Walter Schwerdtfeger

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the German journalist and writer of the same name, see Walter Schwerdtfeger (journalist) .

Walter K. Schwerdtfeger (born April 17, 1949 in Karlsruhe ) is a German natural scientist. From 2010 to July 2014 Schwerdtfeger was President of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices . From 2003 to 2014 he was the representative of Germany on the administrative board of the European Medicines Agency in London, and from 2012 to 2014 also the deputy chairman.

Schwerdtfeger studied biology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main from 1968 to 1977 and was awarded a Dr. phil. nat. PhD . In 1983 he completed his habilitation there in neuroanatomy. From 1985 to 1987 he was visiting scholar and honorary professor at the University of Valencia . In 1986 he received the Dr. Paul-Cilli-Weill Foundation for young scientists. In 2000 he qualified as a professor at the University of Bonn, where he taught first at the Hygiene Institute and then at the Pharmacological Institute of the Medical Faculty. In 2010 the University of Bonn awarded him the title of honorary professor at the suggestion of the medical faculty .

From 1977 to 1988 Schwerdtfeger was a research associate and research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt am Main. He then moved to the Paul Ehrlich Institute (Federal Office for Sera and Vaccines) in Langen, where he headed the morphology / pathology department. From 1992 he worked at the Federal Ministry of Health in Bonn, initially as Head of Research Coordination, from 1995 to 2000 as Head of the Environmental Medicine / Drinking Water Department, then until 2003 as Head of the Development, Production, Approval and Quality Control of Medicinal Products. From 2003 to 2010 he was head of the pharmaceuticals, pharmacies sub-department and supervised the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices. During this time he was responsible for drafting laws and ordinances in the areas of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and pharmacies as well as discussing the drafts in the health committee of the German Bundestag at the ministerial working level. During the German EU Council Presidency, as chairman of the Council Committee on Drugs and Medical Devices, he brought about the agreement on the position of the member states on the new EU regulation on advanced therapy medicinal products and on the revision of two medical device directives and represented the Council in the subsequent, successful vote with the European Parliament and the European Commission.

The scientific tasks of his ministerial work included advising the World Health Organization on the topic of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies as well as participation in scientific committees and specialist bodies, including the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Government on Global Change, the Radiation Protection Commission of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the Drinking Water Commission of Federal Environment Agency and the federal-state working group on pharmaceuticals, pharmacies, transfusion and narcotics.

Schwerdtfeger is author / co-author of numerous publications in scientific journals as well as author and editor / co-editor of specialist books.

Web links

• Literature by and about Walter Schwerdtfeger in the catalog of the German National Library
• CV on the website of the University of Bonn