With 30 departments and 20 institutes, the Saarland University Hospital (SUH) holds a top position as health centre in south-west Germany. Over 5,300 employees care for the patients. 2,000 students are trained in medicine and dental medicine, biology and bio computer sciences at the Faculty of Medicine that is situated here. Furthermore, 1,000 university attendants work at Homburg campus. Almost 700 training jobs are available for non-medical health professions. Additionally, the SUH trains biology and chemistry laboratory workers. Thus, the Saarland University Hospital is one of the main providers of work in the region. Homburg covers all of the main medical specializations like eye or dental clinics.
The SUH plays a leading role in medical teaching, research and health care far beyond the borders of Saarland. These areas are tightly knit with one another, interdisciplinarily oriented and marked through international co-operation. Particular value is placed upon ethic and social competence, true to our mission statement: We treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. We orient ourselves with determination according to the needs of our patients.
Transplantation medicine and cancer therapy
The main field of medical research at the SUH is the internationally renowned treatment of aggressive lymphomas (lymph node cancer) at the José Carreras Centre for immune- and gene therapy.
Besides this, innovative processes in the treatment of tumours for patients with breast and prostate cancer are equally offered in Homburg. A new process for the treatment of breast cancer, intraoperative radiotherapy, has already been established. The SUH also holds a top international position for brain, cardiovascular and muscoskeletal diseases. The Homburger Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery has developed into one of the leading establishments within the area of heart valve reconstruction. The Department of Cardiology became the project leader in the European Union’s largest research enterprise the theme of stroke prevention. In addition to this, the SUH, as of late, houses the Mobile Stroke Unit – a stroke ambulance homing a diagnostics and therapy centre. A further main area here is the research of Alzheimer’s disease, where this formed the largest EU research project co-ordinated in Homburg. The prevention of dementia is dealt with by a newly founded institute.
250 worldwide research co-operations
Through a large number of research co-operations, patients can benefit from the latest stand in medicine, especially in case of most complex clinical symptoms.
For ten years, a Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) for the transfer of signals in cells is housed at the SUH and currently, participation of the latest trans-regional SFB is being undergone for fibrosis, the clinical increase of connective tissue in the liver and kidneys. Furthermore, two clinical research groups deal with Hepatitis C as well as remodelling processes in the cardiac muscle, which can lead to chronic heart failure. Excellent junior researchers are trained at three graduate colleges.
High tech and top-class medicine – partners for life
Kidney, heart, lung, liver and bone-marrow transplants including peripheral stem cell transplants as well as cornea transplants are all carried out at Saarland’s Transplant Center of the SUH. The Clinic Ophthalmology of houses a respectable outpatient operative centre as well as a new high-performance excimer laser, which supports precision work on eyes.
Furthermore, the SUH is marked by organizational innovations: Sick students can take part in their school lessons by means of a web cam. The local alliance UniMedKids forms the child and family-oriented foundation supporting the unification of family, studies and occupation at the SUH.
The SUH runs numerous regional and nationwide co-operation projects, for example, co-operation was arranged with the German Red Cross (DRK)-West in the area of blood donation. The Saarland-wide recording of baby-health examinations has also spread to Rhineland-Palatinate.
An ideal environment for company foundations
Scientists and medical staff who would like to found a company can make use of the Starterzentrum Founder-Centre of the university and, on behalf of the city of Homburg, the BIZ Biomedical Centre, which provides support in logistics, a technology park for high-tech companies and also the KWT contact point for knowledge and technology transfer at the Starter Zentrum on Homburg campus. All of this makes the SUH one of the most significant economic factors across the region and is surrounded by numerous successful, internationally operating companies, as for example, the Robert Bosch GmbH, Michelin, Thyssen Krupp Gerlach or the Karlsberg Brewery.
Prof. Dr. Hans Köhler (born in 1941) is medical director and chairman of the executive board of Saarland University Hospital. Following medical studies in Gießen, he specialized as a doctor for internal medicine and nephrology. He was occupied as medical head, among other things, at the Transplantationszentrum of the University of Mainz Medical School’s Hospital and transferred to Homburg/Saar in 1993 as director of the Department of Internal Medicine IV.
