Awards and Distinctions

Prof. Gerd Heusch, since 2012 a full member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts (AWK), was elected as spokesperson of the Fachgruppe Medizin expert group. As a society of scholars, the Academy advises the state government on research funding and promotes scientific enquiry.

Prof. Ulf Dittmer was appointed as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the largest and most significant microbiological academy in the world. He had been nominated for election by Dr. Kim Hasenkrug, NIH, NIAID, Montana, USA, and Prof. George Fu Gao, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control, Beijing, China. This makes Prof. Dittmer one of only twelve scientists from Germany to have received this prestigious accolade in recent years.

PD Dr. Petra Kleinbongard, deputy director of the Institute of Pathophysiology, was accepted as a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology. The highly respected association bestows this distinction on scientists among its members for special achievements in research.

Prof. Peter Hoyer, director of the Clinic for Pediatrics II and deputy dean for Planning and Finance of the Medical Faculty, was re-confirmed during the meeting of the Society of Pediatric Nephrology (GPN) in his position as president, an office he has held since 2012.

Prof. Michael Koldehoff, senior physician in the Clinic for Bone Marrow Transplantation, was appointed to the standing committee on “Medical training/higher education institutions and medical faculties” of the Ärztekammer Nordrhein (ÄkNo) medical association.

Dr. Adela Della Marina, senior physician in the Clinic for Pediatrics I, Neuropediatrics Department, was awarded the Eberhard Pfleiderer Prize of the Deutsche Myasthenie Gesellschaft (DMG). The award honours outstanding achievements in the field of myasthenia gravis health services research, pathogenesis research or development of new treatment methods, including drug development. Essen is the only certified DMG Childhood and Youth Myasthenia Centre in Germany.

In the second half of the 2016 to 2019 term of office, Prof. Andreas Kribben, Essen, is replacing Prof. Mark Dominik Alscher, Stuttgart, as president of the German Society for Nephrology (DGfN). The position was officially handed over on 15 March 2018. Important challenges that the new president identified are a departure from the “minimum quantity regulation” in transplantation medicine and resolving the shortage of nephrologists.

Prof. Karl-Heinz Jöckel, director of the Institute of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, was appointed to the Working Group on Structural Issues of the German Commission on Radiological Protection (SSK) of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

First Top Young Science Best Paper Award: Medical Faculty honours outstanding young researchers

In 2018, the Medical Faculty launched its first Top Young Science Best Paper Award specifically for postdocs in the Faculty. Applications were open to early-career researchers who had already published their findings in an important high-ranking journal. The award winners, in alphabetical order, are:

From medicine:

PD Dr. Ina Binse, Clinic for Nuclear Medicine

Dr. Cornelius Deuschl, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology

Dr. Sonja Ludwig, Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic

Dr. Mareike Rasche, Clinic for Pediatrics III

Dr. Saravanabavaan Suntharalingam, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology

Dr. Yan Li, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology

From the natural sciences:

Dr. Pietro Crivello, Institute for Experimental Cellular Therapy

Dr. Henrike Geisel, Institute of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology

Dr. Sebastian Hönes, Clinic for Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism

Dr. Anna Lollies, Institute of Cell Biology (Tumor Research)

Dr. Sarah Weske, Institute of Pathophysiology

Dr. Fang Zhao, Clinic for Dermatology