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The MHH plus Foundation honours Prof. Dr Markus W. Büchler, Prof. Dr Elisabeth Heßmann and PD Dr Niklas Klümper with the Zimmermann Prize and Medal.
The Johann-Georg-Zimmermann Research Prize and the Johann-Georg-Zimmermann Medal are among the highest honours for achievements in cancer research in Germany. The prizes were presented on Thursday, 5 June 2025, at Hannover Medical School (MHH) by MHH President Prof. Dr Denise Hilfiker-Kleiner: "I would like to congratulate the three prizewinners on their awards. Their work and excellent research are helping to save lives and significantly improve the quality of life of cancer patients." The Johann Georg Zimmermann Prize is funded by the MHH plus Foundation and awarded jointly with the Comprehensive Cancer Centre Lower Saxony (CCC-N).
The award winners
Prof Dr Markus W. Büchler was awarded the Johann Georg Zimmermann Medal. Professor Büchler is a national and international leading surgeon in the surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer. At the same time, the former Director of the Department of General, Visceral and Transplant Surgery at Heidelberg University Hospital has made a significant research contribution to successful therapy standards worldwide with numerous studies.
The Johann-Georg-Zimmermann Research Prize, which is endowed with 10,000 euros and honours young cancer researchers for their current scientific work, is shared this year by Prof. Dr Elisabeth Heßmann and PD Dr Niklas Klümper. Professor Heßmann is also researching the improvement of treatment options for pancreatic cancer and is developing therapy strategies for individualised treatment of the tumour. Dr Klümper focuses on the specialist field of uro-oncology. He is also working on better predicting the response to targeted therapies and developing personalised treatment approaches.
Surgeon and researcher sets global standards in the treatment of pancreatic cancer - Professor Büchler
Pancreatic cancer is considered to be particularly insidious, often making itself felt late, forming metastases quickly and frequently responding poorly to conventional therapies. In his long career, Professor Büchler has declared war on this treacherous disease - as a surgeon and scientist. Büchler has continuously developed surgical techniques in order to optimise surgical procedures for pancreatic cancer and offer patients maximum safety. He has operated on patients who were classified as inoperable by other centres, even worldwide. At the same time, as a clinical researcher, he has made a significant contribution to evidence-based surgery and cancer therapy with numerous studies and has ensured that research findings have been and continue to be rapidly incorporated into patient care. Professor Büchler initiated a Collaborative Research Centre and a research group of the German Research Foundation. ‘The most important realisation of recent years is that pancreatic cancer has lost its terrible face,’ said Professor Büchler. ‘Today, thanks to state-of-the-art technology, innovative procedures and decades of experience, we can offer patients a greater chance of recovery than before.’ Professor Büchler has received numerous awards, including the prestigious German Cancer Prize. After 22 years as Clinic Director at Heidelberg University Hospital, he has been setting up the Botton-Champalimaud Pancreatic Cancer Centre in Lisbon since April 2023.
New research approaches for individualised cancer therapies - Professor Heßmann and PD Dr Klümper
Finding new, specific approaches for individualised pancreatic cancer therapy is the aim of Professor Hessmann's research. Pancreatic cancer is not only an extremely aggressive tumour; it also has a very different appearance - the so-called subtypes. Professor Hessmann has been leading a very successful clinical research group at the University Medical Centre Göttingen since 2020, which is dedicated to analysing these subtypes. The team is trying to better understand the molecular changes in the tumour and investigate which regulatory processes make it more aggressive and thus resistant to conventional treatments. "Our scientific work focuses on mechanisms that are highly dynamically regulated around the genome and thus influence the tumour biology and treatment response of pancreatic cancer in a complex interplay. We want to gain a better understanding of these processes in order to be able to offer more effective and targeted treatment options for this aggressive tumour," explained Professor Heßmann.
PD Dr Klümper is a senior physician in the Department of Urology at the University Hospital Bonn and heads a translational research group at the interface with the Institute of Experimental Oncology. He is supported by the ACCENT programme funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. His aim is to advance precision oncology - with individually tailored therapies based on molecular biomarkers. His group's award-winning work on NECTIN4 amplification has already led to the development of several biomarker-driven Phase II trials with fast-track status from the FDA (the US Food and Drug Administration), demonstrating the immediate clinical benefit of his research. ‘Receiving the Johann-Georg-Zimmermann Research Award is a great honour and confirmation that our research can enable concrete progress towards more precise and patient-oriented cancer therapy,’ says Dr Klümper.
About the Johann-Georg-Zimmermann-Prize:
The Johann-Georg-Zimmermann-Prize is aimed at outstanding young researchers (up to the age of 40) for current scientific work in the field of cancer research. The prize is endowed with 10,000 euros. It was first awarded in 1973. Since then, a large number of German and international researchers have been honoured for special achievements in the fight against cancer. After more than 40 years of funding from Deutsche Hypothekenbank AG, the Johann-Georg-Zimmermann Prize has been financed by the MHH plus Foundation since 2022 and awarded jointly with the Comprehensive Cancer Centre Lower Saxony.
https://www.mhh.de/plus/foerderung
PD Dr Niklas Klümper, Prof Dr Elisabeth Heßmann, Prof Dr Markus W. Büchler, Prof Dr Michael Manns, C ...
Copyright: Annika Morchner/MHH.
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