Personal History

Dr Stefan Anker was born in East Berlin, Germany in 1965 and has been a doctor for almost thirty years. In his own words, he “never considered doing anything other than medicine.” He is a prodigious researcher who has published over 950 original papers, reviews and editorials.

Dr Anker has also won a number of awards, including the 2018 Copernicus Prize from the German DFG and Polish FNP. Working with both systems in the United Kingdom and Germany has been enjoyable for him because he loves the freedom that it provides as an academic. He would like to play more tennis or golf if he had the time, and enjoys collecting sculptures; particularly anything “skinny or thin.”

Academic History

Dr Anker studied medicine at Charité Medical School of Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany from 1987 to 1993. He went on to complete his PhD at the National Heart and Lung Institute of Imperial College London, United Kingdom, in 1998. Since then, he has had teaching appointments in several countries including the UK, Germany, Australia and Italy.

Dr Anker has worked as a Junior Professor and then as Professor for Charité Campus Virchow-Klinikum since 2002. He is a member of and serves on the Boards of several academic organizations, including the Board of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle (SCWD). He is also a member of the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK).

Career Overview

Dr Stefan Anker MD, PhD, FESC, started working for Charité Campus Virchow-Klinikum in 2002 as a Junior Professor of Cardiology & Cachexia Research. Since then he has worked for the same institution in other roles, as Professor of Cardiology & Cachexia Research (2007), and Professor of (Tissue) Homeostasis in Cardiology & Metabolism (2017).

Dr Anker’s total citations exceed 46,000, including over 50 papers with more than 200 citations, and he has an h-index of 174. His myriad research interests include the pathophysiology of heart failure, the pathophysiology of cachexia and sarcopenia in chronic heart failure (CHF), stroke, cancer and the elderly, treatment development in heart failure, device therapy, clinical evaluation of cardiovascular biomarkers and cachexia therapy in CHF.

Stefan Anker has served as a Board member of a number of journals and organisations. He has been a member of the German Cardiac Society and of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) since 1995, and is currently Vice President of the ESC in charge of National Cardiac Societies and Communications. He has served on the Board of the ESC since 2012 and the Board of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC since 2006. He was HFA President between 2012 and 2014 and currently chairs the HFA committee on regulatory affairs. Dr Anker has also been a member of the Working Group on Myocardial Function of the ESC and previously the Working Group on Heart Failure.

In 2008, Dr Anker became the Founding President of the International Society on Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Disorders (SCWD). He also served as Past President of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology (2012-2014) and Vizepräsident of the European Society of Cardiology (2016-18). He has served as Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle and Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of ESC Heart Failure.

Dr Anker has received a number of awards over the years, including the Samuel A. Levine Young Investigator Award and the GlaxoSmithKline Respiratory Clinical Research Award. In 2018, he was awarded, together with Prof Dr Piotr Ponikowski of Wrocław Medical University, the Copernicus Award for their services to German-Polish research collaboration. Their contributions are considered to have led to a better understanding of the pathophysiology of heart failure as well as new treatment strategies for the disease.

Career Timeline

1987 : Started his medical studies at Charité - Universitätsmedizin, Berlin
1993: Completed his medical studies, earning his Doctoral degree
1998: Earned his PhD from the National Heart & Lung Institute of Imperial College, London
2002: Started work as Junior Professor of Cardiology & Cachexia Research, Charité - Universitätsmedizin, Berlin
2007: Became Professor of Cardiology & Cachexia Research, Charité - Universitätsmedizin, Berlin
2008: Founding President of the International Society on Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Disorders
2012: Past President of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology
2014: Professor of Innovative Clinical Trials, Universitätsklinikum, Göttingen
2016: Vizepräsident of the European Society of Cardiology
2017: Professor of (Tissue) Homeostasis in Cardiology & Metabolism at Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin, Berlin

Recognition

1998: "Ehrenmedaille der Charité Berlin" (honorary medal of Charité Medical School, Berlin)
1998: Runner-up; Samuel A. Levine Young Investigator Award (Clinical Cardiology) of the AHA
1999: 2nd Prize; Young Investigator Award (Clinical Cardiology) of the ACC
2000: 3rd Prize; YIA Clinical Cardiology of the European Society of Cardiology
2000: 1st Prize; Samuel A. Levine Young Investigator Award (Clinical Cardiology) for the AHA
2001: GlaxoSmithKline Respiratory Clinical Research Award
2006: Animal protection research prize
2006: 1st Prize; Samuel A. Levine Young Investigator Award (Clinical Cardiology) for the AHA
2007: 1st Prize; Young Investigator Award of the European HF Association
2011: Storz German Telemedicine Award
2018: Copernicus Award, together with Prof. Dr. Piotr Ponikowski from Wrocław Medical University, awarded from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the Fundacja na rzecz Nauki Polskiej (FNP, Foundation for Polish Science)