Jörg Hinrich Hacker (born 13 February 1952) is a German

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, fungi, and some types of par ...

. He served as president of the

Robert Koch Institute The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is a German federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention. It is located in Berlin and Wernigerode. As an upper federal agency, it is subordinate to the Feder ...

from 2008 to 2010 and of the

German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: link=no, Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saal ...

from 2010 to 2020. He is the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the ''

International Journal of Medical Microbiology The ''International Journal of Medical Microbiology'', formerly the ''Zentralblatt für Bakteriologie'', is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering research on microbiology published by Elsevier. It was established in 1887 by Friedrich Loeffler. T ...

''.

Early life and education

Born in

Grevesmühlen Grevesmühlen () is a municipality in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northern Germany. It was the seat of the Nordwestmecklenburg district until 2011, when Wismar became the seat. It is situated 33 km east of Lübeck, and 29 km northwest of Sch ...

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwer ...

, Hacker studied biology from 1970 to 1974 at the

Martin Luther University Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

in Halle and obtained his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

in 1979.

Career

From 1980 to 1988 Hacker worked as a junior researcher at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one o ...

, where he obtained his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...

microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, ...

in 1986. From 1988 until 1993, Hacker was

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

of microbiology at the University of Würzburg. In 1993 he moved to the chair for Molecular Infection Biology, which he held until 2008. From 2003 to 2009, he was vice president of the

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...

. From March 2008 to March 2010, he succeeded

Reinhard Kurth Reinhard is a German, Austrian, Danish, and to a lesser extent Norwegian surname (from Germanic ''ragin'', counsel, and ''hart'', strong), and a spelling variant of Reinhardt. Persons with the given name *Reinhard of Blankenburg (after 1107 – 11 ...

as president of the

. On 1 October 2009, Hacker was elected president of the

. The solemn inauguration ceremony took place on 26 February 2010 and his official starting date was 1 March 2010. In 2020, he was succeeded by Gerald Haug. In 2011, Hacker was appointed by

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Op ...

to the Federal Government’s Ethics Commission on a Safe Energy Supply, co-chaired by Matthias Kleiner and

Klaus Töpfer Klaus Töpfer (born 29 July 1938) is a German politician ( CDU) and environmental politics expert. From 1998 to 2006 he was executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Early life and education Töpfer was born in ...

. In 2017, he was part of the selection committee chaired by

Jules A. Hoffmann Jules A. Hoffmann (; born 2 August 1941) is a Luxembourg-born French biologist. During his youth, growing up in Luxembourg, he developed a strong interest in insects under the influence of his father, Jos Hoffmann. This eventually resulted in the y ...

that chose Stewart Cole as director of the

Institut Pasteur The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...

. From 2017 until 2019, he was a member of the German Ministry of Health’s International Advisory Board on Global Health, chaired by

Ilona Kickbusch Ilona Kickbusch (born 27 August 1948) is a German political scientist best known for her contribution to health promotion and global health. She is adjunct professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. Ear ...

. In 2022 he received the Robert Koch Medal in Gold.

Work

Hacker's main research interests are the molecular analysis of bacterial

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a ger ...

s, their spread and variability, as well as their interactions with host cells. From 2001 to 2008 he served as co-coordinator of the

BMBF The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (german: link=no, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, ), abbreviated BMBF, is a cabinet-level ministry of Germany. It is headquartered in Bonn, with an office in Berlin. The Ministry provi ...

programs PathoGenoMik and PathoGenoMik Plus. Hacker is responsible for coining the term "

pathogenicity island Pathogenicity islands (PAIs), as termed in 1990, are a distinct class of genomic islands acquired by microorganisms through horizontal gene transfer. Pathogenicity islands are found in both animal and plant pathogens. Additionally, PAIs are found i ...

" to describe a region of a bacterial genome that encodes disease causing traits.

Other activities

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2013) *

German Cancer Aid The German Cancer Aid (german: links=yes, Deutsche Krebshilfe) is a not-for-profit organization to fight cancer in all its forms. The institution was founded on September 25, 1974 by Dr. Mildred Scheel (1932–1985). She was the wife of Walte ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2012) *

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in poli ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2012) *

Leibniz Association The Leibniz Association (German: ''Leibniz-Gemeinschaft'' or ''Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz'') is a union of German non-university research institutes from various disciplines. As of 2020, 96 non-university research insti ...

, Member of the Senate * Robert Koch Foundation, Member of the Board of Directors (since 1998) * Centre Virchow-Villermé, Member of the International Advisory Board *

(RKI), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board * Deutscher Zukunftspreis, Member of the Board of Trustees *

World Health Summit The World Health Summit is an international conference that has been held in Berlin every October since 2009. It has developed into one of the world's leading global health conferences. It was held for the first time on the occasion of the 300th a ...

, Member of the CouncilCouncil

. * Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board (2014–2017) *

Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (german: , or BAM) is a German material research institute. History Its historical origins start in 1871, a year in which Germany was unified, as the ''Mechanisch-Technische Versuchsansta ...

(BAM), Member of the Board of Trustees (2013–2017) *

, Member of the Scientific Council (2007‐2015) *

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the worl ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (2006–2016) * Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Member of the Supervisory Board (2005–2013)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hacker, Jorg German microbiologists 1952 births Living people People from Grevesmühlen University of Würzburg alumni Academic staff of the University of Würzburg Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Robert Koch Institute people Foreign Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Presidents of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina