Hansjörg Melchior

Hansjörg Melchior (born July 8, 1937 in Kassel ) is a German urologist . In addition to his medical work, he is active as an art collector and supporter of the documenta in Kassel as well as in several cultural and social initiatives.

life and work

Hansjörg Melchior was born in Kassel in 1937 and is the oldest of four children of paediatrician Paul Melchior and his wife Ruth. In 1957 Melchior finished his school education with the Abitur at the Friedrichsgymnasium in Kassel and then began studying physics at the Philipps University in Marburg . After five semesters, he switched to medicine. In 1963 he married his wife Karin (née Meyer-Delpho), with whom he has three sons. In 1966 Melchior completed his studies with a doctorate on the skin circulation in different body regions with measured pedaling in Marburg. In 1968 he went to the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) in Aachen , where he began further training as a specialist in urology, which he acquired in 1972.

Melchior completed his habilitation in Aachen and became senior physician in the urology department of the RWTH Clinical Institutions , shortly afterwards he became an adjunct professor of urology. In 1977 he started the “Urological Functional Diagnostics” working group, which he headed for 25 years, and the “Urological Functional Diagnostics and Urology of Women” working group of the Academy of German Urologists , of which he is honorary chairman. In the same year he went back to Kassel and became chief physician of the Urology Clinic at the Kassel Municipal Clinic, now the Kassel Clinic. He stayed there until 2003, from 1984 to 1991 he was also a member of the Medical Directorate of the Kassel Clinic and from 1986 to 1988 also Medical Director.

In 1982 he also became an honorary professor at the Philipps University of Marburg. From 1980 to 2012 Melchior was head of the urology section of the Academy for Medical Training and Education of the State Medical Association of Hesse. In 1981 he became the founding chairman of the Incontinence Aid Society . In 1982 he founded the working group of senior hospital urologists, of which he remained chairman until 1997. In 1987 he founded the German Continence Society and in 1990 the Association of Central German Urologists. In 1991 he became a member of the board of the German Society for Urology and in the following two years also its president. In 1993 he was a co-founder of the Federation of Operative Medical and Scientific Societies and was its chairman from 1996 to 2005. Since 2000 he has been an honorary member of the Polish Society of Urology . He is also a member of several other national and international medical-scientific specialist societies.

In 2003 Melchior ended his work at the Kassel Clinic and retired from work. He subsequently founded the “Kassel Health Days” and became its scientific director. He also founded the Maximilian Nitze Circle of German Urologists and took over the chairmanship and became a member of the extended presidium of the Working Group of Medical and Scientific Societies (AWMF). In the State Medical Association Hessen Since 2008 he is a member of the Conference of Delegates since 2012. Member of the Statute Commission and the certification committee.

During his time in Aachen, Melchior met the industrialist and art patron Peter Ludwig , with whom he later became friends. As an art collector, he also dealt with modern, contemporary art. In Kassel he met the documenta founder Arnold Bode and became friends with him. From 1977 to 1998 he headed the documenta forum and from 1987 to 1997 he was also chairman of the documenta Foundation , which raised funds and made them available for selected documenta works. His wife Karin runs a gallery for contemporary art in Kassel.

In 1996 and 1997 he was president of the Rotary Club of Kassel and in 2008/2009 he was elected to the office of Hessian governor in District 1820. In 1990, together with Bernd Behrens, he initiated the annual Kassel citizens' prize “ The Glass of Reason ”, which is awarded to personalities or institutions who have made a special contribution to enlightenment, reason and tolerance. Among the winners were the former Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher , the Israeli politician Leah Rabin , the philosopher Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker , the artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude , the musician Yehudi Menuhin , the former federal commissioner for the documents of the former state security service GDR and later Federal President Joachim Gauck and the Israeli diplomat Avi Primor .

Honors

Melchior received several awards for his commitment as a doctor as well as for his commitment to culture and society:

• 2003: Badge of Honor of the City of Kassel
• 2009: Coat of arms of the city of Kassel
• 2009: Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 2015: Paracelsus Medal of the German Medical Association
• 2017: Hessian Order of Merit

Publications (selection)

• The blood circulation in the skin in different parts of the body with measured pedaling work , Marburg 1966 (doctoral thesis)
• Ureter dynamics , Stippak Aachen, 1972/1974
• with Franz Hamann : Electrosurgery , Aesculap-Werke-AG, Tuttlingen 1979
• Urological functional diagnostics , Thieme, Stuttgart 1981
• Benign enlargement of the prostate (benign prostate hyperplasia = BPH) , Demeter, Graefelfing [1991]
• with Ingo Füsgen : Incontinence Manual , Springer, Berlin 1997
• GIH-Manual Urinary Incontinence & Micturition Disorders , Bibliomed Medizinische Verlags-Gesellschaft, Melsungen 2003

supporting documents

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Laudation for the awarding of the Paracelsus Medal to Prof. Dr. med. Hansjörg Melchior at the German Medical Association (bundesaerztekammer.de); accessed on June 1, 2015.
2. ^ History of the Urological Functional Diagnostics and Urology Working Group of Women at the Academy of German Urologists; accessed on June 1, 2015.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Awarding of the coat of arms of the city of Kassel to Prof. Dr. Hansjörg Melchior speech by the Lord Mayor of Kassel on October 1, 2009; Retrieved June 2, 2015.