Ailawadi G, Dagenais F, Gardner TJ, O'Gara PT, Michler RE, Kron IL; the CTSN Mitral-Valve Repair versus Replacement for Severe Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation. N Engl J Med. 2014;370(1):23-32.

Michler RE. Stem cell therapy for heart failure. Cardiol Rev. 2014;22(3):105-16.

Smith PK, Puskas JD, Ascheim DD, Voisine P, Gelijns AC, Moskowitz AJ, Hung JW, Parides MK, Ailawadi G, Perrault LP, Acker MA, Argenziano M, Thourani V, Gammie JS, Miller MA, Pagé P, Overbey JR, Bagiella E, Dagenais F, Blackstone EH, Kron IL, Goldstein DJ, Rose EA, Moquete EG, Jeffries N, Gardner TJ, O'Gara PT, Alexander JH, Michler RE; Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network Investigators. Surgical treatment of moderate ischemic mitral regurgitation. N Engl J Med. 2014;371(23):2178-88.