Georg Peters (March 11, 1951 in

Asperden Asperden is a village in the municipality of Goch, Kreis Kleve in the German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the ...

– August 8, 2018 Karwendel) was a German physician,

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Ancient Greek, Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of Microorganism, microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, f ...

and university professor. From 1992 until his fatal mountain accident he headed the Institute of

Medical Microbiology Medical microbiology, the large subset of microbiology that is applied to medicine, is a branch of medical science concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. In addition, this field of science studies various ...

at the University of Münster. He was an internationally recognised expert in the field of staphylococci and the infectious diseases caused by them, to which he had devoted himself since the beginning of his scientific career.Mathias Herrmann
Nachruf Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Georg Matthias Peters
Medizinische Fakultät Münster, 30 August 2018, accessed 23 May 2019.

Professional career

Georg Peters came from a simple farming background.Mathias Herrmann, Georg Häcker

Internetpräsenz der

Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie The German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (german: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie, DGHM), formerly known as the Society for Microbiology, is a German medical society, which works to advance research in the fields of in ...

, August 2018, accessed 15 August 2018. He studied human medicine at the University of Cologne, where he passed the state examination in 1975 and received his doctorate in 1976. After professional stations at the Children's Hospital Norderney and at the Clinic for Internal Medicine II at the University Hospital Cologne, he worked for several years at the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene at the University of Cologne, first as a research assistant, later as a senior physician.In memoriam Professor Dr. med. Georg Peters
Internetpräsenz des Universitätsklinikums Münster, 9 August 2018, accessed 23 May 2019.
In 1982, he was recognised as a specialist in microbiology and infection epidemiology in Cologne and went to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis for one year on a scholarship by the

German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...

(DFG). In 1985 he habilitated and was awarded a C2 professorship at the University of Cologne in 1986.
In 1992 he was appointed full professor at the University of Münster and has since headed the Institute for Medical Microbiology there. The focus of his scientific research was staphylococci and the diseases they cause. His findings on the pathogenesis of foreign body-associated infections by

coagulase-negative staphylococci ''Staphylococcus'' is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria in the family Staphylococcaceae from the order Bacillales. Under the microscope, they appear spherical (cocci), and form in grape-like clusters. ''Staphylococcus'' species are facultative ...

and their ability to form biofilms are considered groundbreaking. His first publication on this topic dates back to 1982, and he consistently championed the diagnosis, prophylaxis and therapy of infections caused by multi-resistant pathogens, such as in particular the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains, the so-called MRSA. His reputation in this field was reflected, among other things, in his election as vice-president (1991) and president (1993) of the "Gordon Research Conference on Staphylococcal Diseases". Peters was a member of the ''Cells in Motion'' (CiM) Cluster of Excellence at the University of Münster as Principal Investigator since 2012. He was able to inspire young academics to research pathogens and was awarded the teaching prize by the students of the Medical Faculty of the University of Münster several times.Karsten Becker:
Georg Peters †: Trauer um einen hervorragenden Arzt
'' In: '' Dtsch Ärztebl.'' 115(35-36), 2018, S. A-1555 / B-1313 / C-1301 Peters fought with dedication for the expansion of medical microbiology and infectious medicine in Germany. In memory of Peters, the Paul Ehrlich Society for Chemotherapy has established a "Georg Peters Lecture" at its annual Bad Honnef Symposium on Infectious Diseases. The German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM) held a "Georg Peters Memorial Lecture" at its 71st Annual Meeting in Göttingen, and the

European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) is a non-profit scientific international organization with headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. Its mission is to improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of inf ...

(ESCMID) held a "Georg Peters Memorial Session" on coagulase-negative staphylococci at the 29th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Amsterdam.

Activity in committees/specialist societies

* Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie, President from 1998 to 2000 * German ''Paul Ehrlich Society for Chemotherapy'', President from 2002 to 2004 * Robert-Koch-Institut, since 2003 on the Scientific Advisory Board, from 2009 its Chairman. * Joint Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of Health (Germany), Vice-Chairman *

Gordon Research Conference Gordon Research Conferences are a group of international scientific conferences organized by a non-profit organization of the same name. The conference topics cover frontier research in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences, and thei ...

on Staphylococcal Diseases, elected Vice-President and President * Member of the Working Group on MRSA of the International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (ISAC). *

(DFG) Collaborative Research Centres "Mechanisms of inflammation" and "Breaking barriers", Spokesperson * German Research Foundation Review Board "Microbiology, Virology, Immunology" * Expert in the German German Council of Science and Humanities * Senate of the German Research Foundation * Board of Trustees of the German Sepsis Foundation * Incentive program ''Innovative Medical Research'' (IMF) Münster, Chairman from 1996 to 2002 * Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research (IZKF) Münster, spokesperson from 2006 to 2012. * Senate of the University of Münster, its chairman from 2014 to 2018. * Board of Directors of the Dr Mildred Scheel Foundation for Cancer Research, since 2015 * Federation of bioscientific and biomedical societies, Vice-President (today: Federation of Biology, Biosciences and Biomedicine in Germany) *

Advisory board An advisory board is a body that provides non-binding strategic advice to the management of a corporation, organization, or foundation. The informal nature of an advisory board gives greater flexibility in structure and management compared to th ...

of the medical journal

Deutsches Ärzteblatt The ''Deutsches Ärzteblatt'' is a weekly German-language medical magazine published in Germany. Profile ''Deutsches Ärzteblatt'' is published by the Deutscher Ärzte Verlag, which is co-owned by the German Medical Association (''Bundesärztekam ...

Publications (selection)

* Georg Peters, R. Locci, G. Pulverer: ''Adherence and growth of coagulase-negative staphylococci on surfaces of intravenous catheters.'' In: '' J Inf Dis.'' 146, 1982, S. 479–482. doi:10.1093/infdis/146.4.479 * E. D. Gray, Georg Peters, M. Verstegen, W. E. Regelmann: ''Effect of extracellular slime substance from Staphylococcus epidermidis on the human cellular immune response.'' In: '' Lancet.'' 1(8373), 1984, S. 365–367. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(84)90413-6. * Georg Peters, C. von Eiff, M. Herrmann: ''The changing pattern of coagulase-negative staphylococci as infectious pathogens.'' In: '' Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases.'' 8 (Suppl 1), 1995, S. S12–S19. doi:10.1097/00001432-199503001-00004. * C. Breitkopf, D. Hammel, H. H. Scheld, Georg Peters, K. Becker: ''Impact of a molecular approach to improve the microbiological diagnosis of infective heart valve endocarditis.'' In: ''

Circulation Circulation may refer to: Science and technology * Atmospheric circulation, the large-scale movement of air * Circulation (physics), the path integral of the fluid velocity around a closed curve in a fluid flow field * Circulatory system, a bio ...

.'' 111(11), 2005, S. 1415–1421. doi:10.1161/01.CIR.0000158481.07569.8D * R. A. Proctor, C. von Eiff, B. C. Kahl, K. Becker, P. McNamara, M. Herrmann, Georg Peters: ''Small colony variants: a pathogenic form of bacteria that facilitates persistent and recurrent infections.'' In: '' Nat Rev Microbiol.'' 4(4), 2006, S. 295–305. doi:10.1038/nrmicro1384 * K. Becker, C. Heilmann, Georg Peters: ''Coagulase-negative staphylococci.'' In: '' Clin Microbiol Rev.'' 27(4), 2014, S. 870–926. doi:10.1128/CMR.00109-13. * R. A. Proctor, A. Kriegeskorte, B. C. Kahl, K. Becker, B. Löffler, Georg Peters: ''Staphylococcus aureus small colony variants (SCVs): A road map for the metabolic pathways involved in persistent infections.'' In: '' Front Cell Infect Microbiol.'' 4, 2014, S. 99. doi:10.3389/fcimb.2014.00099 Peters is listed as an author or co-author of more than 250 peer-reviewed publications in the Medline database PubMed from 1987 to 2021.PubMed Search result
as per 19 August 2023

External links

In memoriam Univ.-Prof. Dr. Georg Peters
on his Institute's website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Georg German infectious disease physicians 1951 births 2018 deaths 20th-century German physicians 21st-century German physicians Academic staff of the University of Münster German microbiologists Physicians from North Rhine-Westphalia Sport deaths in Austria