Pediatric surgeon Prof. Udo Rolle elected to head the DGCH
03.07.2024 17:08
Professor Dr. med. Udo Rolle, Director of the Department of Pediatric Surgery at the University Hospital Frankfurt am Main, has been elected President of the German Society of Surgery (DGCH) for the 2024/25 term.
He will also chair the professional association's 142nd annual congress, the German Surgical Congress (DCK 2025). It will take place online from March 18 to 20, 2025, and in Munich from March 26 to 28, 2025. The motto is "Safe Surgery for All." This means the greatest possible patient safety through the widespread and routine use of surgical checklists and quality standards. The focus is also on timely access to adequate surgical care for all. This particularly includes vulnerable groups such as children, geriatric patients, people with a migration background, and people in precarious living situations. In the run-up to the DCK 2025, all surgeons are called upon to review their respective areas of responsibility for untapped potential for patient safety.
Professor Rolle has been Director of the Department of Pediatric Surgery at the JW Goethe University Hospital in Frankfurt since November 1, 2008. His areas of expertise include congenital malformations in newborns, pediatric oncological surgery, visceral surgery, and pediatric urology. Before his appointment to Frankfurt, Rolle was a senior physician at the Department of Pediatric Surgery at Leipzig University Hospital. His responsibilities there included neonatal surgery and pediatric emergency medicine. His clinical and basic research focuses on congenital malformations. In particular, he investigates the autonomic nervous system, the intestine, and the urinary tract. He has published numerous original articles describing specific changes in the nerve supply in congenital diseases of the intestine and urinary tract. During his time at the Children's Research Centre at the University of Dublin (Ireland), Rolle received a grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG).
The pediatric surgeon is a leading figure in several scientific organizations. He is the elected president of the European Pediatric Surgeons Association and the World Federation of Associations of Pediatric Surgery. He is also president of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS), Section of Pediatric Surgery. From 2020 to 2023, he served as president of the German Society for Pediatric Surgery (DGKCH). Furthermore, Rolle is the secretary of the journal "Innovative Surgical Sciences," published by the DGCH.
Rolle is also associated with the International Hockey Federation (FIH), where, as Chairman of the Health and Safety Committee, he is actively involved in the medical care of athletes, for example, at the 2021 and 2024 Olympic Games. He is the author of several high-profile studies on the epidemiology and prevention of injuries in field hockey.
Professor Dr. Thomas Schmitz-Rixen, Secretary General of the DGCH, looks forward to the collaboration and to new impulses for the professional society: "At the heart of optimal patient care are patient safety and access to adequate surgical care for all. This is the foundation of our daily work. We must constantly remember this and continually develop further.".