Spokesperson: Dr. A. Haverich

Professor Axel Haverich has been the director of the clinic for cardiac, thoracic, transplant and vascular surgery at the Hannover Medical School since 1996. Before that he was the head physician at the clinic for cardiac and vascular surgery at Christian Albrechts University at Kiel for three years.

In 1995 Professor Haverich received the Leibniz Award from the German Research Society (Deutschen Forschungsgesellschaft DFG) and with this award, founded the "Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs" (Leibniz Laboratorium für Biotechnologie and artifizielle Organe (LEBAO) in Hannover in 1996. In addition to the implementation of a whole series of innovative approaches in the area of regenerative medicine, they have succeeded in creating a biological cardiac valve with growth potential.

Structural measures such as, e.g. the excellence cluster "REBIRTH" funded since 2006 as well as the Centre for Biomedical Engineering (Niedersächsische Zentrum für Biomedizintechnik NZ-BMT), approved a few weeks ago, are essentially due to his initiative.

Professor Haverich is associate editor of a series of nationally and internationally renowned scientific journals. He was president of the German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (Deutschen Gesellschaft für Thorax-, Herz- and Gefäßchirurgie) in the years 2007 to 2009 and is the current president of the German Society for Surgery (Deutschen Gesellschaft für Chirurgie).

Professor Haverich is spokesperson for the special research area of Transregio 37 since June 2007.