Ottobock Virtual Symposium for Healthcare Professionals.
Advancing Upper Limb Prosthetic Care – Surgical Innovation, Neural Interfacing and Rehabilitation.
Join us for an insightful online symposium on September 22, 2026 from 16:00 to 17:00 CET exploring clinical evidence, highlighting surgical techniques, patient cases and rehabilitation in individuals with upper limb amputations.
The “Advancing Upper Limb Prosthetic Care – Surgical Innovation, Neural Interfacing and Rehabilitation” symposium will cover the following key topics by renowned experts:
The future of amputee care: Explore how multiprofessional collaboration supports the restoration of functional connections between brain, body and prosthesis. Learn how innovations in neural interfacing, sensorimotor integration and personalized rehabilitation are advancing patient outcomes and quality of life.
Explore the limits of restoring upper extremity function: Gain insights into how technological solutions can help restore function when biological approaches reach their limits. Discover the interface between these two worlds and develop a deeper understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with each.
Gain valuable insights on implant-based approaches in upper limb prosthetic care from a rehabilitation perspective: Explore how innovative technologies may enhance prosthetic function, control and participation, and discover how rehabilitation can support patient-centered integration of innovative prosthetic solutions into clinical practice.
Don’t miss this opportunity to stay at the forefront of clinical research of upper limb prosthetics to support evidence-based decision-making and ultimately achieve the best possible outcomes. Together we can encourage a meaningful shift in prosthetic care.
Virtual Symposium.
Tuesday September 22, 2026, 16:00 – 17:30 CET
16:00 | Welcome and Introduction Dr. Andreas Hahn Corporate Vice President Clinical Research and Services, Otto Bock Healthcare Products GmbH – Vienna (Austria) |
16:05 | The Future of Amputee Care Is Multiprofessional: Restoring Connections Between Brain, Body and Prosthesis. PD Dr. Jennifer Ernst Head of Division for Innovative Amputation Medicine, Clinic for Trauma Surgery, Hannover Medical School |
16:25 | Extremity Reconstruction in the 21st Century: Exploring the Limen of Biology and Technology. Prof. Dr. Oskar Aszmann Director of the Center for Bionic Extremity Reconstruction and Deputy Chair, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Medical University Vienna |
16:45 | Implants in Upper Limb Prosthetics: A Rehabilitation Perspective. Dr. Agnes Sturma Head of Department of Health Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Campus Wien, Vienna, Austria |
17:05 | Panel Discussion |
17:30 | Wrap up and closing |
Registration for this virtual symposium.
After completing the registration process successfully, the link to join the symposium will be promptly sent to the e-mail address provided during registration.
Dr. Andreas Hahn
Corporate Vice President Clinical Research and Services, Ottobock Healthcare Products GmbH – Vienna (Austria)
Dr. Hahn is the Corporate Vice President of Clinical Research and Services at Ottobock, where he leads the company’s global clinical research strategy and implementation.
With a PhD in physics from Oxford University, Dr. Hahn brings over 25 years of leadership experience in the medical device industry.
Throughout his career, he has been recognized for his contributions to prosthetics research, receiving the prestigious AOPA Thranhardt Lecture Award in 2014, 2019, and 2021. His award-winning work includes investigations of the influence of mobility grade rating in the response of limited community ambulators to MPKs and the utilization of health economic instruments in prosthetics.
PD Dr. Jennifer Ernst
Head of Division for Innovative Amputation Medicine, Clinic for Trauma Surgery, Hannover Medical School
The Future of Amputee Care Is Multiprofessional: Restoring Connections Between Brain, Body and Prosthesis.
Jennifer is a board certified plastic. In 2021 she established a division for innovations in amputation medicine within the Department for Trauma Surgery (Prof. Dr. Stephan Sehmisch) at Hannover Medical School. Jennifer combines innovative surgical techniques as Agonist-Antagonist-Myoneural-Interface (AMI), TMR, TSR, RPNI and Osseointegration to prevent and cure amputation -associated pain qualities at the time of the (primary) amputation and/or revision surgery.
It’s all about communicating the best way with the technology that is out there. In bionic reconstruction, Dr. Ernst emphasizes that prosthetics no longer means trying to imitate what has been lost, but rather, it’s about changing the biology of the human in a way that they can use it best in everyday life.
Jennifer is advocating stronger collaboration across interdisciplinary teams, and stresses the importance of physical and social recovery for people living with a limb loss or difference.
Jennifers passion is about creating new possibilities for people living with a disability. She’s continuing to evolve further in new areas with her team which includes rehabilitation, exoskeletons, orthotics, gait analysis, and virtual reality. Since late 2023 she is pursuing a VR-approach to reduce pain after upper limb injuries and amputation as Chief Medical Officer of Cyberful (NeuroXR).
Univ.-Prof. Dr. h.c. Oskar Aszmann
Director of the Center for Bionic Extremity Reconstruction, Medical University Vienna
Deputy Chair, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Medical University Vienna
Extremity Reconstruction in the 21st Century: Exploring the Limen of Biology and Technology.
Prof. Oskar C. Aszmann, is Director of the Center of Bionic Extremity Reconstruction and Vice-chair of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Medical University Vienna, AUSTRIA. He is a European Board Certified Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon with a strong focus on both upper and lower extremity reconstruction.
Since 2006 he has entered a close collaboration with the company Ottobock to explore the possibilities and limits of bionic reconstruction which has led to the establishment of a partly private/government funded Center for Extremity Reconstruction and Rehabilitation in 2012. This Center has at its core interest the reconstruction and rehabilitation of patients with impaired extremity function. This goal is accomplished with a wide variety of surgical techniques of neuromuscular reconstruction alone or in combination with complex mechatronic devices. 2020 he has been given the position of Full Professor at the newly founded Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
His research focuses on all aspects of reconstructive surgery, both from a clinical but also from a basic research perspective. This has precipitated in different textbook chapters and is being published both in top journals of his field but also larger audience periodicals such as The Lancet and Science, various Nature Group Periodicals and very recently The New England Journal of Medicine.
For his accomplishments in this field and his care for patients with complex extremity injuries he was awarded by the Royal Society of Medicine, London twice and received the Hans Anderl Award- the most prestigious research prize awarded by the European Association for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery for continued excellence in Plastic Surgery Research, the prestigious Houska Award for excellency in public-private partnership and most recently the Christian Doppler Prize for Research and Innovation in September 2020. He serves in the board of directors of several national und international scientific societies and is in the editorial board of several international Journals.
He has received numerous national and international research grants among these, from the Austrian Research Agency (FWF), the Christian Doppler Research Foundation and the European Research Council (ERC) with a sum total of more than 10 Mio€.
Dr. Agnes Sturma
Head of Department of Health Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Campus Wien, Vienna, Austria
Implants in Upper Limb Prosthetics: A Rehabilitation Perspective.
Dr. Agnes Sturma is a physiotherapist and health scientist whose work bridges clinical practice in amputation rehabilitation, technology-supported training and applied neuroscience. Dr. Sturma studied Physiotherapy at FH Campus Wien, graduating with distinction in 2011, and completed a Master’s degree in Health Assisting Engineering in 2014. She went on to earn a doctorate in applied medical sciences at the Medical University of Vienna, where she worked in the Clinical Laboratory for Bionic Extremity Reconstruction; in parallel, she was also a research associate in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London. Today, she heads the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Physiotherapy as well as the Department of Health Sciences at University of Applied Sciences Campus Wien. Her teaching and research focus on nerve injuries, amputations, brachial plexus lesions, prosthetic rehabilitation, restoration of upper-limb function, and innovative approaches such as motor re-education, surface EMG biofeedback, telehealth and technology-assisted rehabilitation.
