Obituary

The DVSE is mourning the passing of honored members: 
 
Birgit Werner, Alwin Jäger and Jochen Löhr

 

 

BIRGIT WERNER |
With shock and great sadness, we were informed at the beginning of the DVSE annual conference in St. Gallen that Dr. Birgit Simone Werner had recently died caused by a grave illness that had only been diagnosed in 2016. She died at the age of only 38 in presence of her family, for most of us completely unexpectedly; hardly anyone knew of her suffering. For the 10th time in a row since 2009, she planned to participate again at DVSE Congress, where she was listed as co-author of several contributions in the program.

Birgit Werner is without doubt one of the most scientifically successful and internationally renowned shoulder and elbow surgeons in Germany. As a member of DVSE since 2009, she has been very active for many years, especially for the endoprosthesis register. In 2010, she was admitted to the SECEC as an Associate Member, in 2015 also as an Ordinary Member and finally participated in the Registry Committee of the European Society. In 2018, she was awarded with the status of Corresponding Member of ASES in recognition of her scientific merits. Her career shows a remarkable determination: From 1987 - 2000 she completed her school education in Brambauer and Waltrop, near Dortmund, from 2000 - 2007 she studied medicine at the Julius-Maximilians-University in Würzburg, Germany. In 2008 she completed her doctoral thesis with the topic: "Shoulder-TEP exchange operations with the inverse shoulder prosthesis". 
From October 2007 to June 2008 she worked as a resident at the Orthopaedic University Hospital Würzburg, König-Ludwig-Haus with Prof. Dr. Jochen Eulert, later with Prof. Dr. Maximilian Rudert. Already during this time she established a local shoulder endoprosthesis register with 1200 documented cases at KLH Würzburg.

From July to December 2009, she worked in trauma surgery at the Caritas Hospital in Bad Mergentheim before moving to the Clinic for Shoulder Surgery in Bad Neustadt in January 2010 (until June 2011) as a resident. There, with her commitment and many good ideas, she contributed substantially to the establishment of the new clinic. From July 2011 to December 2012 she completed her orthopaedic specialisation at Franziskus-Hospital Harderberg with PD Dr. Olaf Rolf and at Marienhospital Osnabrück with Prof. Dr. Uwe Joosten. After returning to the orthopaedics department of Franziskus-Hospital in January 2013, she was able to take over the position of a physician with a focus on shoulder surgery after passing her examination as a specialised orthopaedic and trauma surgeon. 

In 2012, she won the German DVSE travel scholarship. This special love for our specialty led her to Lyon in 2014 for another clinical and scientific fellowship of 3 months in the Centre Orthopédique Santy lead by G. Walch, L. Neyton and A. Godenèche. During this time and in the following years, she worked on several projects, focusing on shoulder endoprosthetics and pre-operative 3D planning. 
 
Birgt Werner returned to the Clinic for Shoulder Surgery in Bad Neustadt as surgeon in January 2015, where she also performed the entire spectrum of shoulder and elbow surgery with a focus on endoprosthetics and arthroscopic surgery. She was awarded the DVSE certificate and qualified to head her own department.
 
Her oeuvre is remarkable: in addition to a large number of published abstracts and lectures, she has written more than 30 original works, reviews and book contributions, and is listed in PubMed as the first author of 11 original works of renowned journals. Some of her works are among the most quoted and read in the world of shoulder and elbow.
 
This year, she actually planned to publish an anatomical and biomechanical study to complete her habilitation thesis with the focus on "Inverse Revision Endoprosthetics". She was only prevented from doing so by the ever-increasing impairment caused by her disease. Unfortunately, she was no longer able to achieve another academic title.
With Birgit Werner we lose a lot: Not only a highly intelligent, competent and characterful young orthopaedic surgeon of high professional and scientific qualification, but also a very lovable colleague, whose reserved and modest appearance was not only refined with a little bit of self-irony, but in quiet moments also the profound humor of her homeland shone out from the bright eyes of a Norwegian cat under a red blond head.
 
Birgit, we will all miss you very much.

Würzburg, May 20th, 2019
 
Frank Gohlke

 

 

 

ALWIN JÄGER |
Only one day before his sudden and unexpected death, Alwin had held a lecture in Berlin. Just the way we knew and appreciated him: enthusiastic, dedicated to medicine – especially to arthroscopy – and with his own great sense of humor. The news of his sudden death that could not be prevented even by the greatest surgical efforts deeply shocked us all. All of the sudden death has not only torn him away from his successful career but also from his beloved wife Heike, with whom he had only just moved into a new house. We all knew Alwin as a dedicated physician who was appreciated by both his colleagues and his patients for his excellent surgical skills and his dedication to his patients and to whom improving arthroscopic techniques was always of greatest importance. During his time in Frankfurt at the Orthopedic Clinic Friedrichsheim he led his department to great recognition. Not only his surgical knowledge but also his professional views and organizational skills were well appreciated. Therefore his new position as head physician for sports orthopedics / knee and shoulder surgery seemed like a perfect fit for him. Alwin has gained a national and international reputation as an excellent orthopedist and gained widespread acclaim for his arthroscopic skills. He was an active member of the ISAKOS, the AGA and the ACL Study Group among others, as well as a member of the DVSE for many years. In Friedrichsheim he organized numerous shoulder surgery courses. Alwin was always willing to share his curiosity and his knowledge and was a dedicated teacher for both his staff as well as national and international guests. We are therefore particularly pleased with the proposal of Ron Schmieding to create the Dr. Alwin Jäger Foundation for the Promotion of Education. Despite your many commitments and responsibilities, we have always experienced you, Alwin, as a loyal friend and humorous companion.

We miss your mischievous laughter and your humanity.

For the board of the DVSE

U. Brunner, E.Wiedemann, J. Steinbeck

Jochen Löhr

 

 

JOCHEN LÖHR |
At the end of the EFORT congress in Vienna, which was co-organized by Professor Dr. Joachim Löhr and during which he was scheduled to give several lectures and to moderate a symposium, we received the shocking news of his death. It is tremendously difficult to realize that he is not with us anymore. Joachim Löhr has been a member of the The German society of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery (DVSE) from the very beginning, and has greatly shaped it through his basic scientific research, his outstanding congress contributions, excellent lectures and his always helpful and never selfish efforts within different committees. His professional career as a resident at the Schulthes Clinic in Zürich, as a research and clinical fellow, resident and finally consultant of the university hospitals of Toronto and Ottawa, as head of department of orthopaedics at the university hospital in Würzburg, as chief physician for orthopaedics at the Schulthess Clinic Zürich, as professor in ordinary of orthopaedics at the university of Lübeck, as medical director of the Endoclinic Hamburg and finally within a private practice back in Zürich made him an excellent ambassador for the DVSE and the field of German shoulder- and elbow surgery. He has received numerous national and international scientific distinctions and was member as well as honorary member of many international societies and associations, i.a. the Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, American Academy and Orthopedic Surgeons, Canadian Orthopaedic Association and Research Society and European Research Society. Joachim Löhr was a great communicator through his open-mindedness and his verbal skills. His excellent, scientifically sound and yet humorous lectures and contributions to discussions at countless meetings are unforgotten. There was hardly any important congress or major international meeting on shoulder and elbow surgery associated topics without the presence of and active contributions by Joachim Löhr. Just a few weeks ago, he presented the Perthes Prize of the Deutsche Vereinigung für Schulter- und Ellenbogenchirurgie in Hamburg with his dry northern German cordiality and a Hanseatic wink. The German society of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery has lost one of its key members and we all lost a good friend.  

Dear Jochen, we will greatly miss you and your open, friendly nature and keep you in honorable memory. 

For the managing board of the DVSE

Markus Loew, Ulrich Brunner, Jörn Steinbeck

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