German Heart Center Munich
Munich, Germany 
Head of the Department
Prof. Dr. Heribert Schunkert
Department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Diseases
Department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Diseases at the German Heart Center Munich provides cardiovascular disease patients with optimal care. The department is one the largest centers for cardiovascular diseases in all of Germany and Europe. The department has a remarkable medical team of doctors who are specialized in the treatment of heart valves disease, heart failure, hypertension, arrhythmias, and circulatory disorders. The department works in close cooperation with other departments of the German Heart Center Munich such as the Departments of Radiology, Pediatric Cardiology, and Cardiac Surgery. The department has a special focus directed towards critical conditions such as acute myocardial infarction so the Chest Pain Unit of the department and a catheter team are available and ready around the clock.
Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Med. Heribert Schunkert, the department treats over 7,800 inpatients and performs more than 2,000 coronary stent implantations, 300 synthetic heart valves implantations and 1,200 interventions for cardiac arrhythmias every year. The department is concerned with the treatment of heart valve defects in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory of the department. The research unit of the department is one of the most successful research facilities in Germany.
The Department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Diseases at the German Heart Center Munich is specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of:
• Coronary heart disease
• Heart arrhythmia
• Mitral valve stenosis
• Tricuspid valve stenosis
• Heart failure
• Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy
• Myocardial infarction
• Arterial hypertension
• Angina pectoris
Education and Professional Experience
- 1985 - 1988 Research Fellow of the Department of Internal Medicine II (Scientific Director: Prof. Dr. med. H.G. Sieberth) at the RWTH Aachen University.
- 1988 - 1990 Research Fellow, Department of Vascular Medicine (Chief Physician: Prof. Dr. med. V.J. Dzau), Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
- 1990 - 1991 Clinical Resident and Medical Lecturer, Department of Cardiology, Beth Israel Hospital (Chief Physician: Prof. Dr. med. W. Grossman), Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
- 1991 - 1994 Research Fellow of the Department of Internal Medicine II (Director: Prof. Dr. med. G.A. J. Riegger) at the University of Regensburg.
- 1996 - 1997 Research Fellow of the Department of Interventional Cardiology, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory (Director: Prof. Dr. med. I. Palacios), Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
- 1994 - 1999 Senior Physician of the Department of Internal Medicine II (Director: Prof. Dr. med. G.A. Riegger) at the University of Regensburg.
- 2000 - 2002 Leading Senior Physician of the Department of Internal Medicine II (Director: Prof. Dr. med. G.A. Riegger) at the University of Regensburg.
- 2002 - 2003 Acting Director of the Department of Internal Medicine II, Visiting Professor for Cardiology / Angiology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck.
- 2003 - 2012 Director of the Department of Internal Medicine II, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck.
- Since 2012 Director of the Department of Cardiology at the German Heart Center Munich, Ordinary Professor of the Technical University of Munich.
Editorial Boards
- Circulation Cardiovascular Genetics.
- European Heart Journal.
- Clinical and Experimental Hypertension.
- Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy.
- Basic Research in Cardiology.
- Journal of Molecular Medicine.
- Cardiovasc.
- Pharmacogenetics and Genomics.
- J. Hypertension.
Reviewer Activities
- German Research Foundation.
- European Society of Cardiology.
- British Heart Foundation.
- Nederlandse Hartstichting.
- German Foundation for Heart Research.
- Novartis Foundation
- New England Journal of Medicine.
- Nature.
- Nature Genetics.
- Circulation.
- European Heart Journal
Membership in Professional Societies
- 1991 German Society of Internal Medicine.
- 1994 German Society for Cardiovascular Research.
- 1994 International Society of Hypertension.
- 1995 Working Group "Cardiovascular Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering" of the German Society of Cardiology, 2 years as a Speaker.
- 2002 German Society for Hypertension, Section Science.
- 2004 - 2010 Board Member of the German High-Pressure League.
- 2006 - 2011 Coordinator of the EU Consortium on Cardiogenic.
- Since 2008 Coordinator of the BMBF-NGFN Consortium on Atherogenomics.
- Since 2008 Member of the Supervisory Board of the University Hospital Regensburg.
- 2008 - 2011 Member of the Project Committee of NGFN-Plus and NGFN-Transfer in the Program of Medical Genome Research.
- Since 2011 Member of the German Center for Cardiovascular Research.
Scientific Awards
- 1993 Research Scholarship of the Sandoz Foundation for Therapeutic Research.
- 1994 Walter Clawiter Prize of the University of Duesseldorf.
- 1995 Ernst von Leyden Memorial Medal of the Berlin Society for Internal Medicine.
- 1995 Heisenberg Scholarship of the German Research Foundation.
- 2001 Arthur Weber Prize of the German Society of Cardiology.
- 2001 Science Prize of the German Society for Prevention and Rehabilitation.
- 2001 Scientific Award for obesity research of the German Society for Hypertension.
- 2011 Honorary Award Lecture on Prevention of the German Cardiac Society – Cardiovascular Research.
