Walther Heiss

Walther H. Heiss (born July 1, 1932 in Schwandorf / Upper Palatinate) is a pediatric surgeon and medical scientist.

Life

He was a student of Rudolf Zenker and worked on the research team that developed the heart-lung machine and performed the first open heart operations. For the 1959 surgeon congress, he organized the first direct broadcast from an operating room. Walther Heiss has been a specialist in surgery since 1964 and a specialist in pediatric surgery since 1971 . He is a founding member of the German Society for Pediatric Surgery . His habilitation “Polymerizing Plastics for Seam Replacement”, which he received in 1968 at the University of Heidelberg , played a key role in the development of modern wound adhesives (e.g. Histoacryl® or Vulnocoll®) as well as in the development of new surgical techniques and their application. In 1972 he was appointed adjunct professor for pediatric surgery at the University of Heidelberg. In 1978 he became chief physician of the pediatric surgery department of the St. Katharinen children's clinic in Trier (later the motherhouse of the Borromean women hospital in Trier).

After ceasing his professional activity in 1991, he volunteered in the Senior Expert Service and for the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), Flying Doctors Service. In the autumn of 1997 he founded the non-profit association "Afrikanische Kinder in Not eV Trier" and took care of the organization and implementation of numerous charitable projects for the construction of schools and health centers as well as homes for street children and medical care for the Maasai . The main focus is on Kenya and Tanzania .

Honors

• March 15, 2000: Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon for his voluntary work

Web links

• African Children in Need eV Trier
• German Society for Pediatric Surgery
• Literature by and about Walther Heiss in the catalog of the German National Library