Biography

After completing school with a high school diploma in Augsburg in 1963, Hetzer studied medicine at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and, from 1964, at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. In 1969, Roland Hetzer completed his doctorate in Munich on the subject of "Cerebral blood flow measurements with xenon 133 - clinical application of a clearance method". From 1969 to 1971 he became an assistant doctor in Augsburg. In 1970, after the German one, he also passed the US state examination. From 1971 to 1975 he became a research assistant for surgery at the Hanover Medical School. He then became a research assistant at the Pacific Medical Center San Francisco at Stanford University, USA.

In 1977 he was recognized as a specialist in surgery. In 1978 he was appointed senior physician in Hanover. There he completed his habilitation in 1979 on the subject of "Experimental and clinical contributions to the topic of surgical reperfusion of ischemic myocardial infarction", and in 1983 he received an adjunct professorship. He established his research focus, heart transplantation, in Hanover from 1983 onwards. With his appointment as a university professor, Hetzer came to the Free University of Berlin in 1985 and, together with Emil Bücherl, helped to establish the German Heart Center Berlin (DHZB) as head of cardiac surgery and medical director. He was also appointed medical director of the Cottbus Heart Center in 1998.

Since 1995 he has been a university professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin. For his scientific work, Prof. Dr. med. Roland Hetzer was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of Berlin in 1987 and the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, in 1995. He also received honorary professorships from the Second Medical University of Shanghai (1999), the University of Fujian (2001), the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyñski University in Warsaw (2002) and the University of Sarajevo. In 2009 he became chairman of the European Registry for Patients with Mechanical Circulatory Support. V., Euromacs.

Prof. Roland Hetzer is married and has two children.
- IMDb mini biography by: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth