After working in Munich and Lübeck, Professor Klaus van Ackern accepted the position of Chair of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the Mannheim Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University in 1989. He was elected Dean in 1991 and held this position, with a brief interruption, until 2011. As dean, he developed the faculty from one focused purely on clinical teaching into a successful full medical faculty engaged in both research and teaching.

Accompanying important developments at the CIMH

Professor van Ackern has been involved with the CIMH in many different ways. As a member of the Supervisory Board, he accompanied the institute during important years of its development. He supported and promoted the founding of the Hector Institute for Translational Brain Research (HITBR) in 2016, a joint venture between the CIMH, the German Cancer Research Center, and the Hector Foundations II. Until recently, Professor van Ackern was closely associated with the HITBR as chairman of its scientific advisory board.

We look back with gratitude on his dedication and wise counsel, from which the CIMH benefited greatly. We have lost a valuable companion and supporter, and a wise and warm-hearted person. We will honor his memory and our thoughts are with his family at this time.