Obituary
Dr. Drexler, who was director of the department of cardiology and angiology at Hannover (Germany) Medical School (MHH), had collapsed while riding his bicycle.
“We [have lost] a role model as a physician, researcher, university professor, and human being,” MHH President Dieter Bitter-Suermann said in a statement.
A member of the European Society of Cardiology and the Heart Failure Association, Dr. Drexler was principal investigator in the BOOST study, a randomized trial of bone marrow–derived cell therapy post MI, and CADS, a comparison of captopril and digoxin in patients with post-MI left ventricular dysfunction.
His colleagues at the ESC remembered him not only as a scientist who pioneered translational research in cardiovascular medicine, but also as a friend with a sense of humor and a passion for skiing.
Born in 1951 in Karlsruhe, Germany, Dr. Drexler received his medical degree in 1976 from the University of Freiburg. He was a fellow at the university's Institute of Pathology (1978–1979), a research fellow at Pennsylvania State University, Hershey (1982–1983), and a visiting professor of cardiology at Stanford (Calif.) University (1991–1992).
He became associate professor at the University of Freiburg in 1993 before joining MHH in 1996. MHH's cardiology and angiology department specializes in the treatment of heart failure, atherosclerosis, cardiac arrhythmias, and congenital heart defects, as well as regenerative therapies. Its cardiac catheterization laboratory opened in 2008, and a new intensive care unit was added this year.
Dr. Drexler's research interests included the pathophysiology of heart failure, endothelial function, the renin-angiotensin system, and vascular inflammation. At the time of his death, Dr. Drexler was running a trial on a new treatment for postpartum cardiomyopathy. MHH announced plans to continue the trial in his memory. Dr. Bernhard Schieffer, has taken over as acting director of the cardiology and angiology department.
Dr. Drexler is survived by his wife, Christa, and daughter, Beatrice. A memorial service is planned for Nov. 28.
Cardiologists on the Move
Recognized for his scientific studies advancing new therapies for cardiovascular, pulmonary, musculoskeletal, neurologic, an oncologic diseases, Dr. Stamler is credited with the discovery of a protein modification, S-nitrosylation, that helped clarify the role of nitric oxide in the control of complex physiological responses.
He earned his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and completed his medical residency and fellowship training in cardiology and pulmonary medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.
In 1993, he joined the faculty at Duke, where he went on to become the George Barth Geller Professor of Research in Cardiovascular Disease and professor of medicine and biochemistry, before accepting the position at Case Western.