Prof. Gerhard Gaedicke (MD)

Prof. Gaedicke received his doctoral degree from the University of Hamburg, Germany, and his post-doctoral teaching qualification (Habilitation) from the University of Ulm, Germany, where he also completed his pediatric residency training in pediatric hematology and oncology, neonatology and pediatric intensive care. After several years as attending physician and associate professor of pediatrics at Ulm University, Prof. Gaedicke received a full professorship in pediatrics at the Humboldt University in Berlin in 1993. He became director of the department of pediatrics at the Charité University Medical Center (former East Berlin). After the fall of the Berlin wall Prof. Gaedicke was responsible for the merging of the pediatric departments of former West Berlin at Free University and of former East Berlin at Humboldt University, which came together under the common umbrella of the Charité - Otto-Heubner Center for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, one of the largest pediatric centers in Europe to date. Throughout his career Prof. Gaedicke has been involved in international dialogue and intent on connecting cultures by means of open collaborative research at Charité and beyond, including the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California, and the Cancer Center at the University of Southern California. Prof. Gaedicke has served on the board of several professional associations, such as the German Society of Pediatrics (DKGJ) and The German Society for Pediatric Hematology-Oncology (GPOH) He was treasurer and a board member of the European Paediatric Association (EPA), member of the UNICEF Committee for Germany, the American Society of Hematology, the European Society for Bone Marrow Transplantation, and the German Society for Gene Therapy. After his retirement as an emeritus professor in 2009 he directed the reformed curriculum program at Charité. The innovative reformed curriculum aims at the integration of basic sciences and clinical topics from the very beginning. Teaching research skills to medical students, is as obvious as that of communication skills e.g. delicate topics such as vaccine compliance and safety. In 2012 Prof. Gaedicke has accepted the directorship of the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria. In March 2017 he completed his life-long career with an international scientific symposium in Innsbruck laying the leadership of the department into younger hands. Prof. Gaedicke passed away shortly thereafter in April 2017 and is missed dearly by his family, colleagues and friends around the world, including the ViVI Think Tank and the coordinators and students, who he mentored actively. Prof. Gaedicke’s passion for reforming medical education and vaccinology are carried forward by the Vienna Vaccine Safety Initiative’s SEKI project (Strengthening Education and Knowledge on Immunisation, www.seki.eu)  

Prof. Gaedicke is the co-founder of the Vienna Vaccine Safety Initiative, where he remained active until his retirement.