Professor Dr. Ignaz O. Auer, chief physician at Juliusspital, Academic Teaching Hospital, Würzburg, PMF scholarship recipient 1972, State University of New York at Buffalo, United States

"After two years as a postdoctoral research fellow with the Department of Immunology and Microbiology of the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNYAB), I was able to extend my work as a clinical research fellow at the Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, at the Meyer Memorial Hospital of the Medical School of SUNYAB by a full year thanks to the scholarship of the Paul Martini Foundation.

Based on my prior education, this was the decisive course-setting measure for both my scientific work in the field of intestinal immunity and immunology-related disorders of the gastrointestinal system as well as my clinical work combining gastroenterology and rheumatology. The significance of intestinal immunity for numerous diseases not just of the gastrointestinal system are undisputed today. As a result, my scientific papers, especially about the immunology of the two chronically inflammatory intestinal diseases, Crohn's disease and Colitis ulcerosa, have also met with international recognition during the 15 years following my scholarship. (..)

In summary, I would like to say that especially the third year of my education in the United States, which was made possible through the support of the Paul Martini Foundation, truly established and outlined my clinical career in a crucial manner.

The resulting publications and my present, more clinically oriented activities would not have been possible in the same fashion or quality without the past support from the Paul Martini Foundation."

"It's been more than 20 years since I received the Paul Martini Prize. As was the case for several other award recipients, my postdoctoral thesis for habilitation constituted the award-winning work. While I was very pleased with the award, it did represent a recognition for the scientific work I performed. There is no doubt that the prize encouraged me to keep working in this field of research. The discovery of a genetic polymorphism in human pharmaceutical metabolism made in this work has remained the focus of my scientific work."

For this discovery and the resulting publication, I also subsequently received the Poul Edvard Poulsson Award of the Norwegian Society of Pharmacology and Toxicology, the Paul Martini Medal, the Robert Pfleger Award and the William N. Creasy Award of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Furthermore, I was asked to present the Rudolf Buchheim Memorial Lecture of the German Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology."

"For me, receiving the Paul Martini Prize is in more than one respect linked with several supportive impacts that could not be foreseen at the time:

• For my work group, this renowned award was an ongoing stimulus for clinical pharmacology research. This may be due to several important aspects: First, the awareness of being recognized by an international committee, secondly, the appreciation of clinical research performed in my specialized area in the past, and finally a certain obligation to continue on the path chosen even after this award.

• Award ceremonies serve as a stimulus not just for the award recipients but also for their environment. This implied that, based on the recognized publications, it was possible to conduct new studies with obviously broader acceptance. (...)

• Without doubt, the curriculum that contained the award mention was very significant in my personal applications."

"Through the scholarship from the Paul Martini Foundation, I had the opportunity to work with Professor Dr. D. L. Azarnoff at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City (United States) for 16 months, both clinically and at the research laboratory. During my work, I became aware very quickly that this was an excellent choice, since this institution paid particular attention to the clinical implementation of clinical pharmacology research results. Furthermore, it was also quite obvious that I, as a scholarship recipient of the Paul Martini Foundation, which was already very respected even back then, was particularly welcome. (...)

Based on this work and due to the generous support from Professor Dengler upon my return to Germany, I was quickly able to establish a functioning research laboratory. Subsequently, I received continuous support from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG - German Research Foundation) for 12 years and was also supported by the German Ministry for Research and Technology for several years.

I was able to expand my research activities very well in the clinical pharmacology laboratory and at the clinic, habilitated in 1976 and obtained a position as assistant medical director in the clinical field. In 1988, I was appointed director of the First Medical Clinic of the Karlsruhe Municipal Clinic. I consider the support I received through the scholarship from the Paul Martini Foundation the decisive foundation of my scientific career.

During my scholarship period, I was able to fully concentrate on my scientific work and gather experience with regard to both methodic and conceptual aspects, which allowed me to continue to be productive in my research on top of my clinical responsibilities."

"During the first two years of my continued scientific education with Professor Ellen Weber in Heidelberg, my position was financed with means provided to the University of Heidelberg by the Paul Martini Foundation for the advancement of clinical pharmacology. Financed through a scholarship from the Paul Martini Foundation, I was able to expand my knowledge in the modelling of pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic data during my study visit at Biozentrum Basel in 1979/80.

My field of work (PK/PD modelling) was strongly influenced by the scientific experience of my study visit.

Furthermore, my occupation in this scientific area is reflected in regulatory texts, which I collaborated on (dose response information) in the ICH (International Conferences of Harmonization).

"At the initiative of Professor Eichelbaum, the Paul Martini Foundation granted me a short scholarship in 1987 for a study visit with the team of Professor Meyer at Biozentrum Basel. Due to the very good work environment, we succeeded in completely conducting experiments with regard to the metabolism of an antiarrhythmic drug within four weeks, so that a paper was published as a result of the scholarship. I continued the work begun here in the United States and also habilitated on this subject area in 1992.

For my postdoctoral thesis, which was in part also based on experiments supported by the Paul Martini Foundation, I received the Paul Martini Prize in 1993. As a result, the foundation has accompanied me from scholarship to award (as Professor Weihrauch phrased it back then).

In addition, I would like to say that the acceptance of scientists in clinical pharmacology is sometimes not without problems, so that the recognition of my scientific work through the Paul Martini Prize as an external quality feature was very important to me."

"Together with my co-authors (...), I received an award for my work on the interactions of digitalis glycosides and the clinical pharmacology of ß-adrenoreceptor blockers.

The two Paul Martini Prizes represented a great recognition of decades of research with regard to the clinical pharmacology of cardiovascular substances. However, what's more important is that the award honored the achievements of a relatively small, private research institute that was not part of a university-run research institution or recipient of public funding. Of course, this was an incentive and motivation for me and all colleagues to continue to meet our own continued high performance goals.

I believe our center has succeeded in continuing to conduct innovative research and to make important contributions to the field of clinical pharmacology, to which we feel we have both a present and future commitment."