Alexander Bernhardt is an associate professor and attending cardiac surgeon at the University Heart and Vascular Center Hamburg and surgical director of the heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support program at the University Heart and Vascular Center Hamburg, Germany. His medical schooling and surgical training occurred in Hamburg, Cape Town, and New York City. His research interests include several aspects of pathophysiology in heart failure, ventricular unloading, and outcome, as well as the management of heart transplants and mechanical circulatory support recipients. He won ISHLT awards for his research in mechanical circulatory support and transplantation. He was chair of the ISHLT/ HFSA guideline on Acute Mechanical Circulatory Support. He holds the position of section editor for Mechanical Circulatory Support at the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation and is a guest editor for the JHLT Open.