A History of the German Society for Arteriosclerosis Research (DGAF)

The German Society for Arteriosclerosis Research (DGAF) is a scientific and medical society dedicated to advancing research into arteriosclerosis—the arterial disease underlying most heart attacks and strokes, and still one of the leading causes of death in industrialized countries. Although relatively small and specialized compared with Germany’s larger clinical societies, the DGAF has played a prominent role for decades in bringing together basic researchers and clinicians in cardiology, angiology, lipidology, pathophysiology, and vascular and immune cell biology.

 

Founded in March 1987

The society’s intellectual roots lie with Professor Betz, professor emeritus of physiology at the University of Tübingen, who, alongside Professor Werner Heinrich Hauss of the Institute for Arteriosclerosis Research at the University of Münster, is regarded as its intellectual father, scientific pioneer, and one of its founders. Betz’s longstanding interest in the structure, normal function, and pathophysiology of blood vessels led in the 1980s to a series of preparatory meetings—two international conferences on “Vascular Smooth Muscle,” the annual meetings of the Tübingen Working Group on Vascular Diseases, and joint symposia with the European Artery Club—which brought together researchers from many disciplines and culminated in the society’s founding assembly in March 1987. The founding conference, on “Early Changes in Atherogenesis,” was held at the Heinrich Fabri Institute of the University of Tübingen in Blaubeuren—the same venue that hosted the society’s annual meetings in the decades that followed—and was generously supported by Adolf Merckle, an honorary senator of the University of Tübingen.

 

The early years: Development and continuity

For its first two years, the society was jointly led by Betz and Hauss, with Grünwald (Münster) as secretary and Heinle (Tübingen) as treasurer. In 1988, the roles changed: Heinle became secretary, and Schulte (Münster) became treasurer. Their steady, thoughtful leadership shaped the society’s early administration. From then on, the presidency rotated every two years among leading figures in the field: Assmann (Münster), Schaefer (Freiburg), Breddin (Frankfurt), Kaffarnik (Marburg), Siegel (Berlin), Hanefeld (Dresden), and Hahmann (Isny-Neutrauchburg)—a list reflecting the geographic and disciplinary breadth of Germany’s arteriosclerosis research at the time.

International recognition and young researchers

In 1990, the DGAF became a member of the International Atherosclerosis Society as Germany’s sole national representative—an early sign of international recognition. By the early 1990s, the society had 347 members, most of them young researchers. Its own historical accounts presented this as a deliberately cultivated advantage: a membership base focused on early-career researchers to sustain the flow of new ideas and intellectual dynamism.