Prof. Dr. Markus Schwaiger

Academic Career and Research Areas

Prof. Markus Schwaiger (b. 1950) was Medical Director and CEO at the Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich from 2016 until the end of June 2021. From 1993 to 2017, he was Director of the Department of Nuclear Medicine. His research focus is the use of multimodal imaging in cardiology and oncology to visualize and quantify biological processes. With his research, Prof. Schwaiger has contributed significantly to the establishment of positron emission tomography (PET) as a standard procedure for the detection of myocardial viability. He leads the Collaborative Research Center 824 funded by the German Research Foundation, which aims to develop methods for imaging tumor biology in order to select and monitor therapy in patients with cancer.

Prof. Schwaiger completed his medical studies at the University of Freiburg and Freie Universität Berlin. His career as a physician and researcher has taken him, among others, to the UCLA School of Medicine (Los Angeles, USA) and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, USA), where he was Professor of Nuclear Medicine until 1993.

Prof. Schwaiger is a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Since 2023 Prof. Schwaiger is the President of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. He is the founding director of TranslaTUM, the interdisciplinary central institute for translational cancer research at the Technical University of Munich.

Awards

  • Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Medal, Technical University of Munich (2019)
  • Georg-von-Hevesy Medal, German Society of Nuclear Medicine (2016)
  • Paul C. Aebersold Award, Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (2011)
  • Bavarian Maximilian Medal for Science and Art (2010)
  • Federal Cross of Merit (2009)

Herrmann K, Schwaiger M, Lewis JS, Solomon SB, McNeil BJ, Baumann M, Gambhir SS, Hricak H, Weissleder R: “Radiotheranostics: a roadmap for future development”. Lancet Oncology. 2020; 21(3): E146-E156.

Abstract

Lordick F, Ott K, Krause BJ, Weber WA, Becker K, Stein HJ, Lorenzen S, Schuster T, Wieder H, Herrmann K, Bredenkamp R, Hofler H, Fink U, Peschel C, Schwaiger M, Siewert JR, et al. “PET to assess early metabolic response and to guide treatment of adenocarcinoma of the oesophagogastric junction: The MUNICON phase II trial”. Lancet Oncology. 2007; 8: 797-805.

Abstract

Haubner R, Wester HJ, Weber WA, Mang C, Ziegler SI, Goodman SL, Senekowitsch-Schmidtke R, Kessler H, Schwaiger M. “Noninvasive imaging of alpha(v)beta(3) integrin expression using F-18-labeled RGD-containing glycopeptide and positron emission tomography”. Cancer Research. 2001; 61(5): 1781-1785.

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Bengel FM, Ueberfuhr P, Schiepel N, Nekolla SG, Reichart B, Schwaiger M. “Effect of sympathetic reinnervation on cardiac performance after heart transplantation.”  N Engl J Med. 2001; 345(10): 731-738.

Abstract

Schwaiger M, Hutchins GD, Kalif V, Rosenspire K, Haka MS, Mallette S, Deep GM, Abrams GD, Wieland D. “Evidence for regional catecholamine uptake and storage sites in the transplanted human heart by positron emission tomography”. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 1991; 87(5): 1681-1690.

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