Fritz Scheler (5 August 1925 – 4 June 2002) was a German

internist Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of th ...

nephrologist Nephrology is a specialty for both adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (renal physiology) and kidney disease (renal pathophysiology), the preservation of kid ...

and university professor. He was a pioneer in the field of

hemofiltration Hemofiltration, also haemofiltration, is a renal replacement therapy which is used in the intensive care setting. It is usually used to treat acute kidney injury (AKI), but may be of benefit in multiple organ dysfunction syndrome or sepsis. Du ...

treatment and helped found an institute for drug law at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

Life

Fritz Scheler was born on 5 August 1925 in Mengersgereuth as the only child of a train conductor and a seamstress in southern Thuringia. Werner Scheler was his first cousin. Fritz Scheler went to school in

Sonneberg Sonneberg () in Thuringia, Germany, is the seat of the Sonneberg district. It is in the Franconian south of Thuringia, neighboring its Upper Franconian twin town Neustadt bei Coburg. Sonneberg became known as the "world toy city", and is home ...

. Scheler was married in 1955 to Elisabeth Correns, grandchild of

Carl Correns Carl Erich Correns (19 September 1864 – 14 February 1933) was a German botanist and geneticist notable primarily for his independent discovery of the principles of heredity, which he achieved simultaneously but independently of the botanist ...

. Scheler studied

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

at the universities of Göttingen and

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

. In 1954 he received his doctorate in Göttingen. Scheler's

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

on extracorporal hemodialysis followed in 1964. From 1967 until 1993 he was director of the department for

nephrology Nephrology is a specialty for both adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (renal physiology) and kidney disease (renal pathophysiology), the preservation of kid ...

and

rheumatology Rheumatology () is a branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and management of disorders whose common feature is inflammation in the bones, muscles, joints, and internal organs. Rheumatology covers more than 100 different complex diseases, c ...

of the medical faculty at the Universität Göttingen. Scheler died on 4 June 2002 in Göttingen.

Hemofiltration research

Scheler invented the term of hemofiltration, and was co-inventor and pioneer in the development of hemofiltration, a process that filters blood through a membrane to remove water and other waste. This method was developed and applied for the first time by his assistant Peter Kramer in Göttingen, as a technique (spontaneous filtration) which uses the intrinsic pressure of the patient's circulation for dissociating blood plasma, in order to acutely support cardiac function during cardiac failure. Later the different techniques of hemofiltration (CAVH, CVVH etc.) were further developed. Hemofiltration was regarded by

Willem Kolff Willem Johan "Pim" Kolff (February 14, 1911 – February 11, 2009) was a pioneer of hemodialysis, artificial heart, as well as in the entire field of artificial organs. Willem was a member of the Kolff family, an old Dutch Patricianship, ...

in a letter to Scheler as the next step since Kolff's invention of dialysis.

Drug safety research

Scheler had a lifelong interest in pharmacology since his early work at the

Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine The Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine () was a research institute of the Max Planck Society, located in Göttingen, Germany. On January 1, 2022, the institute merged with the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttinge ...

. After the invention of

, and the early, tragic death of Peter Kramer, he increasingly focussed on his work at the committee for drug safety in Germany (Arzneimittelkommission der Deutschen Ärzteschaft). He belonged to this committee since 1975, from 1981 until 1993 he became its president. During this time a number of political decisions were strongly contested, such as the introduction of a 'positive list' of drugs which could only be reimbursed by public health care insurance, and which Scheler successfully opposed. He was also involved in the foundation of an institute for drug law at the university of Göttingen, which has by now been further developed to a leading institution of medicine law. Scheler received an honorary doctorate of the law department of the university of Göttingen in recognition of his contributions to this institute in 1995.

Further work

Scheler published approximately 300 papers on a number of topics concerning hypertension, renal and cardiac failure, diabetic nephropathy and other topics together with his clinical research group.

Honors and awards

* Ernst-von-Bergmann-Plakette (1985) * Friedrich-Voges-Medaille der Kassenärztlichen Bundesvereinigung * Paracelsus-Medaille der Deutschen Ärzteschaft (1994) * Ehrendoktorwürde der Juristischen Fakultät der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (1995) * Ehrenmitglied der Gesellschaft für Nephrologie (1996) *

Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

(1997) * Fritz-Scheler-Stipendium der KfH-Stiftung Präventivmedizin

References

External links

* Rita Wilp:
Akademische Gedenkfeier für Prof. Scheler – Abt. Nephrologie und Rheumatologie
'' In: ''

Informationsdienst Wissenschaft Informationsdienst Wissenschaft e.V. or idw (The Science Information Service) operates an Internet platform, which bundles the press reports and dates of important events from about 1,000 scientific institutions, including universities, technical c ...

.'' 10 February 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Scheler, Fritz 1925 births 2002 deaths German nephrologists Physicians from Thuringia University of Göttingen alumni University of Freiburg alumni