For the first time, a woman heads the German surgeon ranks

13.07.2015 12:25

For the first time in the 143-year history of the German Society of Surgery (DGCH), a woman is taking over its presidency: Professor Dr. med. Gabriele Schackert, director of the clinic and polyclinic for neurosurgery at the Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital in Dresden.

The renowned neurosurgeon replaces Professor Dr. med. Peter M. Vogt from Hanover and has now been at the head of the DGCH for a year. Gabriele Schackert studied human medicine at the Ruprecht Karls University in Heidelberg from 1971 to 1977. She then completed specialist training in neurosurgery at the universities of Erlangen/Nuremberg and Heidelberg. From 1984 to 1993, Schackert worked as a senior physician in Heidelberg. She interrupted this task for two years of research at the MD Anderson Hospital and Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, USA. After completing her habilitation, she was appointed to the chair of neurosurgery at the Carl Gustav Carus Medical Faculty at the Technical University of Dresden in 1993. Since then she has been the director of the clinic and polyclinic for neurosurgery.

In 2013, the DGCH elected Prof. Schackert as the first woman to the board. With the assumption of the presidency on July 1, 2015, Gabriele Schackert will also be conference president of the 133rd Congress of the DGCH, which will take place from April 26 to 29, 2016 in Berlin. Under the motto “Surgery in the area of tension between technology, ethics and economics”, the congress deals with today's challenges for surgeons. “Technical progress improves surgical options enormously and makes diseases curable that were previously considered inoperable,” says Schackert, explaining her plans for the congress. “But this means that we surgeons are increasingly faced with the very important question of whether what is technically feasible actually means a better quality of life for the patient.” At the same time, surgery is subject to increasing cost pressure. The mother of two emphasizes that the subject must maintain quality – even with difficult procedures – but remain affordable.