Profiles in Surgery
Prof. Dr. med. Florian Grahammer
doctorProf. Dr. med. Florian Grahammer has been Director of the University Transplant Center (UTC) at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) since 2018 and Deputy Head of the 3rd Department of Medicine (Nephrology) since 2017. Since 2020 he has also been Principal Investigator of the Collaborative Research Center CRC 1192 "Immune-mediated glomerular diseases." Career: Grahammer studied medicine from 1996 to 2003 at the Universities of Freiburg, Leeds, and Tübingen, and completed his doctorate in Freiburg in 2003. From 2005 to 2009 he held various positions in nephrology at University Hospital Freiburg, where he served as senior physician from 2012; he completed his habilitation in Freiburg in 2017 and additionally in Hamburg in 2018. He is board-certified in internal medicine, nephrology, emergency medicine, and transplant medicine. Research: Grahammer's research group studies glomerular biology and the renal filtration barrier, with focus on the structure and function of the slit diaphragm complex, signaling cascades in glomerulonephritis, the role of the mTOR pathway in kidney disease, and genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of kidney disease.
Prof. Dr. med. Lutz Fischer
doctorProf. Dr. med. Lutz Fischer is Director of the Department of Visceral Transplant Surgery at the University Transplant Center (UTC) at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), one of Europe's most experienced transplant centers. He heads one of Germany's largest pediatric transplant programs and one of the few nationwide programs providing living-donor liver transplants to infants and young children. In March 2025, as lead surgeon, he performed the UKE's 1,000th pediatric liver transplant — a seven-hour operation transplanting a partial living-donor liver to an 18-month-old boy. Beyond the available sources, no detailed public information on his further career path or current research projects was found.
Prof. Dr. med. Christoph Michalski
doctorProf. Dr. med. Christoph Michalski has headed the Department of General, Visceral, and Transplant Surgery at Heidelberg University Hospital since April 1, 2023, succeeding Prof. Dr. Markus W. Büchler. Career: Michalski studied medicine in Heidelberg with stays abroad in England, the USA, and Switzerland. He began as a resident at the Technical University of Munich's pancreatic research lab, completed a fellowship in surgical oncology and transplantation in Portland, USA, and took over as deputy head of transplant surgery at Heidelberg University Hospital in 2014. From 2018 to 2020 he was senior attending physician in Halle (Saale), and from 2020 to 2023 he held the chair for general and visceral surgery in Ulm. Clinical focus: His work centers on complex surgical oncology, minimally invasive and robot-assisted surgery, and transplant medicine, as well as surgery of the pancreas, liver, esophagus, stomach, and intestine. Research: Michalski's research interest lies in "surgical data science" — using operative data to improve therapy, including digital guardrails for surgical robots to reduce risk, as well as AI-supported treatment concepts.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Dirk Stippel
doctorUniv.-Prof. Dr. med. Dirk Stippel is Deputy Clinic Director for Transplant Surgery at University Hospital Cologne and holds W2 professorships in Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery. Career: Stippel studied medicine at the University of Münster from 1982 to 1990, completed his doctorate in 1991, and his habilitation in 2004. He has been board-certified in visceral surgery since 1997 with extensive clinical experience; he became a W2 professor in 2013 and deputy clinic director in 2016. Research: Stippel has served on the medical faculty's research advisory board since 2006 and as editor of the journal BioMed Research International since 2014. He is an active member of the German Transplantation Society, the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT), and The Transplantation Society, and serves as a reviewer for leading surgical journals. His clinical focus areas include hepatobiliary surgery, transplant surgery, interventional immunology, and hospital management.
Prof. Dr. med. Johann Pratschke
doctorProf. Dr. med. Johann Pratschke is Director of the Department of Surgery at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum (CVK), where he leads one of Germany's largest liver transplantation programs. His clinical focus includes liver, kidney and multi-organ transplantation.
Prof. Dr. Armin Wiegering
doctorProf. Dr. Armin Wiegering is Director of the Department of General, Visceral, Transplant and Thoracic Surgery at University Hospital Frankfurt. His clinical focus includes liver transplantation and complex hepatobiliary surgery for benign and malignant liver disease.