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Berlin The Bremen pharmacologist Bernd Mhlbauer becomes the new chairman of the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association (Akd). He succeeded long-time chairman Wolf-Dieter Ludwig, who ended his term in office after 18 years. In today’s new election of the Akd board, he did not stand for re-election.

Mhlbauer, previously deputy chairman of the commission, was born in Baden-Baden in 1958. He completed his medical studies between 1977 and 1984 in Heidelberg, Zurich and Freiburg. Mhlbauer completed his habilitation in pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Tbingen in 1994 on the regulation of kidney function by the renal dopamine system.

Between 1995 and 1999 he headed the clinical pharmacology working group at the Institute of Pharmacology at the University of Tbingen. Since 2001 he has been director of the Institute for Clinical Pharmacology at the Bremen-Mitte Clinic. Mhlbauer has been a member of the Akd since 2008, a member of the board since 2010 and deputy chairman since 2022.

Andreas Klinge, a specialist in internal medicine who works as an internist and diabetologist in a group practice in Hamburg, was elected as deputy chairman of the Akd. Klinge has been a member of the Akd board since 2022.

The new board is completed by the specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy Martina Pitzer, clinic director of the Vitos child and adolescent mental health clinic in Eltville, the emeritus pediatrician and adolescent doctor Wolfgang Rascher, who will be director of the child and adolescent clinic until 2019 at the Erlangen University Hospital, and the hematologist and oncologist Sebastian Fetscher, head physician at the Medical Clinic III the Sana Clinics Lbeck. Pitzer and Rascher were confirmed in office as Akd board members. Fetscher was newly elected to the board.

The 72-year-old hematologist and oncologist Ludwig has been a full member of the Akd since 1999 and a member of the board since 2000. In 2006 he was elected chairman of the Akd. Ludwig was farewelled yesterday in Berlin at a scientific symposium in his honor organized by the Federal Medical Association (BK). BK President Klaus Reinhardt thanked Ludwig for his many years of commitment. Reinhardt emphasized that he shaped the Akd and its work.

At the beginning of his term in office, Ludwig set the goals of more targeted communication with the medical profession and improved drug safety, said Sibylle Steiner, who is on the Akd board as a representative of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV).

You have not only achieved both goals, but exceeded them, emphasized Steiner. Even back then, Ludwig described some studies as disguised industry marketing instruments that did not always address the questions relevant to practical use.

Through his clinical work, Ludwig was able to build a bridge between scientific evaluation and practice, said Steiner. The medical profession, patients and the public in Germany owe Ludwig a debt of gratitude for his work, his always clear words and his personal commitment to evidence and transparency in drug therapy.

Steiner praised his sensitivity to human needs, the limits of science and the fact that what is medically feasible is not necessarily the right thing for the patient’s individual situation.

Professional competence and high integrity

The symposium not only honors an outstanding doctor, but also a remarkable person who has set standards for all of us, said Josef Hecken, impartial chairman of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA). Ludwig is characterized by high professional and social competence, high integrity, great commitment to passing on knowledge and empathy.

He has always managed to avoid over-treatment at the end of life, even against economic interests in the interests of patients. Hecken thanked Ludwig personally and on behalf of the G-BA for his commitment: Only a few people can do what you have done and achieved. © fos, ggr/aerzteblatt.de