Ulrike Beisiegel (born 23 December 1952) is a German

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

and university professor who in 2011 became the first woman to serve as president of the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

, founded in 1737. Her research on liver fats and disease was honored with the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize, the Rudolf Schönheimer Medal and an honorary doctorate. Intent on maintaining high levels of scholarship and diminishing scientific misconduct, she has served on many boards and committees, receiving the Ubbo-Emmius Medal for her commitment to good scientific practice and an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh.

Biography

Ulrike Beisiegel was born on 23 December 1952 in

Mülheim an der Ruhr Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr (, ; ; ) and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Germany. Her undergraduate studies in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

were completed in

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

and

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

, where in 1979, she attained a PhD from the Department of Medicine in Human Biology at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

. Afterward, she moved to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, where she conducted postdoctoral research under the Nobel Prize winners

Joseph L. Goldstein Joseph Leonard Goldstein ForMemRS (born April 18, 1940) is an American biochemist. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1985, along with fellow University of Texas Southwestern researcher, Michael Brown, for their studies r ...

and

Michael S. Brown Michael Stuart Brown ForMemRS NAS AAA&S APS (born April 13, 1941) is an American geneticist and Nobel laureate. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Joseph L. Goldstein in 1985 for describing the regulation of choles ...

in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the

University of Texas at Dallas The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD or UT Dallas) is a public research university in Richardson, Texas, United States. It is the northernmost institution of the University of Texas System. It was initially founded in 1961 as a private res ...

. Upon her return to the University of Marburg, Beisiegel worked as a research assistant for two years and was awarded the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize in 1983 for her work on "receptor defects as a cause of disease". Beisiegel served as an academic counselor at the University Medical Center of Hamburg beginning in 1984. In 1989, Beisiegel began a collaboration with the Swedish scientist Gunüla O. Uvecrona of

Umeå University Umeå University (; Ume Sami language, Ume Sami: ) is a public university, public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present bord ...

on dietary fats in the blood and their effect on the liver. The research looked at triglycerides and enzymes in the fat particle deposits of the liver, as a means of preventing cardiovascular disease. She qualified in 1990 as a professor at the University of Hamburg and was promoted to a level C-3 professor in 1996. In 1996, Umeå University awarded her an honorary doctorate for her collaboration with Uvecrona. Five years later, Beisiegel qualified as a level C-4 professor and became director of the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. In addition to her teaching, Beisiegel has served on numerous standards boards. In 2000, she was elected to serve as a review board member for the

German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation ( ; 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 Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bud ...

and in 2002 was elected as a member of the

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. Funding and Structure As of 2020, 96 non-u ...

's Senate Evaluation committee. In 2006 she became a member of the

German Council of Science and Humanities The ''German Science and Humanities Council'' (Wissenschaftsrat, WR) is an advisory body to the German Federal Government and the federal state governments. It makes recommendations on the development of science, research, and the universities, a ...

(GCSH) and was elected as chair of the GCSH research commission in 2008. In 2005, Beisiegel was appointed speaker of the Ombudsman panel of the German Research Foundation with the duties of establishing rules for good scientific practices and monitoring scientific misconduct. Beisiegel was awarded the Rudolf Schönheimer Medal in 2008 from the German Society for Arteriosclerosis Research. The medal is the highest award for achievement in the field of

atherosclerosis Atherosclerosis is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis, characterized by development of abnormalities called lesions in walls of arteries. This is a chronic inflammatory disease involving many different cell types and is driven by eleva ...

research. In 2009 she became a Senator of the Leibniz Association and in 2010 was confirmed as the first woman president of the

with a six-year term from 1 January 2011. She became a Senator of the

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

in 2011, Vice President of the

German Rectors' Conference The German Rectors' Conference ( German: ''Hochschulrektorenkonferenz'' – HRK) is the voluntary association of state and state-recognised universities and other higher education institutions in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Repu ...

in 2012 and in 2014 both her research on cardiovascular diseases and her commitment to good science practice was recognized with the award of the Ubbo-Emmius Medal. In 2015, Beisiegel was awarded an honorary doctorate from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

for her contributions to university management and promotion of interdisciplinary and international collaboration aimed at improving the academic community.

References

Bibliography

External links

WorldCat Publications list
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beisiegel, Ulrike 1952 births Living people University of Marburg alumni German women biochemists German biochemists 20th-century German women scientists 21st-century German women scientists Academic staff of the University of Göttingen People from Mülheim Women heads of universities and colleges Academic staff of the University of Hamburg