- Email: [email protected]
Specialist Life — Hans Ludwig
European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology 99 (2001) 286±287
Specialist Life Ð Hans Ludwig Professor Hans Ludwig was born in Czechia and is a graduate of the University of Munich. He is the former chairman of the departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Essen and Basel and has undertaken research in micromorphology of the female genital tract, blood coagulation and hemorrhagic shock. He was Secretary General of the XIth World Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Berlin in 1985, President of the German Society of OBGYN from 1986 to 1988 and of the European Association of Gynecology and Obstetrics from 1989 to 1992. A member of the FIGO Executive Board between 1979 and 1995, he is also Dean of Academic Studies at the University of Basel and coordinating editor of Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Who were your most influential teachers? Werner Bickenbach (1900±1974) and Josef Zander (born 1918). Both chaired the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University in Munich, where I spent many years as student, and later as a resident, chief resident and ®nally associate professor. Bickenbach remains my favorite example of a good doctor who combined sensitive care for his patients with effective cure. Zander has a brilliant scienti®c mind, but is also an all round cultivated person. He was the leading ®gure in Gynecology in Germany at the time. His research on progesterone, e.g. encouraged us, his junior collaborators, to pursue scienti®c programs without giving them up after the ®rst failures.
experimental protocol to begin research on this. This led me to obstetrics, where I remained. Following the residency in pathology, I found the ®elds of my core research on the borderline between morphology, micropathology and clinical OBGYN. Why did you choose to be an academic? The environments of my residencies were always academicÐmedical schools of universities. So, it was the obvious choice for me, to enter academic life combining research, teaching and clinical work. What is your favorite music? The string±quintett by Franz Schubert (D956). What music do you listen in the car? Classics, each week a new selection. What is your favorite book? I have many, including ``Death in Venice'' by Thomas Mann, ``The History of Obstetrics and Gynecology'' by Michael J. O'Dowd and Elliot E. Philipp and poems by Rainer Maria Rilke. What book are you reading now? Margaret Atwood, ``The Blind Assassin''.
Why did you choose OBGYN as a specialty?
What would be your advice to a young doctor just starting out?
More or less by chance, when I was a resident in pathology I had to perform autopsies on stillborn babies. Those having suffered from prenatal asphyxia (as far as we were noti®ed by the attending obstetrician) frequently showed petechia in the subependymal zone of the brain. Was there a link to suffocation? It started to interest me and I devised an
You have chosen one of the best professions possible, but do not expect to get rich. Carry on working with precision in your daily life. Only good performance will give you satisfaction and enjoy being with people. Everyone has something you might love or at least admire, you just have to recognize it.
0301-2115/01/$ ± see front matter # 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. PII: S 0 3 0 1 - 2 1 1 5 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 5 4 7 - 4
Specialist Life
What is your best hope for the future? That mankind ®nally learns how to stop wars. Battles driven by fundamentalist beliefs are the worst. Their instigators have learned nothing from history. What is the biggest local problem that you face? The rising cost of health care, and public failure to manage the problem. This has led administration to in¯uence daily medical work to an almost unbearable degree. What would you change if you were a dictator? Let the well-off pay for their medical needs and give care free-of-charge to the poor. Who is your favorite politician? The present Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Ko® Annan. Who is your least favorite politician? Those representing the Taliban regime in tormented Afghanistan. Are you a feminist?
287
Do you support capital punishment? Certainly not. What was your worst professional mistake? Giving up too early in a complicated surgical case. How do you put patients at their ease? I try to take time listening, and to see the problem through their eyes. Tell us about your personal life. I have been married for 40 years and have two daughters and two grandchildren. Since retiring from my university of®ce, I have worked as a private practitioner in OBGYN and now see the profession from this side as well. I edit a scienti®c journal and still give lectures. My days are still busy. What do you think about private practice? I did not always see it as positively as I do now.
As far as a gynecologist should be, but certainly not an ardent one.
How much money did you make last year?
How do you relax?
Enough to comply with the many requirements, not enough to be called rich.
Physically by swimming or idling in a sauna, mentally by reading and writing. What job would you choose if you lived your life again? I would still be a doctor, but try to devote more time to research and writing. What is your attitude to abortion? The pregnant woman should have the sole decision after heaving heard proper advice.
Which charity do you support? I am a Rotarian. J.G.Thornton Institute of Epidemiology and Health Services Research University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9LN, UK Tel.: 44-113-2926370; fax: 44-113-2926452 E-mail address: [email protected] (J.G. Thornton)
Specialist Life Ð Hans Ludwig Professor Hans Ludwig was born in Czechia and is a graduate of the University of Munich. He is the former chairman of the departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Essen and Basel and has undertaken research in micromorphology of the female genital tract, blood coagulation and hemorrhagic shock. He was Secretary General of the XIth World Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Berlin in 1985, President of the German Society of OBGYN from 1986 to 1988 and of the European Association of Gynecology and Obstetrics from 1989 to 1992. A member of the FIGO Executive Board between 1979 and 1995, he is also Dean of Academic Studies at the University of Basel and coordinating editor of Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Who were your most influential teachers? Werner Bickenbach (1900±1974) and Josef Zander (born 1918). Both chaired the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University in Munich, where I spent many years as student, and later as a resident, chief resident and ®nally associate professor. Bickenbach remains my favorite example of a good doctor who combined sensitive care for his patients with effective cure. Zander has a brilliant scienti®c mind, but is also an all round cultivated person. He was the leading ®gure in Gynecology in Germany at the time. His research on progesterone, e.g. encouraged us, his junior collaborators, to pursue scienti®c programs without giving them up after the ®rst failures.
experimental protocol to begin research on this. This led me to obstetrics, where I remained. Following the residency in pathology, I found the ®elds of my core research on the borderline between morphology, micropathology and clinical OBGYN. Why did you choose to be an academic? The environments of my residencies were always academicÐmedical schools of universities. So, it was the obvious choice for me, to enter academic life combining research, teaching and clinical work. What is your favorite music? The string±quintett by Franz Schubert (D956). What music do you listen in the car? Classics, each week a new selection. What is your favorite book? I have many, including ``Death in Venice'' by Thomas Mann, ``The History of Obstetrics and Gynecology'' by Michael J. O'Dowd and Elliot E. Philipp and poems by Rainer Maria Rilke. What book are you reading now? Margaret Atwood, ``The Blind Assassin''.
Why did you choose OBGYN as a specialty?
What would be your advice to a young doctor just starting out?
More or less by chance, when I was a resident in pathology I had to perform autopsies on stillborn babies. Those having suffered from prenatal asphyxia (as far as we were noti®ed by the attending obstetrician) frequently showed petechia in the subependymal zone of the brain. Was there a link to suffocation? It started to interest me and I devised an
You have chosen one of the best professions possible, but do not expect to get rich. Carry on working with precision in your daily life. Only good performance will give you satisfaction and enjoy being with people. Everyone has something you might love or at least admire, you just have to recognize it.
0301-2115/01/$ ± see front matter # 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. PII: S 0 3 0 1 - 2 1 1 5 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 5 4 7 - 4
Specialist Life
What is your best hope for the future? That mankind ®nally learns how to stop wars. Battles driven by fundamentalist beliefs are the worst. Their instigators have learned nothing from history. What is the biggest local problem that you face? The rising cost of health care, and public failure to manage the problem. This has led administration to in¯uence daily medical work to an almost unbearable degree. What would you change if you were a dictator? Let the well-off pay for their medical needs and give care free-of-charge to the poor. Who is your favorite politician? The present Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Ko® Annan. Who is your least favorite politician? Those representing the Taliban regime in tormented Afghanistan. Are you a feminist?
287
Do you support capital punishment? Certainly not. What was your worst professional mistake? Giving up too early in a complicated surgical case. How do you put patients at their ease? I try to take time listening, and to see the problem through their eyes. Tell us about your personal life. I have been married for 40 years and have two daughters and two grandchildren. Since retiring from my university of®ce, I have worked as a private practitioner in OBGYN and now see the profession from this side as well. I edit a scienti®c journal and still give lectures. My days are still busy. What do you think about private practice? I did not always see it as positively as I do now.
As far as a gynecologist should be, but certainly not an ardent one.
How much money did you make last year?
How do you relax?
Enough to comply with the many requirements, not enough to be called rich.
Physically by swimming or idling in a sauna, mentally by reading and writing. What job would you choose if you lived your life again? I would still be a doctor, but try to devote more time to research and writing. What is your attitude to abortion? The pregnant woman should have the sole decision after heaving heard proper advice.
Which charity do you support? I am a Rotarian. J.G.Thornton Institute of Epidemiology and Health Services Research University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9LN, UK Tel.: 44-113-2926370; fax: 44-113-2926452 E-mail address: [email protected] (J.G. Thornton)