Niels Sönnichsen

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Niels Carl Johannes Robert Sönnichsen (born  December 22, 1930 in Roggenstorf ; † January 27, 2021 ) was a German doctor , dermatologist and immunologist . From 1966 to 1970 he was director of the dermatological clinic at the University of Jena and then until 1993 in the same position at the Berlin Charité . As chairman of the central AIDS advisory service, he was involved in AIDS education and prevention in the GDR. With Rüdiger von Baehr , he was one of the leading AIDS researchers in the GDR .

Life

Niels Sönnichsen was born in 1930 as the son of a pastor in Roggenstorf in Mecklenburg , went to elementary school in Granzin, to the secondary school in Wandsbeck and to the Mecklenburg secondary school in Neukloster. After the Second World War he passed his Abitur at the secondary school in Schwerin and then studied medicine at the Humboldt University in Berlin from 1950 to 1955 . After his state examination, he worked as an assistant doctor in the Schwerin district hospital until 1957, as a country doctor in Mestlin for a few months and from 1958 at the biochemical institutes of the Universities of Greifswald and Jena . He received his doctorate in 1957 at the University of Rostock and then went to Berlin for his training as a specialist in dermatology in 1960 , where he became a specialist in 1962, senior physician in 1963 and also completed his habilitation in 1964 at the Humboldt University there .

Two years later, at the age of 36, he was appointed lecturer and acting head of the dermatology clinic at the University of Jena, making him the youngest chief physician in Germany at the time . In 1970 he accepted a call as professor and director of the University Dermatology Clinic at the Berlin Charité , where he worked until 1993. From 1993 to 1998 he was medical director of the Borkum specialist clinic , a center for dermatology and allergology, and then worked as a resident doctor in a joint practice in Berlin. Sönnichsen died in January 2021 at the age of 90.

Scientific work

Niels Sönnichsen was the author of more than 700 scientific publications , including 15 monographs and book chapters. His research focused on immunological issues in the field of dermatology , skin cancers , autoimmune diseases such as lupus erythematosus and psoriasis as well as the immunodeficiency disease AIDS and its prevention and control.

He was chairman of the central HIV / AIDS counseling service of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and was therefore jointly responsible for AIDS education and the establishment of centers for treatment, counseling and psychosocial care for HIV-positive people and people suffering from AIDS in the GDR. A 48-page educational brochure he wrote was first published in the GDR in 1987 with around 350,000 copies and in 1988 in the second edition.

Awards

Niels Sönnichsen was a corresponding member of the GDR Academy of Sciences from 1980 and a full member from 1987 ; from 1988 he was a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina . In 1974 and 1987 he received the National Prize of the GDR and in 1980 the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver. In addition, he was awarded the honorary title of senior medical officer .

Publications (selection)

  • Skin diseases. Thieme, Leipzig 1976
  • Autoimmune diseases. Fischer, Jena 1987
  • AIDS. What do I have to know? How can I protect myself? Verlag Volk und Gesundheit, Berlin 1987
  • My life for the Charité against AIDS between East and West. Verlag Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2000

literature

  • Sönnichsen, Nils . In: Werner Hartkopf:The Berlin Academy of Sciences. Its members and award winners 1700–1990. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1992,ISBN 3-05-002153-5, p. 340.
  • Uwe-Frithjof Haustein: Niels Sönnichsen for the 75th. In: Berlin doctors. Member magazine of the Berlin Medical Association. 12/2005, p. 33
  • Birgitt Eltzel: The fight against immune deficiency. In: Berliner Zeitung . Issued September 25, 2000
  • Dieter Hoffmann:  Sönnichsen, Niels . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  • Andreas Mettenleiter : Testimonials, memories, diaries and letters from German-speaking doctors. Supplements and supplements III (I – Z). In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 22, 2003, pp. 269-305, here: p. 293.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sönnichsen, Niels. In: Database of the Federal Foundation to Process the SED Dictatorship . Retrieved February 15, 2021 .
  2. ↑ Douglas Selvage, Christopher Nehring: The AIDS Conspiracy: The Ministry of State Security and the KGB's AIDS disinformation campaign . The Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the Former German Democratic Republic, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-942130-76-9 , p. 89
  3. ↑ Member entry by Prof. Dr. Niels Sönnichsen at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , accessed on July 22, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Sönnichsen, Niels
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sönnichsen, Niels Carl Johannes Robert (full name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION German doctor, dermatologist and AIDS researcher
DATE OF BIRTH December 22, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Rye peat
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 2021