User:Writeez/Förstermann

Ulrich Förstermann

Ulrich Förstermann (born in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany on 04 April 1955) is a German physician and pharmacologist.

Background: Förstermann is currently Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz [1], Mainz, Germany, and Vice President of his University [2]. He accepted the Chair of Pharmacology in 1993 after declining an equivalent offer of theJohann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. From 1989 to 1993 Förstermann worked at Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Illinois, USA (withNobel Laureate Ferid Murad). At the same time he held an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology at Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois. During the first two years, his stay was supported Heisenberg Scholarship from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council), Bonn, Germany. From 1991-1993 Förstermann took over Abbott’s Vascular Biology Project as the Project Director. Previously (1984-1989), Förstermann worked at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, first as Assistant Professor and later (after obtaining his German lecturing qualification, the “Habilitation”) as an Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Assistant Medical Director. Förstermann holds an MD/PhD (pharmacology) degree from Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, 1980. He also spent his early post-doctoral years at the Department of Pharmacology of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg.

Research and Professional Activities: Förstermann’s key research contributed to the understanding of endothelium-dependent relaxation of blood vessels (endothelium-derived relaxing factor), the identification of the enzymes "nitric oxide synthase" (EC 1.14.13.39) [3] and the phenomenon of oxidative stress in the vasculature. He has published over 225 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals [4] and is one of the most cited pharmacologists in the world [5], h-index: 71. He is also co-author and co-editor of a major German language Pharmacology Textbook (Aktories, Förstermann, Hofmann, Starke, Allgemeine und spezielle Pharmakologie und Toxikologie, Elsevier, Munich, 2009. Förstermann is President elect of EPHAR - The Federation of European Pharmacological Societies [6], and Vice Chairman of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Pharmakologie (German Society for Pharmacology) [7]

Awards and Recognitions: Förstermann is the recipient of several awards and honors including the Goedecke/Warner Lambert Research Award from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (1979); the Fritz Kuelz Award in Pharmacology from the German Society of Pharmacology and Toxicology (DGPT, 1986) [3]; the Rudolph Schoen Award from the Hannover Medical School (1989); a Heisenberg Scholarship from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council), Bonn, Germany (1989-1993, returned prematurely in 1991).