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16.10.2026 15:45

Professor Georg F. Hoffmann Retires from “His” Children’s Hospital

Julia Bird Unternehmenskommunikation
Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg

In March 2026, Professor Dr. Georg F. Hoffmann stepped down from his positions at the Heidelberg Faculty of Medicine of Heidelberg University, including his role as Medical Director of the Department of Pediatrics I: General Pediatrics, Pediatric Neurology, Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Gastroenterology and Nephrology. Following the completion of a major publicly funded project, he is now able to begin his retirement.

For 36 years, Professor Dr. Prof. h.c. mult. (PRC) Georg F. Hoffmann, has been closely associated with the children’s hospital of Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD). Since 1999, he has served as Medical Director of the Department of Pediatrics I and, for many years, as Executive Director of the Heidelberg Center for Child and Adolescent Medicine. Under his leadership, the Angelika Lautenschläger Children’s Hospital, inaugurated in 2008, was established. Bringing together all pediatric departments of Heidelberg University Hospital under one roof, it became one of Germany’s largest children’s hospitals, with about 200 beds.

In 2012, a connecting building to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology was completed, providing state-of-the-art facilities for neonatology, the neonatal intensive care unit for premature infants (FIPS), pediatric cardiac surgery and other specialties. In 2014, the Dietmar Hopp Metabolic Center was opened within the newly constructed Analysis Center III. For the first time, newborn screening, metabolic laboratory diagnostics, emergency diagnostics and research on inherited metabolic disorders were consolidated in a single facility. Professor Hoffmann’s overarching goal was always to create optimal conditions for patients, families and staff while simultaneously strengthening the foundations for innovative research and interdisciplinary collaboration.

The department, which expanded continuously under his leadership, is being divided as part of a generational transition into two separate pediatric hospitals: the Children’s Hospital for Pediatric Neurology, Metabolic Medicine, Endocrinology and Diabetology, currently headed on an interim basis by Professor Dr. Steffen Syrbe, and the Children’s Hospital for General Pediatrics, Gastroenterology, Nephrology, Rheumatology and Organ Transplantation, whose new Medical Director, Professor Dr. Jun Oh, assumed office on September 2026.

“Professor Hoffmann has had a lasting impact on pediatric care and infrastructure at Heidelberg University Hospital and has set standards far beyond the region. By integrating newborn screening, specialized diagnostics and research into inherited metabolic disorders, he has made a decisive contribution to establishing Heidelberg as one of Europe’s leading centers for metabolic medicine. His scientific vision, tireless commitment to affected families and enduring dedication to the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases have enabled countless children and their families to live largely normal lives,” says Professor Dr. Hanns-Peter Knaebel, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Executive Officer of the Heidelberg-Mannheim University Hospital Alliance. “This lifetime achievement deserves the highest appreciation and recognition.”

“Through his scientific excellence and extraordinary commitment, Professor Hoffmann has profoundly shaped the Heidelberg Faculty of Medicine in both research and teaching over several decades and has advanced the care of children with rare diseases at both national and international levels,” says Professor Dr. Michael Boutros, Dean of the Heidelberg Faculty of Medicine at Heidelberg University. “Students, physicians and researchers alike have benefited from his expertise, mentorship and uncompromising commitment to scientific quality. At the same time, fostering international scientific exchange has always been a matter of particular importance to him. Through his efforts, he established international networks and significantly enhanced Heidelberg’s visibility far beyond Germany.”

Eighteen Disorders Added to the Newborn Screening Program Based on Heidelberg Pilot Studies

Hoffmann first joined Heidelberg’s Children’s Hospital in 1990, bringing with him expertise acquired in the United States in the use of mass spectrometry for the analysis of metabolic compounds in blood. This knowledge laid the foundation for the expansion of newborn screening. At the time, newborns were primarily screened for phenylketonuria (PKU) and congenital hypothyroidism. Early diagnosis of additional congenital disorders was not yet possible. During his work as a senior physician in neonatal intensive care, Hoffmann became acutely aware of this gap in care: “Approximately 30 to 40 percent of children who died in the first days and weeks of life suffered from rare diseases that we were unable to diagnose or treat in time,” recalls the pediatrician.

When he returned to Heidelberg in 1999 after five years at Marburg University Hospital to assume the position of Medical Director of the Department of Pediatrics I, he made the development of diagnostic methods and therapies for inherited metabolic disorders one of his central goals. Thanks in part to the scientific groundwork laid by his team, expanded newborn screening became part of Germany’s statutory health insurance benefits in 2005 and was thus made available nationwide. Since 2026, the German newborn screening program is now coverering 23 diseases or disease groups. Eighteen of these were included on the basis of several Heidelberg pilot studies, supported over many years by the Dietmar Hopp Foundation.

“Today, we identify a congenital disorder in one out of every 700 newborns. Among the approximately 140,000 samples from Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland that are analyzed annually at the Dietmar-Hopp-Metabolic Center, this means around 200 newborns whose lives we can save and whose suffering we can significantly alleviate. Newborn screening has become the most successful secondary preventive healthcare measure worldwide,” Professor Hoffmann summarizes with justified pride.

Closely linked to this success was the establishment of the Heidelberg Center for Rare Diseases (ZSE) in 2011, which he has chaired ever since. The center provides coordinated care for affected individuals and brings together scientific and clinical expertise from numerous disciplines. It has earned an international reputation and now treats children and adults from across Germany and beyond.

Driving the Implementation of Gene and Cell Therapies

Until September 2026, Professor Hoffmann served as Deputy Consortium Coordinator of INTEGRATE-ATMP, a nationwide collaborative project funded with €13.6 million by the Innovation Fund of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), accompanying the initiative through to its official completion. Under Heidelberg’s leadership, the consortium developed structures and strategies for the quality-assured implementation of gene and cell therapies, known as Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs). “Developments in gene therapy build directly upon our many years of work in newborn screening. For the first time, they offer causal treatment options and thereby expand the range of diseases that can realistically be included in screening programs,” Hoffmann explains.

Continued Commitment Through the COURAGE Foundation

Even in retirement, Professor Hoffmann will remain dedicated to the young patients of Heidelberg’s Children’s Hospital. He will continue to serve as voluntary Chair of the Board of Trustees of the COURAGE Foundation for Chronically Ill Children and Adolescents, whose predecessor initiative he launched in 2002. The foundation supports projects including music therapy, hospital clowns, psychological counseling for families, holiday camps for children with kidney and liver disease, preschool programs for long-term inpatients, and specialist training for pediatric nursing professionals.

Biography

Georg Friedrich Hoffmann, born in 1957 in Goslar, studied medicine at the University of Göttingen and the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. Following a research fellowship in San Diego, USA, and specialist training at the University Children’s Hospital Göttingen, he joined the Heidelberg Faculty of Medicine in 1990, where he completed his habilitation in 1992 with research on a rare metabolic disorder. In 1994, he accepted a professorship at the University of Marburg and headed the Department of Pediatrics II (Pediatric Neurology and Metabolic Medicine) at Marburg University Hospital until 1999. He then returned to Heidelberg to become Medical Director of the Department of Pediatrics I at Heidelberg University Hospital and, from 2005 onward, also served as Executive Director of the Heidelberg Center for Child and Adolescent Medicine.

As part of his longstanding commitment to international scientific exchange, Professor Hoffmann maintained particularly close ties with the Tongji Medical School in China. Among other achievements, he supported the establishment of a modern metabolic laboratory and the development of joint research and healthcare structures for rare diseases. At Shanghai Jiao Tong University, he helped introduce expanded newborn screening. In recognition of these contributions, he was elected a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2025 and was appointed Honorary President of Tongji Hospital in 2026. Since 2018, he has also been a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

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Wissenschaftliche Ansprechpartner:

Prof. Dr. med., Prof. h.c. mult. (PRC) Georg F. Hoffmann, i.R.
E-Mail: georg.hoffmann@med.uni-heidelberg.de

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Weitere Informationen:

https://department.university-hospital-heidelberg.com/university-childrens-hospi...

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Prof. Dr. Prof. h.c. mult. (PRC) Georg F. Hoffmann

Copyright: Heidelberg University Hospital

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