Prof. Dr. Marius Hoeper is the new director of the MHH Clinical Department of Pneumology and Infectious Diseases.
Prof. Dr. Marius Hoeper. Copyright: Tom Figiel
Since February, Prof. Dr. Marius Hoeper (63) has been Director of the Clinical Department of Pneumology and Infectious Diseases. This position is by no means new to him: he had already served as acting director during the COVID pandemic and, for the past two years—following the death of Prof. Dr. Tobias Welte—as interim director. Professor Hoeper’s professional career is closely linked to the MHH. Today, he is an internationally recognized expert in the field of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare form of high blood pressure in the lungs. Yet as a young man, he actually had no intention of becoming a physician.
Civil service sparked his interest
“Studying medicine was never my plan; I wanted to become a journalist,” recalls Professor Hoeper. That changed during his civil service in the emergency medical services. His interest was piqued. In 1984, he began studying medicine at the MHH, initially without any scientific ambitions. But those didn’t take long to emerge. As a PhD student, he was able to help care for patients who had undergone lung transplants as part of Prof. Dr. Axel Haverich’s team. “That made a big impression on me. That’s where I saw the first patients with pulmonary hypertension. At the time, the disease had hardly been researched, and there were no treatment options. That’s when I knew for sure: This is what I want to focus on!”
And so Professor Hoeper did embark on a scientific career. He completed his doctorate in 1992. From 1993 to 1995, he held a research fellowship at the University of Colorado, Denver. He then returned to the MHH, where he earned his habilitation in 1999. Pulmonary arterial hypertension has remained his primary research focus to this day. In 2018, 2019, and 2023, Professor Hoeper was named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher, among the world’s most cited scientists.
Strengthening the Clinical Department for the future
As director, Professor Hoeper succeeded Prof. Dr. Tobias Welte, who had established the Clinical Department as an institution with global visibility in both research and clinical practice. “I still miss his friendship and advice to this day,” Professor Hoeper notes. He is all the more pleased that the sense of community within the Clinical Department is very strong and that cooperation with other departments is excellent. Together with his team, he aims to further develop the Clinical Department and make it strong for the future. “Our mission as a university hospital is to continue advancing research into and treatment of rare and severe lung diseases, even in times of scarce resources,” he explains. “Our goal must be to repair and regenerate diseased organs rather than having to replace them.”
In the case of PAH, this goal has already been partially achieved. There are now ten approved medications for treatment. Professor Hoeper was involved in the clinical development of most of them, such as sotatercept, one of the most important recent advances in the treatment of PAH. The clinic director hopes to see similar progress in other lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), fibrotic lung diseases, lung tumors, acute respiratory failure, and infectious lung diseases. According to Hoeper, the key to this is the close integration of research and clinical care in collaboration with partners both within and outside the MHH. In this regard, the team is set to be strengthened soon by a professorship focusing on COPD, which was advertised jointly with Fraunhofer ITEM.
Since becoming clinic director, his daily work routine has changed significantly. Management and administrative tasks now take up more of his time. However, Professor Hoeper refuses to give up direct contact with his patients—to this day, he remains actively involved in patient care every day. His free time has also become scarcer. He prefers to spend it with his family—enjoying the outdoors and riding his bike.
Text: Tina Götting