Presseamt der
Eberhard-Karls-Universität
in Tübingen

Faculty of Medicine

Address:

Address: Medizinische Fakultaet
Geissweg 5
D-72074 Tuebingen
Tel. Nr.: 49-7071-29-82566
Fax Nr.: 49-7071-29-2866
WWW : Medizinische Fakultät

The Faculty of Medicine

The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Tuebingen consists of thirteen hospitals and fifteen medical institutions. These are organized into sixty Departments and Divisions. All major medical disciplines are represented.

The Hospitals contain a staff of more than five thousand persons. They provide medical care for more than fifty thousand inpatients and more than two hundred and fifty thousand outpatients per year.

The teaching staff of the Faculty of Medicine consists of approximately two hundred university teachers. These are supported by five hundred fifty physicians, one thousand eight hundred nurses, and almost eight hundred technical assistants.

History

Medicine has been taught at the University of Tuebingen since the founding of the university in 1477. The first Faculty of Medicine contained two professors. Medical students were taught medicina theorica and medicina practica. They could acquire a degree of licentiatus or of doctor medicinae.

Medical education was reorganized in the sixteenth century by Leonhard Fuchs (1501-1566). Fuchs was a pioneer in the study of medicinal herbs. An institute for medical chemistry was founded in 1753. The first clinicum was founded early in the nineteenth century by J. H. F. Autenrieth (1772-1835). Among its first patients was Friedrich Hoelderlin.

K. R. A. Wunderlich (1815-1877), W. Roser (1817-1888) and W. Griesinger (1817-1868) founded a new ãphysiological medicineÒ in Tuebingen. Wunderlich proposed new ideas, such as taking body temperature systematically. This was made possible by K. Ehrle╒s ãmaximum thermometer.Ò V. von Bruns, the inventor of surgical wool, established surgery in the Faculty of Medicine.

Prominent in the Faculty of Medicine in the twentieth century are F. Niemeyer, K. Liebermeister, G. Perthes and F. Hoppe-Seyler.

Students

More than two thousand five hundred students are currently studying in the Faculty of Medicine. Statistics for promotion to doctoral studies in the Faculty of Medicine are as follows:

1477 - 1599: 193
1600 - 1699: 269
1700 - 1799: 384
1800 - 1899: 1400

Currently: approximately 350 per year

Professors

One hundred eight professors are active in the Faculty of Medicine. These are supported by more than three hundred lecturers. More than seven hundred fifty assistant professors and research assistants are also active.

An Emphasis on Medical Research

Special emphasis is given to the advancement of medical research.

The Tuebingen medical complex is the only one in Germany having three major core grants in special research areas (Sonderforschungsbereiche) funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. These three special research areas are:

A close relationship exists between the Faculty of Medicine and the institutes in the University½s Department of Biology. The post-graduate program in neurobiology is supported by special teaching programs in the neurosciences, immunology and cell biology.

An increasing number of clinical departments, institutes and divisions have established research sections. These research sections make possible a close cooperation between the basic sciences and clinical research, under the guidance of associate professors.

Teaching and research in the Faculty of Medicine is funded by an annual budget of approximately 140 million German Marks. An additional twenty-seven million Marks come from external sources of support.

Institutes for Special Research

The University of Tuebingen places special emphasis on experimental and applied research in neurobiology. A new research center for neurobiology has been opened, and a new interdisciplinary research center is under construction. A research center for positron emission tomography (PET) will be completed in late 1994.

Neurobiological research is conducted by two clinical research groups of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft: Neuro-Ophthalmology and Hearing Research. Other highly specialized research groups are making vital contributions in the analysis of neurological diseases. These institutes also work in close cooperation with the University½s Departments of Chemistry and Physics.

The Department of Neuroradiology is equipped for nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The Department of Radiotherapy of the Faculty of Medicine is fully equipped for the experimental and clinical use of stereotactic radiation, in cooperation with neurosurgeons and neuropathologists.

Support Services

The Central Laboratory for Clinical Chemistry analyzes biological materials for all patient-treatment departments and for the research institutes. Analysis and quality control is done with modern computer systems and bar-code identified specimens. Results from automated analyzers and conventional laboratories are ãon line.Ò Results are collected by the computer system, which checks for extreme results and indicates specific combinations of pathological results. On line intensive care units and wards receive results immediately.

The Computer Center provides the necessary infrastructure for general medical studies in all disciplines. Data for medical statistics, epidemiology and quality control in medicine are available.

The Central Library of the Faculty of Medicine contains approximately 20,000 volumes. Two hundred sixty periodicals are on subscription, with special emphasis on Surgery, Urology, Neurology, and Radiology.

Each Department in the Faculty of Medicine also has its own departmental library.

Home Presse MAIL (michael.seifert@uni-tuebingen.de)

Presseamts-Info@www.uni-tuebingen.de(dezelski@uni-tuebingen.de) - Copyright