Bjerrum Medal for Speaker of SFB 1607

During its winter meeting at the Reichshospital in Copenhagen, the Danish Ophthalmological Society (DOS) awarded the prestigious Bjerrum Medal to Univ.-Prof. Dr. Claus Cursiefen, Director of the Center for Ophthalmology at the University Hospital of Cologne. This award, which has been presented since 1965, is accompanied by an honorary lecture and recognizes ophthalmologists worldwide for their outstanding contributions to ophthalmology. Prof. Cursiefen is the first recipient from Germany in 30 years.

The president of the DOS, Prof. Anders Ivarsen from Aarhus, praised Prof. Cursiefen’s achievements in the fight against blindness through various methods of corneal transplantation. Special mention was made of innovative approaches to anti-lymphangiogenic preconditioning of so-called high-risk eyes through pre-transplant treatment with UVA cross-linking. The Cologne Department of Ophthalmology is leading a BMBF-funded multicenter study in Germany on this topic. The approaches are also being investigated in the SFB1607 at the clinic.

With over 1,200 operations per year, the Center for Ophthalmology is the largest transplantation center in the field of ophthalmology in Germany.