2017-11-16 Wolfgang Albers by Sandro Halank

Wolfgang Albers (born 2 August 1950 in Essen, West Germany) is a German politician with the Left Party of Germany and a member of the

Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin The Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin (House of Deputies) () is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of Berlin, Germany according to the city-state's constitution. In 1993 the parliament moved from Rathaus Schöneberg to its present house on Niederkirchne ...

Biography

After completing his '' Abitur'' in 1970, Wolfgang Albers began studying medicine in 1974 in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...

, eventually transferring to the

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of stud ...

, where he completed the

Staatsexamen The ("state examination" or "exam by state"; pl.: ''Staatsexamina'') is a German government licensing examination that future physicians, dentists, teachers, pharmacists, food chemists, psychotherapists and jurists (i.e., lawyers, judges, publi ...

and earned his doctorate (''Promotion'') in 1980. In 1981 he began an internship in surgery at Humboldt Hospital (''Humboldt-Krankenhaus'') in

Berlin-Reinickendorf Reinickendorf () is a locality () of Berlin in the borough () of Reinickendorf. It had a population of 83,972 in 2020. Geography The locality is situated in the south-western side of its district. It borders the localities of Tegel in the west, ...

. In the course of his internship, he also worked for half a year in

cardiac surgery Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to co ...

at the German Heart Center of Berlin (''Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin''). In 1990 he became a full surgical doctor and worked as a senior physician of General and Vascular Surgery at Humboldt Hospital. Albers was elected for the first time to the worker's council of the Humboldt Hospital in 2000. After the merger of all nine previously public hospitals into the

Vivantes The Vivantes Hospital Group is a state-owned healthcare company operating hospitals, primary health care centers, nursing facilities and other medical centers in Berlin. The company runs 10 hospitals with total capacity of about 6,000 beds and m ...

group, he again was elected to the worker's council within the concern. From 2002 until May 2008, he sat on the Berlin Doctors' Council (''Berliner Ärztekammer'') as an elected delegate.

Politics

In June 2005, Albers ran for office as a member of the

Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (german: Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit – Die Wahlalternative, WASG) was a left-wing German political party founded in 2005 by activists disenchanted with the ruling Red-Green coaliti ...

, and in May 2006, he became a member of the Party of Democratic Socialism (''Linkspartei.PDS''). A year later, in June 2007, the merged PDS and Linkspartei became simply

the Left Party The Left (german: Die Linke; stylised as and in its logo as ), commonly referred to as the Left Party (german: Die Linkspartei, links=no ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of th ...

. Beginning July 2007, he has been deputy chairperson of the Left Party of Berlin. On 26 October 2006, he became a member of the 16th Abgeordetenhaus of Berlin. He is a member of the Committee for Health, Environment, and Consumer Protection, and has been its chairperson since January 2012. Additionally, he is a member of the Committee for Science and Research, for which he has been the deputy chairperson likewise since January 2012. Since 2006, he has been a member of the Group Executive Board and spokesperson for Health and Science for the party group in the Abgeordetenhaus. Following the election in September 2011, he received a direct mandate for his party in the second electoral district of Lichtenberg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albers, Wolfgang 1950 births Living people Politicians from Essen Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany) politicians Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative politicians The Left (Germany) politicians Members of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin