Wir überwinden Grenzen

The Medical Center - University of Freiburg mourns the loss of its former Chief Medical Officer Prof. Dr. J. Rüdiger Siewert. Professor Siewert passed away on January 9, 2024 at the age of 83 in his adopted home of Munich

He was Chief Medical Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg from March 2010 - initially on an interim basis alongside his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Heidelberg University Hospital - and from November 2011 to November 2018 on a full-time basis.

"Siewert was not only one of the most renowned German surgeons, but also an outstanding hospital manager," says Prof. Dr. Frederik Wenz, paying tribute to his predecessor as Chief Medical Officer of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. "He has had a lasting impact on the Medical Center - University of Freiburg and guided it back into calm waters in difficult times. Siewert played a key role in making Freiburg one of the top German university hospitals. He has achieved great things for university medicine in Baden-Württemberg."

Professor Siewert's scientific specialty was gastric and oesophageal surgery. Among other things, he developed an operation to connect the oesophagus and small intestine after total removal of the stomach, the so-called oesophago-jejunoplication according to Siewert/Peiper. He also developed a classification of adenocarcinoma of the esophagus, a malignant tumor, into different stages.

Career

After his training at the Rudolf Virchow Hospital in Berlin, Siewert moved to Göttingen University Hospital in 1969. In 1982, he was appointed to Munich, where he was Medical Director of the Klinikum rechts der Isar and Chair of General, Visceral and Transplant Surgery.

Following his retirement in Munich, Siewert held the position of Chief Medical Officer at Heidelberg University Hospital from June 2007 to November 2011. From March 2010 to November 2011, he was also acting Chief Medical Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. In November 2011, he moved to Freiburg full-time.

Siewert was President of the German Society of Surgery, President of the International Surgical Society (ISS/SIC), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association of German University Hospitals (VUD) and a member of the German National Academy of Sciences - Leopoldina as well as Senator of its Section 17 (Surgery, Orthopaedics and Anaesthesiology).

His scientific legacy includes numerous publications, monographs, handbooks and surgical doctrines.

Caption: Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Siewert
Image source: Medical Center - University of Freiburg / Britt Schilling