Dr. Gert Schulze, M.D. (1941-2013). In memoriam.

Dr. Gert Schulze was born in Dresden. He studied human medicine at the Free University of Berlin in West Berlin, graduating with a doctorate on June 23rd 1972 with a thesis entitled “Investigations on the impact of 6-aminonicotinamide upon monoaminergic mechanisms in the rat brain and body temperature of rats”. His advisor was Professor Helmut Coper who had been appointed founding director of the Institute of Neuropsychopharmacology by the Free University in 1967. As the first research associate of Coper’s team, Gert Schulze established the working group Geriatric Neuropharmacology. The starting point of the group was the observation that aged patients may react in a paradoxical way to antipsychotic medication. Dr. Schulze begun his scientific work by studying body functions that reacted in an age-dependent manner in response to treatment with antipsychotic drugs. The motor function of adult and aged rats was chosen as the initial model. Later, he focused on the model of body temperature, challenging the adult and aged rats with very low and extremely high environmental temperatures. His central conclusion from these studies was that in aged individuals the capacities of compensation mechanisms were impaired and therefore were no longer able to cope with such extreme challenges. These mechanisms are not specific for thermoregulation alone but are composed of multiple brain functions with the common task to compensate for a failing body function to restore an appropriate equilibrium. This was a highly novel and important outcome as it was in contrast to earlier views and opened up a new avenue of research. Dr. Gert Schulze supervised several medical students while conducting experiments as part of his studies in geriatric neuropharmacology. They all graduated successfully with a medical degree from the Free University. For several decades he was involved in teaching medical students in basic pharmacology both at the Free University and later at the Charité. The long lasting collaboration with Polish colleagues was one aspect of his research that was particularly close to his heart.