Wiebke Arlt is a German endocrinologist and William Withering Chair of Medicine at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

. She specialises in

adrenal The adrenal glands (also known as suprarenal glands) are endocrine glands that produce a variety of hormones including adrenaline and the steroids aldosterone and cortisol. They are found above the kidneys. Each gland has an outer cortex which ...

disease and

disorders of sex development Disorders of sex development (DSDs), also known as differences in sex development, diverse sex development and variations in sex characteristics (VSC), are congenital conditions affecting the reproductive system, in which development of chromoso ...

Career

Arlt studied medicine at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

, completing a MBChB in 1990 and an academic MD in 1993. She trained in endocrinology at Universitätsklinikum Würzburg (University Hospital

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

) and finished her training in 1998. She then embarked on a research career, beginning in the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) under the supervision of

pediatric endocrinologist Pediatric endocrinology (British: Paediatric) is a medical subspecialty dealing with disorders of the endocrine glands, such as variations of physical growth and sexual development in childhood, diabetes and many more. By age, pediatric endocrinol ...

Walter L. Miller, with a fellowship grant from the

German Research Council 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 ...

. She returned to Würzburg as a consultant endocrinologist briefly in 2001, before moving to the

in England in 2002 with another fellowship from the German Research Council. She became a senior lecturer at the university in 2004, the same year that she received a Medical Research Council clinical fellowship. She was promoted to Head of the Centre for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism in 2008 and William Withering Chair of Medicine in 2014. She is also director of Birmingham's Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research (ISMR), and is an honorary consultant endocrinologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, where she specialises in

and

gonad A gonad, sex gland, or reproductive gland is a mixed gland that produces the gametes and sex hormones of an organism. Female reproductive cells are egg cells, and male reproductive cells are sperm. The male gonad, the testicle, produces sper ...

al disease. She became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 2006 and was elected to the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its mission is to adv ...

in 2010.

Research

Arlt's main research interests involve adrenal tumours and

. Her group at the University of Birmingham conducted the first

randomised controlled trial A randomized controlled trial (or randomized control trial; RCT) is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical t ...

to show that

DHEA Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), also known as androstenolone, is an endogenous steroid hormone precursor. It is one of the most abundant circulating steroids in humans. DHEA is produced in the adrenal glands, the gonads, and the brain. It functio ...

replacement is beneficial in patients with

adrenal insufficiency Adrenal insufficiency is a condition in which the adrenal glands do not produce adequate amounts of steroid hormones. The adrenal gland normally secretes glucocorticoids (primarily cortisol), mineralocorticoids (primarily aldosterone), and androge ...

. She has also discovered a form of androgen excess due to a single gene mutation. At UCSF, Arlt and Walter Miller described a new form of

congenital adrenal hyperplasia Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a group of autosomal recessive disorders characterized by impaired cortisol synthesis. It results from the deficiency of one of the five enzymes required for the synthesis of cortisol in the adrenal cortex. ...

. She has authored more than 200 publications and is editor-in-chief of the ''

European Journal of Endocrinology The ''European Journal of Endocrinology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering endocrinology with a focus on clinical and translational studies, research, and reviews in paediatric and adult endocrinology. It is the clinical jour ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arlt, Wiebke Living people German endocrinologists German medical researchers Academics of the University of Birmingham University of Cologne alumni Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Year of birth missing (living people) Medical journal editors