Dr Michael Harden is a Head of Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia. Dr Harden graduated from the University of Queensland in 1992 as a Chemical Engineer. After working in Western Australia in the mining industry, he completed his undergraduate medical degree from the University of New South Wales in 2000. He completed a postgraduate higher degree with a Masters Degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of New South Wales in 2006, majoring in Cardiovascular Fluid Dynamics and Physiological Fluid Mechanics.

Dr Harden was trained at Royal Hobart Hospital in Tasmania and Prince of Wales and Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. He then obtained his Fellowship from The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in Cardiothoracic Surgery. He completed an advanced Cardiothoracic Fellowship at Royal Melbourne Hospital, gaining specialist training in Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery and Adult Cardiac Surgery. He is fully trained in minimally invasive thoracic surgery.

Dr Harden has published in the field of tissue engineering, fluid mechanics of the aortic valve, cardiac imaging and cardiac history. He has spoken at international meetings on similar topics and whilst completing his Masters in Biomedical Engineering designed a prototype for an arterovenous anastomotic stent. He was an invited speaker at the 4th Asia-Pacific Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery Conference in GuangZhou, China, in 2013.