In a festive award ceremony on 9 October in Düsseldorf, Munich-based virologist Prof. Dr. Ulrike Protzer was honoured with the GERMAN MEDICAL AWARD.
Prof Dr Ulrike Protzer's received the award for her successful development of innovative hepatitis B therapeutics and her ongoing participation in social discourse, where she actively promotes informed communication on medical and scientific topics.
Incidentally, the laudatory speech for Protzer was given by Alice Schwarzer, Germany's most famous feminist and women's rights activist.
"I am deeply honored to receive the German Medical Award. It reflects not only our progress in understanding viruses and developing immune therapies to combat them, but also the dedication of my team to improving patient care and advancing our findings into the clinics."
Prof Dr Ulrike Protzer to Helmholtz Munich
As director of the Institute of Virology at the Technical University of Munich and VIRO at Helmholtz Munich , Protzer has been able to launch a promising new treatment for hepatitis B with the therapeutic vaccine TherVacB , among other things, and has also made a name for herself in the SARS-CoV2 pandemic and numerous international collaborations.
In addition, Protzer is committed to promoting women and less privileged groups in science. As a member of the Infect-Net board, she played a key role in establishing our association of German female infection researchers from the outset and continues to advise the new association as an assessor on the extended board.
We congratulate Ulla wholeheartedly and share her joy at this well-deserved award. The ‘Female Doctor of the Year’ award is an important signal for the visibility of the achievements that women make every day in health research and medicine.
For 10 years now, the German Medical Award has been presented to individuals ‘who are shaping the medicine of tomorrow with passion, courage and innovative strength.’ Incidentally, applications for the German Medical Award 2026 are now being accepted until 31 May 2026.
René Lesnik | Coordination Infect-Net
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