Charité
Encyclopedia
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Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...
for both the Humboldt University
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
and the Free University
Free University of Berlin
Freie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the...
of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. After the merger with their fourth campus in 2003, the Charité is one of the largest university hospitals
Teaching hospital
A teaching hospital is a hospital that provides clinical education and training to future and current doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, in addition to delivering medical care to patients...
in Europe.
History
Complying with an order of King Frederick I of PrussiaFrederick I of Prussia
Frederick I , of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia in personal union . The latter function he upgraded to royalty, becoming the first King in Prussia . From 1707 he was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
from November 14, 1709, it was initially established in 1710 north of the Berlin city walls in anticipation of an outbreak of bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
that already had depopulated East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
. After the plague spared the city it came to be used as a charity hospital for the poor. On January 9, 1727 Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...
gave it the name Charité, meaning "charity". The construction of an anatomical theatre
Anatomical theatre
An anatomical theatre was an institution used in teaching anatomy at early modern universities.The theatre was usually a room of roughly amphitheatrical shape, in the centre of which would stand the table on which the dissections of human or animal bodies took place...
in 1713 marks the beginning of the medical school, then supervised by the collegium medico-chirurgicum of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
Prussian Academy of Sciences
The Prussian Academy of Sciences was an academy established in Berlin on 11 July 1700, four years after the Akademie der Künste or "Arts Academy", to which "Berlin Academy" may also refer.-Origins:...
. 1795 saw the establishment of the Pépinière school for the education of military surgeons
Combat medic
Combat medics are trained military personnel who are responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield. They are also responsible for providing continuing medical care in the absence of a readily available physician, including care for disease and battle injury...
.
After the University of Berlin (today Humboldt University
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
) had been founded in 1810, the dean of the medical college Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland
Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland
Christoph Wilhelm Friedrich Hufeland was a German physician. He is famous as the most eminent practical physician of his time in Germany and as the author of numerous works displaying extensive reading and a cultivated critical faculty.-Biography:Hufeland was born at Langensalza, Thuringia and...
in 1828 integrated the Charité as a teaching hospital. Rudolf Virchow
Rudolf Virchow
Rudolph Carl Virchow was a German doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician, known for his advancement of public health...
, once student at the Pépinière, worked with anatomist Robert Froriep
Robert Froriep
Robert Friedrich Froriep was a German anatomist who was a native of Jena. He was the father of anatomist August von Froriep ....
as prosector
Prosector
A prosector is a person with the special task of preparing a dissection for demonstration, usually in medical schools or hospitals. Many important anatomists began their careers as prosectors working for lecturers and demonstrators in anatomy and pathology....
here and in 1856 became director of the newly created institute of pathology
Pathology
Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....
, where he developed his cell theory
Cell theory
Cell theory refers to the idea that cells are the basic unit of structure in every living thing. Development of this theory during the mid 17th century was made possible by advances in microscopy. This theory is one of the foundations of biology...
.
After the partition of Berlin in 1949 the Charité in Mitte remained the main hospital of East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
affiliated with the Humboldt University, while the Free University
Free University of Berlin
Freie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the...
of West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
had the Klinikum Steglitz erected in 1968 backed by the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Benjamin Franklin Foundation of Eleanor Lansing Dulles
Eleanor Lansing Dulles
Eleanor Lansing Dulles was an author, teacher and United States Government employee. She was a member of a diplomatic dynasty which spanned three generations. Her grandfather, John Watson Foster, served as United States Secretary of State under President Benjamin Harrison...
. In 1986 the town's Rudolf Virchow Hospital became the second medical school of the Free University. When after reunification the city of Berlin had to deal with three university hospitals, all were finally merged as sites of the Charité in 2003. The reorganization is still in progress.
Notable people
Many famous physicians and scientists worked or studied for at least part of their academic lives at the Charité. Among them were:
- Selmar AschheimSelmar AschheimSelmar Aschheim was a German gynecologist who was a native of Berlin. In 1902 he received a doctorate of medicine in Freiburg, and later became director of the laboratory of the Universitäts-Frauenklinik at the Berlin Charité. In 1930 Aschheim attained the chair of biological research in...
- gynecologist - Heinrich Adolf von BardelebenHeinrich Adolf von BardelebenHeinrich Adolf von Bardeleben was a German surgeon born in Frankfurt .He studied medicine at the Universities of Heidelberg, Giessen, Paris and Berlin, receiving his doctorate in Berlin in 1841. Later he became a professor of surgery at the University of Greifswald...
- surgeon - Emil Adolf von BehringEmil Adolf von BehringEmil Adolf von Behring was a German physiologist who received the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the first one so awarded.-Biography:...
- physiologist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901) - August BierAugust BierAugust Karl Gustav Bier was a German surgeon and a pioneer of spinal anaesthesia. After professorships in Greifswald and Bonn, Bier became a professor at the Charité in Berlin.-Spinal anesthesia:...
- surgeon - Max BielschowskyMax BielschowskyMax Bielschowsky was a German neuropathologist born in Breslau.After receiving his medical doctorate from the University of Munich in 1893, he worked with Ludwig Edinger at the Senckenberg Pathology Institute in Frankfurt-am-Main. At Senckenberg he learned histological staining techniques from...
- neuropathologist - Theodor BillrothTheodor BillrothChristian Albert Theodor Billroth was a German-born Austrian surgeon and amateur musician....
- surgeon - Ernst Boris ChainErnst Boris ChainSir Ernst Boris Chain was a German-born British biochemist, and a 1945 co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on penicillin.-Biography:...
- biochemist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945) - Hans Gerhard CreutzfeldtHans Gerhard CreutzfeldtHans Gerhard Creutzfeldt was a German neuropathologist, who first described the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. He was born in Harburg upon Elbe and died in Munich.-Biography:...
- neurologist and neuropathologist - Johann Friedrich DieffenbachJohann Friedrich DieffenbachJohann Friedrich Dieffenbach was a German surgeon who specialized in skin transplantation and plastic surgery. His work in rhinoplastic and maxillofacial surgery established many modern techniques of reconstructive surgery. He endeavours comprehended subcutaneous operations such as tenotomy, the...
- surgeon - Paul EhrlichPaul EhrlichPaul Ehrlich was a German scientist in the fields of hematology, immunology, and chemotherapy, and Nobel laureate. He is noted for curing syphilis and for his research in autoimmunity, calling it "horror autotoxicus"...
- immunologist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1908) - Hermann Emil FischerHermann Emil FischerHermann Emil Fischer, Emil Fischer was a German chemist and 1902 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He discovered the Fischer esterification. He developed the Fischer projection, a symbolic way of drawing asymmetric carbon atoms.-Early years:Fischer was born in Euskirchen, near Cologne,...
- chemist (Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1902) - Werner ForssmannWerner ForssmannWerner Theodor Otto Forßmann, was a physician from Germany who shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Medicine for developing a procedure that allowed for cardiac catheterization. In 1929, he put himself under local anesthetic and inserted a catheter into his own arm...
- physician (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1956) - Friedrich Theodor von FrerichsFriedrich Theodor von FrerichsFriedrich Theodor von Frerichs was a German pathologist who was born in Aurich. After earning his medical degree from the University of Göttingen in 1841, he returned to Aurich and spent the next four years there as an optician...
- pathologist - Robert FroriepRobert FroriepRobert Friedrich Froriep was a German anatomist who was a native of Jena. He was the father of anatomist August von Froriep ....
- anatomist - Wilhelm GriesingerWilhelm GriesingerWilhelm Griesinger was a German neurologist and psychiatrist born in Stuttgart. He studied under Johann Lukas Schönlein at the University of Zurich and physiologist François Magendie in Paris....
- psychiatrist and neurologist - Hermann von HelmholtzHermann von HelmholtzHermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz was a German physician and physicist who made significant contributions to several widely varied areas of modern science...
- physician and physicist - Friedrich Gustav Jakob HenleFriedrich Gustav Jakob HenleFriedrich Gustav Jakob Henle was a German physician, pathologist and anatomist. He is credited with the discovery of the loop of Henle in the kidney. His essay "On Miasma and Contagia" was an early argument for the germ theory of disease...
- physician, pathologist and anatomist - Eduard Heinrich HenochEduard Heinrich HenochEduard Heinrich Henoch was a German physician. He taught at the Berlin University .-Work:...
- pediatrician - Otto HeubnerOtto HeubnerJohann Otto Leonhard Heubner was a German internist and pediatrician who was a native of Mühltroff....
- pediatrician - Anton Ludwig Ernst HornAnton Ludwig Ernst HornAnton Ludwig Ernst Horn was a German physician who was a native of Braunschweig. In 1797 he received his doctorate from the University of Göttingen, and later worked as a physician at the clinical institute in Braunschweig...
- psychiatrist - Gero HütterGero HütterGero Hütter is a German hematologist. Huetter and his medical team transplanted bone marrow deficient in a key HIV receptor to a leukemia patient, Timothy Ray Brown, who was also infected with human immunodeficiency virus . Subsequently, the patient's circulating HIV dropped to undetectable levels...
- hematologist - Friedrich JollyFriedrich JollyFriedrich Jolly was a German neurologist and psychiatrist who was a native of Heidelberg, and the son of physicist Philipp von Jolly ....
- neurologist and psychiatrist - Robert KochRobert KochHeinrich Hermann Robert Koch was a German physician. He became famous for isolating Bacillus anthracis , the Tuberculosis bacillus and the Vibrio cholerae and for his development of Koch's postulates....
- physician (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1905) - Albrecht KosselAlbrecht KosselLudwig Karl Martin Leonhard Albrecht Kossel was a German biochemist and pioneer in the study of genetics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1910 for his work in determining the chemical composition of nucleic acids, the genetic substance of biological cells.Kossel...
- physician (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1910) - Friedrich KrausFriedrich KrausFriedrich Kraus was a Jewish Austrian internist. He is remembered for his achievements in the field of electrocardiography and his work in colloid chemistry.- Academic career :...
- internist - Sir Hans Adolf Krebs - physician and biochemist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953)
- Bernhard von LangenbeckBernhard von LangenbeckBernhard Rudolf Konrad von Langenbeck was a German surgeon known as the developer of Langenbeck's amputation and founder of Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery....
- surgeon - Karl LeonhardKarl LeonhardKarl Leonhard was a German psychiatrist, who stood in the tradition of Carl Wernicke and Karl Kleist. He created a complex classification of psychotic illnesses called nosological.His work covered Psychology, Psychotherapy, Biological psychiatry and Biological psychology...
- psychiatrist - Hugo Karl Liepmann - neurologist and psychiatrist
- Fritz Albert LipmannFritz Albert LipmannFritz Albert Lipmann FRS was a German-American biochemist and a co-discoverer in 1945 of coenzyme A. For this, together with other research on coenzyme A, he was awarded half the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953 .Lipmann was born in Königsberg, Germany to a Jewish family.Lipmann...
- biochemist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953) - Leonor MichaelisLeonor MichaelisLeonor Michaelis was a German biochemist, physical chemist, and physician, known primarily for his work with Maud Menten on enzyme kinetics and Michaelis-Menten kinetics in 1913.-Early life and education:...
- biochemist and physician - Hermann OppenheimHermann OppenheimHermann Oppenheim was one of the leading neurologists in Germany. He studied medicine at the Universities of Berlin, Göttingen and Bonn. He started his career at the Charité-Hospital in Berlin as an assistant of Karl Westphal...
- neurologist - Samuel Mitja RapoportSamuel Mitja RapoportSamuel Mitja Rapoport was a prominent physician, biochemist, European Jewish émigré, and Communist who fled to East Germany from McCarthyite persecution in the United States.- Biography :Throughout his life Samuel Mitja Rapoport saw danger and exile...
- biochemist and physician - Moritz Heinrich RombergMoritz Heinrich RombergMoritz Heinrich Romberg was a Jewish physician from Berlin who published his classic textbook in sections between 1840 and 1846; Edward Henry Sieveking translated it into English in 1853....
- neurologist - Doreen RosenstrauchDoreen RosenstrauchDoreen Rosenstrauch also known as DrDoRo is a scientist, artist, athlete, physician, and humanist.-Early life and family:Doreen Rosenstrauch was born in Zossen, Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany, to Hannelore Rosenstrauch...
- physician - Ferdinand SauerbruchFerdinand SauerbruchErnst Ferdinand Sauerbruch was a German surgeon.Sauerbruch was born in Barmen , Germany. He studied medicine at the Philipps University of Marburg, the University of Greifswald, the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, and the University of Leipzig, from the last of which he graduated in 1902...
- surgeon - Curt SchimmelbuschCurt SchimmelbuschCurt Theodor Schimmelbusch was a German physician and pathologist after whom the Schimmelbusch mask is named...
- physician and pathologist - Johann Lukas SchönleinJohann Lukas SchönleinJohann Lukas Schönlein was a German naturalist, and professor of medicine, born in Bamberg. He studied medicine at Landshut, Jena, Göttingen, and Würzburg...
- physician and pathologist - Theodor SchwannTheodor SchwannTheodor Schwann was a German physiologist. His many contributions to biology include the development of cell theory, the discovery of Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system, the discovery and study of pepsin, the discovery of the organic nature of yeast, and the invention of the term...
- zoologist - Hans SpemannHans SpemannHans Spemann was a German embryologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1935 for his discovery of the effect now known as embryonic induction, an influence, exercised by various parts of the embryo, that directs the development of groups of cells into particular tissues...
- embryologist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1935) - Ludwig TraubeLudwig Traube (physician)Ludwig Traube was a German physician and co-founder of the experimental pathology in Germany.-Biography:...
- physician and pathologist - Rudolf VirchowRudolf VirchowRudolph Carl Virchow was a German doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician, known for his advancement of public health...
- physician and pathologist - Carl Friedrich Otto WestphalCarl Friedrich Otto WestphalCarl Friedrich Otto Westphal was a German neurologist and psychiatrist from Berlin. He was the son of Otto Carl Friedrich Westphal and Karoline Friederike Heine and the father of Alexander Carl Otto Westphal...
- neurologist and psychiatrist - Carl Wernicke - neurologist
- Otto Heinrich WarburgOtto Heinrich WarburgOtto Heinrich Warburg , son of physicist Emil Warburg, was a German physiologist, medical doctor and Nobel laureate. He served as an officer in the elite Uhlan during the First World War and won the Iron Cross for bravery. Warburg was one of the twentieth century's leading biochemists...
- physiologist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1931) - August von WassermannAugust von WassermannAugust Paul von Wassermann was a German bacteriologist.Born in Bamberg, he studied at several universities throughout Germany, and in 1890 began to work under Robert Koch at the Institute for Infectious Diseases at the Charité in Berlin...
- bacteriologist - Caspar Friedrich WolffCaspar Friedrich WolffCaspar Friedrich Wolff was a German physiologist and one of the founders of embryology.-Life:Wolff was born in Berlin, Brandenburg. In 1230 he graduated as an M.D...
- physiologist - Bernhard ZondekBernhard ZondekBernhard Zondek was a German-Jewish gynecologist who developed the first reliable pregnancy test in 1928.-Biography:...
- endocrinologist
The Charité today
Today, 7,500 students are enrolled at the Charité. It treats 1,080,000 outpatientsPatient
A patient is any recipient of healthcare services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, veterinarian, or other health care provider....
and 128,000 inpatients
Patient
A patient is any recipient of healthcare services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, veterinarian, or other health care provider....
in 3,500 beds annually. 14,400 people are employed at its four locations in Berlin:
- Charité CampusCampusA campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
Mitte (CCM) in Berlin-Mitte - Campus Benjamin Franklin (CBF) in Berlin-LichterfeldeLichterfelde (Berlin)Lichterfelde is a locality in the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf in Berlin, Germany. Until 2001 it was part, with Steglitz and Lankwitz of the former Steglitz borough.-History:...
(former Klinikum Steglitz) - Campus Virchow Klinikum (CVK) in Berlin-Wedding
- Campus Berlin Buch (CBB) in Berlin-BuchPankowPankow is the third borough of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow.- Overview :...
Strictly speaking, the locations in Mitte, Lichterfelde and Wedding are independent medical centers
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
, each providing patients with the full range of medical treatments available in modern medicine. However, affiliated with the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is an important German research funding organization and the largest such organization in Europe.-Function:...
and the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, special research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
and therapy focuses exist, such as the German Cardiology
Cardiology
Cardiology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart . The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology...
Center Berlin at the Campus Virchow Klinikum, the Center for Space Medicine
Space medicine
Space medicine is the practice of medicine on astronauts in outer space whereas astronautical hygiene is the application of science and technology to the prevention or control of exposure to the hazards that may cause astronaut ill health. Both these sciences work together to ensure that...
at the Campus Benjamin Franklin, the German Rheumatology
Rheumatology
Rheumatology is a sub-specialty in internal medicine and pediatrics, devoted to diagnosis and therapy of rheumatic diseases. Clinicians who specialize in rheumatology are called rheumatologists...
Research Center at the Campus Charité Mitte, and the Center for Molecular and Clinical Cardiology at the Campus Berlin Buch. The DHZB possesses the largest heart
Heart
The heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
transplantation
Organ transplant
Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...
program in Germany and, after London and Paris, the third largest worldwide.