Research

Hans-Peter Zenner is Chairman of the "Medizinische Ethikkommission" at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Before he has been Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology, University of Tübingen.

His research is predominantly about the neurobiology of the auditory system. This includes the physiology of sound and information processing as well as the pathophysiology of hearing loss and deafness. His contributions of descriptions of the cochlear amplifier which controls the processing of human speech in the ear as well as the development of active implants for patients suffering from hearing loss are seminal.

Career

• 1988-2016 Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Tübingen, Germany
• 1986-1988 Professor, Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Würzburg, Germany
• 1985 Visiting Senior Scientist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
• 1981 Habilitation (research topic: monoclonal antibodies against carcinoma membrane antigens)
• 1976-1984 Research assistant, following habilitation lecturer and Senior Physician at the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Würzburg (Chair: Prof. Dr. W. Kley)
• 1974-1976 Scholarship from the German Research Foundation (DFG) under Prof. Dr. E. Helmreich, at the Department of Physiological Chemistry at the University of Würzburg; research topic: signal transfer through biological membranes
• 1972-1974 Medical internships at institutions including the Heidelberg University Hospital (Chair: Prof. Dr. G. Schettler)

Projects

• 2010 Co-founder of the Center for Neurosensory Systems, Tübingen, Germany
• 2008 Founding spokesperson of the Head and Neck Cancer Centre at CCC Tübingen, Germany
• 1995 Founding spokesperson of the Tübingen Hearing Research Centre
• 1994-1997 Founding spokesperson of the BMBF’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research (IZKF), Tübingen, Germany
• 1993 Founding spokesperson of the Cochlear Implant Centre Tübingen, Germany
• 1992 Founding spokesperson of a Clinical Research Unit of the German Research Foundation

Functions

• Chairman, Medizinische Ethikkommission, University of Tübingen
• 2010-2021 Member of the Presidium of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Halle (Saale)
• 2009-2010 President of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors (GDNÄ)
• 2000-2003 President of the German Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery
• 1998-2002 President (2001 - 2002) and Secretary-General (1998 - 2001) of the German Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery
• 1997-2003 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Medical Association
• 1996-2000 Ethics Committee of the Intl. Fed. O.R.L. Societies (New York)
• 1996-1997 Participation in the German Federal Chancellor’s Advisory Council for Research and Technology

Honours and Memberships

• 2014 Alexander von Humboldt Medal of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors (GDNÄ)
• 1998 Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• 1996-2004 Honorary doctorates from several European universities
• 1995-2003 Honorary member of several European scientific associations
• 1986 Leibniz Prize awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)