Prof. Dr. Dr. med. Susanne Herold, a renowned lung and infection researcher from Giessen and ILH/DZL scientist, has been elected to the prestigious Leopoldina – German National Academy of Sciences. The Leopoldina, founded in 1652, is the oldest scientific and medical academy in Germany and unites around 1,700 leading scientists from across the world. Membership is considered one of the highest honors in the German scientific community and cannot be self-nominated.
Prof. Herold holds a LOEWE Top Professorship, funded by the state of Hesse, at Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) and is one of two spokespersons of the Cardio-Pulmonary Institute (CPI) – a successful research alliance between JLU, Goethe University Frankfurt, and the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim.
Her election to the Leopoldina recognizes her outstanding contributions to pulmonary and infection research. Her work focuses on the mechanisms of severe pneumonia and acute lung injury – central research topics within the DZL and ILH. Prof. Herold’s studies on virus-induced lung damage and the mononuclear phagocyte system of the lung have received wide national and international acclaim. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she gained global recognition as one of the leading scientific voices in the fight against SARS-CoV-2.
Supported by the ILH/DZL, Prof. Herold was appointed Professor of Acute Lung Injury at JLU and the University Hospital Giessen in 2015. She currently heads the Department of Lung Infection Diseases and the Division of Infectious Diseases at the hospital. She also led the DFG-funded clinical research group KFO309, which investigated virus-induced lung injury.
The ILH warmly congratulates Prof. Susanne Herold on this well-deserved honor and looks forward to continued collaboration in translational lung research.
