Research

Rolf Rossaint, full professor of Anesthesiology at the RWTH Aachen, is publishing excellent studies dealing with the treatment of severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) for more than 20 years. He was the first to demonstrate that inhaled nitric oxide in patients suffering from ARDS caused a selective pulmonary vasodilation resulting in a decrease of pulmonary artery pressure and an increase in arterial oxygenation. He set up centres for ARDS treatment, which were able to use extracorporeal lung assist in case all conventional means to maintain gas exchange failed.

In the last 12 years he published numerous important experimental and clinical studies dealing with the noble gas Xenon. These studies resulted in the licence to use Xenon as an inhalational anaesthetic. Rolf Rossaint showed that Xenon has not only an anaesthetic effect but is also cardio- and neuroprotective. Furthermore, his experimental work proves that the similar neuroprotective effects come along with the noble gases helium and argon. In the next years he would like to confirm the promising results of his preclinical research in clinical studies.

Career

• since 2002 Vice-rector of the RWTH Aachen University, Germany
• since 1997 Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anaesthesiology of the University Hospital at the RWTH University Aachen, Germany
• 1993 Habilitation, Medical Faculty, FU Berlin, Germany
• 1988-1997 Leading head physician at the Department of Anaesthesiology and Surgical Intensive Care at the University Hospital Rudolf Virchow of FU Berlin, Germany
• 1983-1988 Resident at the Centre for Anaesthesiology of the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany
• 1983 Doctoral thesis at the Medical Faculty at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany
• 1977-1983 Medical study at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany

Projects

• 2011-2013 InnoMeT.NRW
• 2008-2011 Smart-Life-Support (DFG-Package-application)
• 2007-2010 Med-on@Aix: e-health in prehospital emergency medicine (BWI)

Functions

• since 2012 Member of the „Fachkollegiat“ of the German Research Foundation
• since 2008 Medical director of the  Malteser Rettungsschule Aachen
• since 2007 chairman of the NRW German Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care

Honours and Memberships

• 1996 Annual Scientific Award of the 16th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Brussels
• 1993 Pulmedica-Award
• 1993 E.K. Frey Award (for basic research in the field of inhaled nitric oxide as a selective pulmonary vasodilator (Rossaint et al. NEJM 1993)
• 1992 Award of the "European Academy of Anaesthesiology"