Written by Wolfgang Steiner
Curriculum vitae
(2018)
Wolfgang Steiner, MD, Göttingen, Germany
Professor em. HonFRCS of England
Wolfgang Steiner was born in Crailsheim, Germany in 1942. In 1969 he graduated from Medical School at the University of Erlangen/Nürnberg. He trained in internal medicine and general surgery and achieved his M.D. degree in 1971.
From 1971 to 1986 he worked at the ENT University Hospital in Erlangen (Chairman: Professor Malte Erik Wigand) completing his ENT specialisation in 1975. He has been a member of the senior staff since 1978. He qualified for lecturing in ENT 1979. He became Associate Professor 1985.
Dr. Steiner was Professor and Chairman of the ENT Department at the University of Göttingen from 1986 to 2007.
He is a past president of the ENT-Society of North-West Germany (1987/1988), of the German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (1997-1998), of the German Society of Endoscopy and Imaging Techniques (2000-2001) and past chairman of the oncological study group of the German ENT Society (1992-1996).
He was honorary president of the annual meeting of the German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery in Nürnberg 2013.
He is the pioneer of organ preserving Transoral Laser Microsurgery (TLM) for cancer of the Upper Aerodigestive Tract (UADT) and of selective neck dissection (N0-2) in carcinoma of the larynx, oro- and hypopharynx since 1979.
His life’s work has been acknowledged in a review of Harris et.al. “Transoral laser surgery for laryngeal carcinoma” has Steiner achieved a genuine paradigm shift in oncological surgery?” Ann R Coll Surg Engl 2018, 100:2-5. The article comes to the conclusion that his contribution to the surgical management of laryngeal cancer constitutes a conceptual breakthrough and hence a true paradigm shift in oncological surgery.
He has authored more than 200 journal publications in different languages and has been editor or co-editor of several books. His manual on Laser Surgery for the UADT, with special focus on cancer, was published in German in 1996 and in English by Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart, Germany in 2000.
“Transoral Laser Microsurgery for Cancer of The Upper Aerodigestive Tract” – a “how I do it “ brochure with DVD (over 60 case presentations) Wolfgang Steiner, Göttingen, Germany / Edited by David Howard, London, Great Britain
Endo Press 2017 Karl Storz Tuttlingen,
He has travelled extensively around the world to demonstrate his technique and present his results in numerous international meetings, workshops and surgery courses.
63 national and international courses on laser microsurgery with special regard to cancer of the Upper Aerodigestive Tract had been performed in Göttingen from 1990 to 2007.
Furthermore, he was a teaching member of several laser courses in different countries: Argentina, Australia, England (Royal college of surgeons, London) Finland, India, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, and Taiwan.
Guest Speaker of ENT and Head and Neck Societies in: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus, Czechia, Egypt, Finland, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, North England, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, and the USA.
Special Lectures:
Frank Lamberson Lecture, 1999, University of Ann Arbor, USA
Sholem-Kay Lecture, 2000, The South African Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Sun City/South Africa
Philip Stell Lecture, 2001, North of England Society of Otolaryngology, Lancaster/UK
Daniel C. Baker Lecture, 2002, American Laryngological Association, Boca Raton/USA
Joseph Ogura Lecture, 2002, Washington University, St. Louis/USA
Chevalier Jackson Lecture, 2003, The American Broncho-Esophagological Association, Nashville/USA
Eugene N. Myers, International Lecture in Head and Neck Cancer, 2003, American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation, Orlando/USA
Albert C. Muse 1st Annual Lecture, 2003, University of Pittsburgh Ear & Eye Foundation, Pittsburgh/USA
Felix Semon Lecture, 2004, Royal College of Medicine, London/UK
Hiranandani Lecture, 2007, 7th National Conference of the Foundation for Head and Neck Oncology, Mangalore/India
Wilson Lecture, 2007, The Chinese University of Hong Kong ENT Conference, Hong Kong/China
He is honorary member of the Austrian, German, Hungarian, Polish, South African and Spanish ENT-Society, of the Foundation for Head and Neck Oncology of India, of the South African Society of Head and Neck Oncology and of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
He is a corresponding member of the American Head and Neck Society, the American Laryngological Association, the American Broncho-Esophagological Association and of several national and international societies for Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Endoscopy, Minimally Invasive Therapy and Laser Surgery. He was also a member of the Advisory and Editorial Board of several national and international scientific journals.
Several national and international professional honors and awards, especially for his pioneering work in endoscopic mass screening (Hufeland-Preis,1984) and transoral laser surgery for organ preservation in cancer of the Upper Aerodigestive Tract (Haymann-Preis, 1997)
Presidential Citation of the American Head and Neck Society, San Francisco 2000
Albert C. Muse Prize for “Excellence in Otolaryngology”, Pittsburgh 2003
Ludwig Tuerck Medaille of the Austrian ENT Society, Linz/Austria, 2004
National Award 2005 of the German Cancer Society for Clinical Oncology
Przemyslaw Pieniazek Medaille of the Polish Otolaryngology Society, Lublin 2004
Presidential honorary Citation at the 1. Congress of the Confederation of the European Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (CEORL-HNS), Barcelona 2011
Dr. Fritz Erler scientific prize of the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg for “Excellence in Transoral Laser Microsurgery of malignant tumors of the Upper Aerodigestive Tract” 2012
“Guest of honor” of the world congress on larynx cancer in Australia (Cairns) 2015 (Closing remarks)
Dr. Steiner has been married to his wife Grazia since 1966. They have three sons: Robert, Christian and Martin and five grandchildren