Detlev Ganten

Detlev Ganten (1941 in Lüneburg) is a specialist in pharmacology and molecular medicine and is one of the leading scientists in the field of hypertension. He founded the World Health Summit in 2009. He is Chairman of the Foundation Board of the Charité Foundation (since 2005), editor of the Journal of Molecular Medicine (since 1993), Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology as well as and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ethnological Museum Dahlem of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

From 2004 to 2008, he was CEO of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.^[1] and from 1991 to 2004 Founding Director and CEO of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association.^[2]

Academic and professional career

Professor Ganten completed agricultural training in Elmshorn in 1959 with the agricultural assistant state examination. Following his secondary education he studied medicine in Würzburg and Montpellier (France) from 1962 to 1964 and worked in the surgical ward of the hospital "La Mamounia" in Marrakesh (Morocco). From 1966 to 1968 he continued his medical studies in Tübingen, concluding them with the medical state examination and subsequent internships in Tübingen and Emden. In 1968 Professor Ganten received his MD from the University of Tübingen followed by a research period (1969 to 1973) at the Clinical Research Institute in Montreal (Canada). In 1970 he received his license to practice medicine and then in 1973, obtained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from McGill University in Montreal.

From 1973 to 1991 Professor Ganten worked for the Pharmacological Institute of the University of Heidelberg where he also qualified as a professor in 1974. In 1975 he received a professorship in Pharmacology at the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University. In 1978 he became specialist in Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology.

On January 1, 1992, Professor Ganten was appointed Founding Director of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin-Buch. His task was to transform the central institutions for cardiovascular research, cancer research and molecular biology of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR into a new national center for health research of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres. Around the same time (1993) he was offered the chair for Clinical Pharmacology at the Free University of Berlin. In this period he promoted clinical translational research from basic research to clinical application, intensifying the cooperation in the field of basic research at the MDC with the hospitals in Berlin-Buch, the hospitals of the Medical Faculties of the Free University in Berlin-Steglitz (Klinikum Benjamin Franklin) and Wedding (Virchow-Klinikum) and the Medical Faculty of the Humboldt University (Charité Campus Mitte).

In 2004, the Senate of Berlin appointed Professor Ganten CEO of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Under his direction the locations of academic medicine in East and West Berlin were united. As a result of the merger with the "Universitätsklinikum Benjamin Franklin" of the Free University of Berlin, the Charité Berlin became a member of both universities and thus the largest university hospital in Germany. Professor Ganten held the office of CEO of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin until 2008.^[3]

The year 2005 saw the establishment of the Charité Foundation by donor Johanna Quandt and Professor Ganten. Since then, Professor Ganten has been acting Chairman of the Foundation Board.^[4] Support from the Charité Foundation helped to establish an increasingly closer association between the Charité – Universitätsmedizin and the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin-Buch. The formation of the "Berlin Institute of Health (BIH)" was founded in 2013 through an agreement of the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology and the Senate of Berlin. The BIH provides a joint structure and platform for MDC and Charité to strengthen their clinical research initiatives.

On occasion of the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Charité, Professor Ganten launched the World Health Summit and continues his association as Founding President of this annual Berlin event. In 2013 Professor Ganten was elected co-chair of the Interacademy Medical Panel (IAMP).^[5]

Fields of research, awards and prizes

Professor Ganten's major area of research is hypertension. He discovered basic mechanisms underlying the development of hypertension and is investigating the hormonal regulation of hypertension, in particular the renin-angiotensin-aldosteron system. Further key research interests include the genomic and molecular mechanisms of evolution and evolutionary medicine, concepts for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, Public Health, Global Health and Bioethics.

His scientific work won Professor Ganten visiting professorships at the University of California in 1983, at the Collège de France, Paris, in 2010 respectively. Professor Ganten is also an editor of the Journal of Molecular Medicine (since 1993).

Detlev Ganten has been president and coordinator of numerous scientific conferences, among them: Scientific Meeting of the European and International Societies of Hypertension (Heidelberg 1986, Berlin 2008); Gordon Conference (1997, Italy); and the Annual Meeting of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians (Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte, GDNÄ – Berlin 1998).

Professor Ganten has been the recipient of many international awards and prizes including the Chavez Award of the International Society of Hypertension; Sechenev Medal of the Medical Academy Moscow; Franz Gross Science Award of the German League for Combating High Blood Pressure (all in 1981 respectively); the Heilmeyer Medal of the Society for Progress in Internal Medicine (1990); the Max Planck Research Award (with Kazuo Murakami, Japan) (1991); the Okamoto Award, Japan (1991); the CIBA Award of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research of the American Heart Association (1992); and in 2013, the Humboldt Medal of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians.

Prof. Ganten was appointed Dr. honoris causa by the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Romania in 1987, honorary professor by the Wuhan University, China (1994), and the First Moscow State University (2004).

Professor Ganten received the Order of Merit of the State of Berlin in 1997; the Federal Cross of Merit, Germany in 2000,^[6] and in 2012, the insignia of Officer of the Legion of Honor of the French Republic^[7]

Functions in scientific societies and committees

Professor Ganten's functions in scientific societies and committees include: membership in the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW); the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina; the Academia Europaea, the Polish Academy of Sciences; and the Académie de Berlin.

From 1992 to 1998 he was President of the World Hypertension League. Further memberships include the Health Research Council of the German Federal Ministry for Science and Technology from 1992 to 1997 and the Science Council of the German Federal Government from 1993 to 1998.

Professor Ganten was President of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians (1996–1998); President of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers (1997–2001); and a member of the German National Ethics Council from 2001 to 2007.

From 1995 to 2004 Professor Ganten was acting Vice President of the Berlin–Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (BBAW). He was President of the Comité International d’Orientation Scientifique et Stratégique (COSS) of the Collège de France from 2004 to 2012 and from 2001 to 2009 he had a seat on the Board of Directors of the Institut de la Santé et de Recherche Médicale (INSERM).

Books

• Ganten, D., Deichmann, T. and Spahl, T. Leben, Natur, Wissenschaft – Alles, was man wissen muss. Eichborn AG, Frankfurt am Main. 2003.
• Ganten, D., Gerhardt, V., Nida-Rümelin, J. Funktionen des Bewusstseins. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin. 2008.
• Ganten, D., Gerhardt, V., Heilinger, J., Nida-Rümelin, J. Was ist der Mensch? Walter de Gruyter, Berlin. 2008.
• Ganten, D., Spahl, Th., Deichmann, Th. Die Steinzeit steckt uns in den Knochen – Gesundheit als Erbe der Evolution. Pieper, München. 2009.
• Ganten, D., Niehaus, J., Die Gesundheitsformel: Die großen Zivilisationskrankheiten verstehen und verhindern. Knaus Verlag, München, 2014.

External links

• Literature by and about Detlev Ganten in the German National Library catalogue
• Curriculum Vitae Prof. Dr. Detlev Ganten
• World Health Summit Homepage

References