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Medicine Matters oncology

University of Heidelberg, Germany


Peter Hohenberger, MD, is Head of the Division of Surgical Oncology and Thoracic Surgery at the Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg. He is a surgeon in visceral and vascular surgery as well as in thoracic surgery and surgical intensive care. His professional education was received at the University of Erlangen, including training in psychology and pathology. Dr Hohenberger’s surgical qualifications were received at the University of Heidelberg, including a senior position at the Department of Surgery followed by a Professorship on Surgical Oncology at Charité, Berlin.

Having specialised in the treatment of GIST and sarcoma, he became Chairman of the EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group. Having worked with the EORTC (GI, melanoma and STBSG) since the 1980s, he was member of the Protocol Review Committee (PRC) and the Board of EORTC for nine years. He has served on the Faculty of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), ASCO, the Federation of European Cancer Societies (FECS) and the ESMO course on Methods of Clinical Cancer Research for seven years and is member to the advisory board of SPAEN (Sarcoma Patients Euronet), Das LEBENSHAUS and SOS-DESMOID. He chairs the German Interdisciplinary Sarcoma Group (GISG) and the Interdisciplinary Working Party on Sarcoma (IAWS) of the German Cancer Society (DKG).

The Mannheim Sarcoma Centre is a major contributor to multinational randomised studies on the treatment of GIST and sarcoma, hosts the Data Center of GISG and was co-founder of the German Sarcoma Conference. Trial activities also include EU-funded EUROSARC, CONTICANET, MITIGATE and, most recently, as part of a research network pursuing the treatment of imatinib-resistant GIST.