Stephan Tanneberger (December 27, 1935 – March 5, 2018) was a German

oncologist Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''� ...

and

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

who held leading positions in

cancer research Cancer research is research into cancer to identify causes and develop strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure. Cancer research ranges from epidemiology, molecular bioscience to the performance of clinical trials to evaluate ...

and therapy in the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

(GDR), serving as director of the ''Zentralinstitut für Krebsforschung'' (Central Institute of Cancer Research) of the ''

Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR The German Academy of Sciences at Berlin, , in 1972 renamed the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (''Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR (AdW)''), was the most eminent research institution of East Germany (German Democratic Republic, GDR). The acad ...

'' (Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic) from 1974 until 1990. He left Germany in 1991 to work in the field of palliative care for cancer patients in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

as well as in various countries in the

Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...

. In 2005, he founded a Center for Peace Work in

Anklam Anklam (), formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the , the western ...

in northeast Germany.

Career

Stephan Tanneberger was born in 1935 in

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

* ''Tannenberger, Stephan.'' Biographical entry in: Werner Hartkopf: ''Die Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften: Ihre Mitglieder und Preisträger 1700–1990.'' Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1992, , p. 357 and enrolled in

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

and

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

in 1954, where he obtained his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1961Tanneberger, Stephan: ''Studien zur Lävansynthese.'' Universität Leipzig, Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Dissertation vom 19. Dezember 1961
Entry
in the catalogue of the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; ) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehens ...

) and his

M.D. A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...

in 1964Tanneberger, Stephan: ''Probleme der Anwendung der Zell- und Gewebezüchtung in der medizinischen Forschung: Differenzierung und Entdifferenzierung tierischer Zellen bei der Kultivierung in vitro.'' Universität Leipzig, Medizinische Fakultät, Dissertation vom 29. August 1964
Entry
in the catalogue of the

) as well as his

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in 1970.Tanneberger, Stephan: ''Über In vitro Kulturen menschlicher Tumoren und deren Benutzung für Planung und Kontrolle der Chemotherapie maligner Erkrankungen.'' Universität Leipzig, Bereich Medizin, Habilitationsschrift vom 29. Januar 1970
Entry
in the catalogue of the

) In 1971, he took up a position as senior physician at the ''Zentralinstitut für Krebsforschung'' of the ''Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR'' in

Berlin-Buch Buch () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Pankow. Situated on the Panke river, it is the city's northernmost quarter, chiefly known for its historic village centre and extended hospital premises. Geo ...

where he was promoted to chief physician in 1972 and to deputy director in 1973. Following the death of the institute's founding director Hans Gummel in May 1973, he was appointed Professor of Clinical and Experimental Cancer Biology by the Academy of Sciences and named director of the institute in 1974. He served in his position and led the national program for cancer research and control of the GDR until January 1990. From the beginning of 1989, he was also chairman of the ''Zentrum für Medizinische Wissenschaft'' (Center for Medical Sciences) of the Academy of Sciences''Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR. Jahrbuch 1989.'' Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989, p. 235 which coordinated the activities of all medical institutes of the academy. After the

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

in 1990, Tanneberger left Germany and worked as consultant for the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

in various third world countries, among them

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

and

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

.Janet Fricker: ''A Reverence for Life in turbulent Times.'' In: ''Cancerworld.'' 27/2008. European School of Oncology, pp. 26−32 In 1993, he took up the position as head of quality control for ''Associazione Nazionale Tumori'' (ANT), an Italian organization which focuses on palliative care for cancer patients in their respective domestic environment as well as on

cancer prevention Cancer prevention is the practice of taking active measures to decrease the incidence of cancer and mortality. The practice of prevention depends on both individual efforts to improve lifestyle and seek preventive screening, and socioeconomic ...

. One year later, he became Secretary-General of ''ANT International'' and in 2000 scientific director of ''Instituto ANT''. Additionally, he is professor with teaching assignment at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

since 1992.''Tanneberger, Stephan.'' Biographical entry in: Bettina Bartz, Gerhard Lüdtke, Hans Strodel, Hans Jaeger: ''

Kürschners Deutscher Gelehrten-Kalender ''Kürschners Deutscher Gelehrten-Kalender'' (English: "Kürschner's Encyclopedia of German Scholars"), formerly subtitled ''Lexikon der lebenden deutschsprachigen Wissenschaftler'' ("Encyclopedia of Living German-Speaking Scholars"), is a German ...

. Bio-bibliographisches Verzeichnis deutschsprachiger Wissenschaftler der Gegenwart.'' Volume 3. Saur, Munich 2003, , p. 3375 He also directs a program of the European School of Oncology aimed at improving education and information exchange in the field of cancer control in

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

since 2005 and the ''Euro-Arab School of Oncology'' since 2008. Tanneberger has published several books about his experience regarding treatment of cancer and care for terminally ill patients. In addition to his medical activities, he is also active in the field of peace work. In 2004, he launched the foundation ''Zentrum für Friedensarbeit - Otto Lilienthal - Hansestadt Anklam'' (Center for Peace Work) in Anklam in northeast Germany. Since then, he acts as chairman of the foundation's executive board and is involved with the restoration of a former Wehrmacht prison in Anklam as well as with the project ''Wald für Frieden und gegen Klimawandel'' (Forest for Peace and against Climate Change) which is part of the

Billion Tree Campaign The Trillion Tree Campaign is a project which aims to plant one trillion trees worldwide. It seeks to repopulate the world's trees and combat climate change as a nature-based solution. The project was launched at PlantAhead 2018 in Monaco by P ...

of the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

(UNEP). Tanneberger was married from 1970 until 2000 and is the father of a son and two daughters. He died of cancer in 2018.

Awards and distinctions

In recognition of his work, Tanneberger received numerous national and international awards and distinctions. In 1986, he was awarded the honorary title ''Verdienter Wissenschaftler des Volkes'' (Merited Scientist of the GDR).''Tanneberger, Stephan MR Professor Dr. rer. nat. Dr. med. habil., geb. am 27.12.1935 in Chemnitz.'' Biographical entry in: ''Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR. Jahrbuch 1989.'' Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989, p. 191 The Academy of Sciences of the GDR made him a corresponding member in 1981 and an ordinary member in 1989. In March 2012, he received the ''Sigillo d'argento'' (Silver Seal) of the University of Bologna.Matteo Benni:
Il sigillo d'argento dell'Alma Mater consegnato a Stephan Tanneberger
' published by ''UniBo Magazine'' on March 23, 2012

Selected publications

* ''The Control of Tumour Growth and its Biological Bases.'' Boston and Den Haag, 1983 * ''Cancer In Developing Countries: The Great Challenge For Oncology In The 21st Century.'' Munich, 2004 * ''Cancer Medicine At The Dawn Of The 21st Century.'' Bologna, 2006 * ''ESMO Handbook of Advanced Cancer Care.'' London and New York, 2006

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanneberger, Stephan 1935 births 2018 deaths German oncologists 20th-century German chemists Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin People from Chemnitz