German Atherosclerosis Society history
Günter Siegel, Free University of Berlin
Arteriosclerosis research has a long tradition in Germany. Lobstein, professor at the Medical University Clinic in Strasbourg and at the same time full professor of pathological anatomy, reported more than 170 years ago in his textbook on pathological anatomy “about the thickening of the arteries, or arteriosclerosis”, thus introducing the term 'arteriosclerosis' into science Research one. Valuable contributions to the history of arteriosclerosis research can be found in Virchow, Roy, Leibowitz, Lauer, Rokitansky, Doerr and Kohn.
At the beginning of the last century, the tombs of the pharaohs were found in the Egyptian pyramids and opened. Shattock and Ruffer performed autopsies on pharaohs and a large number of mummies and found sclerotic changes in the arteries. These findings are very important because they prove that arteriosclerosis did not just appear in the industrial age, but thousands of years earlier.
Through chemical analysis of the sclerotically altered arterial wall, Gmelin, Tiedemann and Bürger discovered the 'earthy' substances calcium phosphate and carbonate in arteriosclerotic plaque, while Virchow in Berlin had already drawn attention to fatty deposits in the vascular wall in 1852 and classified arteriosclerosis as inflammation. Marchand introduced the term 'atherosclerosis' and primarily meant an increased lipid content in the arterial wall, which is still the focus of arteriosclerosis research today.
From a clinical perspective, Heberden and Parry described the causes and symptoms of coronary sclerosis and angina pectoris. Hammer was the first to correctly diagnose the intra vitam myocardial infarction, which is still at the center of clinical, epidemiological and animal-experimental arteriosclerosis research. Hauss, clinician and founder of the Institute for Arteriosclerosis Research at the University of Münster, took over this knowledge from Morawitz and Hochrein and dealt with this problem throughout his life.
The development of arteriosclerosis research in Germany shows that the establishment of a German Society is the natural consequence of a constantly expanding basis and an increasing interest in this research area. In retrospect, it seems rather astonishing that the formation of such a society was realized so late, all the more against the background that every second citizen of our country dies from the consequences of a vascular disease that was caused by arteriosclerosis. It is possible that it was only the broadening of the research base that gave the decisive impetus to shed light on the many facets of the appearance of 'arteriosclerosis' from various disciplines at the same time. For example, it is now possible to cultivate patient's vascular wall cells in such a way that the effects of drugs on the individual effector cells can be followed directly. This substantial advance serves our therapeutic efforts in the inhibition of atherogenesis, the secondary prophylaxis after angioplasties and after bypass operations.
Professor Betz, emeritus physiologist at the University of Tübingen, was the spiritual father, scientific pioneer and one of the founders of the German Arteriosclerosis Society. He was always interested in the structure, normal function and pathophysiology of blood vessels. Two international congresses on the subject of 'Vascular Smooth Muscle', annual meetings of the Tübingen Working Group for Vascular Diseases and symposia with the European Artery Club brought together researchers from various disciplines and resulted in the founding conference of the German Society for Arteriosclerosis Research in March 1987. The conference on “Early Changes in Atherogenesis” took place like the following annual meetings at the Heinrich Fabri Institute (University of Tübingen) in Blaubeuren with generous support from the Honorary Senator of the University of Tübingen Adolf Merckle.
In the first two years the company was led by Betz and Hauss, Grünwald (Münster) was secretary and Heinle (Tübingen) treasurer. Since 1988 Heinle as secretary and Schulte (Münster) as treasurer have put their inconspicuously effective activity, prudence, undivided attention and care in the service of society. So far, the presidents have changed every two years: Assmann (Münster), Schaefer (Freiburg), Breddin (Frankfurt), Kaffarnik (Marburg), Siegel (Berlin), Hanefeld (Dresden) and Hahmann (Isny-Neutrauchburg). In 1990 the German Society for Arteriosclerosis Research became a member of the International Atherosclerosis Society as an exclusive national society. The current membership is 347, with the majority being young scientists - a favorable factor that keeps new ideas and intellectual mobility in place.
A society also has the task of honoring brilliant scientific achievements. Here the Society has to thank the biologist Kuno Lichtwer, who received the WH Hauss Prize endowed with 10,000 DM for outstanding scientific work, the G. Schettler Prize (endowed 2000 DM) for the best lecture and the E. Betz Prize ( Endowment 2000 DM) for the best poster contribution at our annual conference. The prizes have been awarded in a row since 1992.
Following the original idea of HE Schaefer (Freiburg) and on the initiative of G. Siegel (Berlin), the Rudolf Schönheimer Medal was designed by the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin (KPM) based on the only existing photo from his research years and manufactured in biscuit porcelain in order to be able to recognize and appreciate great services to the German Society for Arteriosclerosis Research. Rudolf Schönheimer, born in Berlin, had to emigrate to the USA in 1933 after short years of research in Berlin and Freiburg, where he continued his pioneering work on cholesterol research at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York, where he died at the age of only 43 . The three Nobel Prize winners HCF Dam, V. du Vigneaud and K. Bloch later emerged from his working group. The Rudolf Schönheimer Medal has so far been awarded to Messrs. Merckle, Lichtwer, Betz, Breddin and Kaffarnik. This is where the circle of great researchers, sponsors and personalities of atherosclerosis research in Germany comes full.
(As of 2001)