On November 27th Prof. Dr. med. Wolfgang Gaebel, (Düsseldorf) received the Wilhem Griesinger Medal during the yearly congress of the German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (DGPPN). Since 2016 Prof. Gaebel has been actively involved in the eMEN project; his knowledge and (international) experience have been of great value for the project. On behave of the eMEN partners we congratulate Prof. Gaebel with this live time achievement medal.
For ARQ in particular, as the lead partner of the eMEN project, it has been an honour to have Prof. Gaebel as an expert in the project. We greatly appreciate his analytical and forward thinking and look forward to his continued involvement in the project.
Below is the English translation of the announcement on the website of the Informationsdienst Wissenschaft (IDW).
“With its highest award, the Wilhelm Griesinger Medal, the DGPPN honors Professor Wolfgang Gaebel this year for his many years of outstanding commitment to the field of psychiatry and psychotherapy, research, teaching, care and the destigmatization of mental illnesses. As a researcher and his many honorary posts, including as two-time DGPPN President and most recently as Chairman of the Mental Health Action Alliance, he has made particular contributions to anti-stigma work. The Wilhelm Griesinger Medal was presented virtually to Wolfgang Gaebel as part of this year's digital opening of the congress.
Prof. Wolfgang Gaebel is a psychiatrist and was long-time director of the clinic and polyclinic for psychiatry and psychotherapy at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and director of the LVR Clinic Düsseldorf. The board of the DGPPN is honouring one of the most respected and influential psychiatrists of this time, who also enjoys an excellent international reputation for his advocacy for a dignified and high-quality treatment of mentally ill people. In particular, he deserves recognition for his tireless commitment in the area of anti-stigma work. Earlier than others, he paid the necessary attention to the issue of destigmatizing and removing taboos from mental illnesses.
Wolfgang Gaebel was born in Braunschweig in 1947, studied human medicine at the Free University of Berlin, received his doctorate in 1972 and qualified as a professor in 1989 with the Venia Legendi in psychiatry. From 1992–2016 he was director of the clinic and polyclinic for psychiatry and psychotherapy at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf and director of the LVR hospital in Düsseldorf. He was Vice President of the Working Group of Scientific Medical Societies (AWMF), was President of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) and is an honorary member of the World Association of Psychiatry (WPA). He also worked as a member of the International Advisory Group of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the revision of the ICD-10 chapter on mental and behavioural disorders. It is his merit that dementia and its main symptom of memory impairment are rated as mental illnesses in the ICD-11. As one of the few German specialist representatives, he was also involved in the creation of the DSM V, the psychiatric classification system in the USA. In the advisory board of the DGPPN, he will continue to enrich the work of the board and the specialist society with his extraordinary expertise and experience.
Background
The namesake of the honor, Wilhelm Griesinger (1817 to 1868), was one of the most important scientists and clinicians in the field of mental illness in the 19th century. The Board of Directors of the German Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology (DGPPN) resumes a tradition with a new dedication with the award, which is linked to the name of the psychiatrist Wilhelm Griesinger by resolution of July 1986. The Wilhelm Griesinger Medal of the DGPPN is a lifetime award for psychiatrists who have made outstanding contributions through great personal commitment and very special achievements in the field of psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychosomatic medicine. Thereby outstanding achievements in theory and practice in prevention, diagnostics.
Sources:
https://www.dgppn.de/die-dgppn/ehrungen-und-preise/wilhelm-griesinger-medaille.html
