Wolfgang Hermann Oertel

Wolfgang H. Oertel (born February 15, 1951 in Helmstedt ) is a German neurologist whose main research interests are Parkinson's disease , sleep disorders (including restless legs syndrome , narcolepsy ) and dementia .

Life and academic career

Oertel studied human medicine from 1969 to 1976 in Tübingen , Berlin and Newcastle upon Tyne . He completed his doctorate in 1978 on the subject of "transmitter physiology of the cat's inner ear" with Rainer Klinke (Free University of Berlin and University of Frankfurt). After receiving his license to practice medicine in 1977, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Laboratory of Clinical Science at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland , USA from 1978 to 1981 . He conducted biochemical, immunological and neuroanatomical studies on inhibitory transmitters ( GABA and taurine ) in the central nervous system . His work contributed to a better understanding of the transmitters and receptors in the basal ganglia of the brain. Among other things, these are responsible for coordinating the tension of cooperating muscles. They no longer work in Parkinson's disease , which he dealt with extensively in his subsequent career. Oertel completed his specialist training from 1981 to 1986 at the Technical University of Munich, Department of Neurology at Klinikum rechts der Isar . In the course of his medical career, he has had a significant influence on the therapy of patients with Parkinson's disease and its related disorders. He was in charge of the current guideline, which systematically analyzes diagnostics and therapy for this patient group and contains suggestions for action for German doctors. He is also the author of the book "Parkinson's Syndromes and Other Movement Disorders". From 2011 to 2013 he was the first chairman of the German Society for Neurology. At the same time as his specialist training, he completed his habilitation on “GABAergic neurons in the central nervous system” and two years later became senior physician and received a C3 professorship at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich at the Clinic for Neurology at the Großhadern Clinic . He has held a C4 professorship since 1996 and was director of the Department of Neurology at the Philipps University in Marburg until the end of 2013 . He has written over 500 specialist articles.

In September 2013, Oertel received the Hertie Senior Professorship for his many years of excellence in research into Parkinson's disease. This ensures that he can devote the final years of his professional career exclusively to research. He is currently researching a preventive drug study with nicotine patches in the very early stages of Parkinson's disease. This international cooperation project is called NIC-PD and is funded by the Parkinson Fund and the James Fox Foundation. Future studies will target a special Parkinson's risk stage, the so-called REM sleep behavior disorder , and represent a novel intervention in neurodegenerative diseases .

Together with colleagues from Marburg and Würzburg, Oertel published a pioneering paper on Parkinson's diagnostics in the renowned specialist journal “Acta Neuropathologica” in February 2017. The new method enables the disease to be detected in the early stages using an inexpensive skin test.

Honorary positions

• 2001–2004 Treasurer of the Movement Disorders Society
• 2003–2006 2nd chairman of the German Parkinson Society
• 2005–2006 President-elect - European Section - Movement Disorder Society
• 2011–2012 Chairman of the German Society for Neurology (DGN)

Prizes and awards

• 1971–1978 scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation
• 1986 “Parkinson Frosst Prize” from the German Society for Neurology
• 1987–1990 Heisenberg Fellow of the German Research Foundation : Basic and clinical research on basal ganglia diseases
• 2004 Dingebauer Prize of the German Society for Neurology for outstanding research in the field of Parkinson's disease with special emphasis on services to the competence network Parkinson’s Syndrome
• 2009 Honorary Doctorate from the Moscow Medical Academy Sechenov

Works

• with Günther Deuschl and Werner Poewe: Parkinson's Syndrome and Other Movement Disorders, Thieme Verlag, ISBN 978-3-13-148781-0
• Höglinger GU, Rizk P, Muriel MP, Duyckaerts C, Oertel WH, Caille I, Hirsch EC. - Dopamine depletion impairs precursor cell proliferation in Parkinson's disease. Nature Neuroscience 2004; 7: 726-735 ( Memento of March 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
• Höglinger GU, Rissling I, Metz A, Ries V, Heinermann A, Prinz H, Spieker S, Deuschl G, Baum E, Oertel WH. - Enhancing recognition of early Parkinsonism in the community. Mov Disord 2004; 19: 505-512
• Meindorfer C, Körner Y, Möller JC, Stiasny-Kolster K, Oertel WH, Krüger HP. - Driving in Parkinson's Disease - Mobility, Accidents, and Sudden Onset of Sleep at the Wheel. Mov Disord 2005; 20: 832-842
• Stiasny-Kolster K, Doerr Y, Möller JC, Hoeffken H, Behr TM, Oertel WH, Mayer G. - Combination of 'idiopathic' REM sleep behavior disorder and olfactory dysfunction as possible indicator for α-synucleinopathy demonstrated by dopamine transporter FP-CIT -SPECT. Brain 2005; 128: 126-137
• Spottke EA, Reuter M, Machat O, Bornschein B, Campenhausen S, Berger K, Koehne-Volland R, Rieke J, Simonow A, Brandstädter D, Siebert U, Oertel WH, Dodel R. - Cost of Illness and Its Predictors for Parkinson's Disease in Germany. Pharmacoeconomics 2005; 23: 817-836

Web links

• Literature by and about Wolfgang Hermann Oertel in the catalog of the German National Library
• Website of the Department of Neurology at the University of Marburg
• Interview with Prof. Dr. Oertel on parkinsonfonds.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolfgang Oertel. In: Kürschner's German Scholars Calendar Online. De Gruyter. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
2. ↑ Prof. Dr. Dr. WH Oertel. Training and career on oertelw.de . Retrieved February 18, 2015.
3. ↑ Parkinson's Syndrome - Diagnostics and Therapy ( Memento from February 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) by Karla M. Eggert, Wolfgang H. Oertel and Heinz Reichmann. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
4. ↑ ^{a b} The German Society for Neurology from 2013 with a new board on Gesundheitsregister.de . Retrieved February 18, 2015.
5. ↑ Hertie Senior Professorship for Prof. Wolfgang H. Oertel , German Society for Neurology September 28, 2013, accessed March 27, 2017
6. ↑ REM sleep behavior disorder as the prodromal stage of α-synucleinopathies from January 9, 2014 on springer.com . Retrieved February 18, 2015.
7. ↑ Milestone: skin test allows early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease , uni-marburg.de, accessed March 27, 2017