Martin Sprenger

Martin Sprenger (born December 7, 1963 in Chur , Graubünden / Switzerland ) is an Austrian doctor , author and health scientist at the Medical University of Graz with a focus on public health , primary care and prevention . He became publicly known in the spring of 2020 when he withdrew from the “Coronavirus Task Force” of the Ministry of Health . The book The Corona Riddle was written about his experiences during this time .

Live and act

The son of an Austrian and a German was born in Switzerland and spent his early childhood there. In 1969 his family moved to Tyrol , where he attended the Aldrans elementary school until 1977 and then the secondary school in Innsbruck . This was followed by three years of professional training at the HTL Bau und Design Innsbruck and two more years at the HTL in Saalfelden up to the Matura at the civil engineering department in 1982.

From 1983 he first studied cultural engineering at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna and from 1984 medicine at the Medical University of Vienna and the Karl-Franzens University of Graz , where he also received his doctorate in 1994. During his medical studies he worked as a freelancer in various statics and architecture offices in Vienna, Tyrol and Styria.

After four years of regular training in Styria and two years as an assistant and emergency doctor in surgery at the Weiz Regional Hospital , he went to Auckland in New Zealand in 2001 for a two-year Master of Public Health course .

In 2002 he began his career at the Medical University of Graz , in addition to teaching, primarily as a scientific coordinator of the university course in Public Health. At the same time he began voluntary work as a general practitioner for the Graz Marian ambulance of Caritas Styria and became a member of the local medical association. In 2010 he ended his medical career to take over the management of the public health course. The membership of the Medical Association has remained extraordinary since then. He is also an employee of the University's Institute for Social Medicine and Epidemiology .

Since 2004 Sprenger has also been working as a freelance business consultant, with teaching assignments at various technical colleges and universities as well as in various health projects.

Corona crisis

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria , Sprenger was appointed to the advisory staff of the “Coronavirus Task Force” of the Ministry of Health at the beginning of March , as one of his former students was now working there. After Sebastian Kurz 's press conference on March 30th, he began to publicly criticize individual measures; He called the closing of parks and hiking areas “incomprehensible”. This led to a break with the management level and after internal attacks he resigned as advisor to Minister Rudi Anschober on April 8, 2020 . He replaced him two days later with Christiane Druml .

His experiences during this time, which he had recorded in a diary , he published as a book under the title The Corona Riddle .

Works (selection)

• The corona puzzle. Pandemic diary. Seifert Verlag , Vienna 2020, 312 pages, ISBN 978-3-904123-34-1

Web links

• Martin Sprenger Search result in the Austrian National Library
• Martin Sprenger at the Medical University of Graz
• Martin Sprenger website
• "Virological tunnel vision?" Video interview of the JKU Corona Update Live series with Meinhard Lukas on April 16, 2020 (41 min.)
• Could the “lock down” have been lifted much earlier? Video interview with Michael Fleischhacker on ServusTV on May 20, 2020 (30 min.)
• "We drive with snow chains on the dry road." Short version of the same set with partly new scenes at Addendum on May 21, 2020 (14 min.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Dr. med. Martin Sprenger MPH. (PDF) CV. publichealth.co.at, accessed June 7, 2020 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Dr. med. univ. Martin Sprenger. University biography. Medical University of Graz , accessed on June 7, 2020 .  
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Jonas Vogt: The but-Sager. Die Zeit Österreich 25/2020, June 15, 2020, accessed on June 19, 2020 .  
4. ↑ https://www.caritas-steiermark.at/marienambulanz/
5. ↑ Expert Sprenger has had enough of the Corona task force. DerStandard.at , April 9, 2020, accessed on June 7, 2020 .  
6. ↑ Christiane Druml follows Martin Sprenger on the Corona advisory board. DerStandard.at , April 10, 2020, accessed on June 7, 2020 .  
7. ↑ Coronavirus - Taskforce. Sozialministerium.at, May 13, 2020, accessed on June 7, 2020 .  
8. ↑ ^{a b} Martin Sprenger: The Corona Riddle. Book presentation in the publishing house. Seifert Verlag , accessed on June 19, 2020 .