The Most Influential Scientists in the Development of the Medical Informatics (3): Peter Leo Reichertz

PETER LEO REICHERTZ (1930-1987) Peter Leo Reichertz (1930 1987) was a physician and university professor in the fi eld of medical computer science. He studied physics, mathematics and medicine at the different universities throughout the Europe, in universities of Göttingen, Köln, Geneva, Munich and Bonn. During that period he persuaded PhD and directed himself toward internal medicine. His main scientifi c activity in this period was in the fi eld of cardiology. The experiences in practice and the emerging possibilities of data processing have convinced him of the importance of computer science in medicine and made him a pioneer of medical computer science. His path led him in time from 1966 to 1969 to USA at the University of Texas and the University of Missouri. There Reichertz Peter led the radiological computer research was responsible in a project to create a medical information system in the hospital worked and was director of a general university computer center. In 1969 he returned to Germany and took over the Department of Medical computer science at the Medical School of Hannover, which he designed from the ground up. From that Hannover was one of the centers of medical computer science, nationally and internationally. Peter Reichertz ambition was to reject the medical computer science closely to the core computer science and to create an understanding of the problems and possibilities of each other’s discipline and bring a discussion. The means to do so were joint meetings with the Society for computer science and GMDS to an Advanced Course in Medical Informatics. The external sign is that of him initiated certifi cate ‘Medical Informatics’, which is awarded jointly by the GMDS and GI. From 1975 to 1988 he was also a lecturer at the Technical University of Braunschweig. He was 1976/1977 President of the GMDS, co-founder of the IMIA (International Medical Informatics Association) and EFMI (European Federation for Medical Informatics), as its fi rst president. His work on the international level, the term ‘Medical Informatics’ and its contents signifi cantly aff ected. In his honour, Peter L. Reichertz Instituts für Medizinische Informatik was formed in 2007. It was founded by the Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina on two locations, in Braunschweig and Hannover. Founding goal was the formation of a regional cluster of excellence. Interesting facts! • He spoke English as his second mother tongue, French and Japanese. • He held a pilot licence for passenger transport. • He initiated the use of term „ medical informatics“.