Minister President Stephan Weil awards former MHH President with Lower Saxony Order of Merit.
Special tribute: Professor Michael Manns and Minister President Stephan Weil in the guest house of the state government. Copyright: Inka Burow/MHH
Lower Saxony's Minister President Stephan Weil has awarded Professor Michael Manns the Grand Cross of the Lower Saxony Order of Merit. The gastroenterologist and former MHH president was honoured in particular for his achievements and services in medical research and for Lower Saxony as a centre of science.
‘It is a particular pleasure for me to honour Professor Michael Manns with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Lower Saxony. This is in recognition of an impressive life's work and a sign of our appreciation for an outstanding and highly renowned scientist in our state,’ said Minister President Stephan Weil at the award ceremony in the state government's guest house. ‘Manns has, for example, successfully developed new standard therapies for chronic hepatitis diseases and a cell transplant that can bridge the time until a liver transplant or even replace it.’
A great role model
‘In a nutshell, Professor Manns ensures that people live longer and better lives,’ Weil continued. "He is considered a great role model – as a doctor, scientist and mentor. Under his presidency, the MHH has significantly expanded its leading role in medicine and research, and Manns has also successfully led the university hospital through the difficult and, for employees, very stressful coronavirus pandemic. Professor Manns has now been associated with the MHH for over 30 years, and I am delighted that he will continue to do so in his role as senior professor." ‘With his exceptionally long and varied commitment to science, Professor Manns has rendered outstanding and exemplary services to our state – especially as a centre of science,’ emphasised the Minister President. ‘I would like to express my personal thanks to him for this!’
Strong ties to Hanover
For Professor Manns, the award of the Order of Merit is a special honour. The Koblenz-born scientist expressed his gratitude for the award with words of praise for his adopted home: ‘Lower Saxony has a very, very good scientific landscape.’ The fact that Hanover is ‘an extremely liveable city’ has always made it easy for him and his family to feel at home here. The world-renowned liver expert called the MHH ‘the most international place in Hanover’. Reflecting on his life's work, Professor Manns emphasised: ‘The star is the team. That is essential in medicine.’
Professor Manns' research focuses on liver and intestinal diseases as well as infectious and transplant medicine. He came to Hanover in 1991 as Director of the Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology. From 2019 to the end of 2024, he was President of the MHH. He now works as a senior professor at the Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine, of which he is the founding director.
Text: Inka Burow