Prof. Dr. med. Michael Stumvoll
Clinical Programme Director, Helmholtz Institute for Metabolic, Obesity and Vascular Research (HI-MAG) and Professor of Medicine/Director of Medical Department 3 (Endocrinology, Nephrology, Rheumatology), University of Leipzig Medical Centre
Prof. Dr. med. Michael Stumvoll
Clinical Programme Director, Helmholtz Institute for Metabolic, Obesity and Vascular Research (HI-MAG) and Professor of Medicine/Director of Medical Department 3 (Endocrinology, Nephrology, Rheumatology), University of Leipzig Medical Centre
Academic Career
Michael Stumvoll is the Founding Director of the HI-MAG. Together with Matthias Tschöp, they developed the concept to enhance the cooperation between Helmholtz Munich, a world leader in basic research of metabolic diseases, including obesity and type 2 diabetes, and Leipzig University Medical Centre, a worldrenowned clinical research institution in metabolic medicine. The HI-MAG has been established to research new treatment options for obesity and its co-morbidities through clinical trials following the bedside to bench to bedside approach. To achieve this objective, Michael, as the Clinical Programme Director, ensures patient access for HI-MAG, allowing it to conduct clinical studies at the University of Leipzig Medical Centre, primarily with research questions in metabolic diseases. He is overseeing all clinical studies and projects within the clinical trial unit of HI-MAG. Together with the clinician scientists and the three HI-MAG professors, Michael is developing new concepts for translational medicine in metabolism, altering energy metabolism, improving the microbiome, understanding the role of the brain in eating behaviour.
Michael studied Medicine at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and obtained his MD under the supervision of Prof. Dr. E. Ernst in 1990. After spending two years in NHS hospitals in the UK as Medical House Officer, Michael continued his medical training at the University Medical Centre Tübingen, Germany, where he completed his residency in internal medicine and endocrinology. During this time, he went abroad several times, including stays at Scripps Research, La Jolla, USA and the University of Rochester, New York, USA. Upon completion of his “Habilitation” in 2001 at the Unviersity of Tübingen, Michael went to the National Institutes of Health, where he worked as an Adjunct Investigator in the Clinical Diabetes and Nutrition Section, Phoenix, Arizona, USA. In 2004, Michael was appointed professorship of internal medicine/endocrinology at the University of Leipzig and became the director of the Divisions of Endocrinology, Nephrology and Rheumatology at the Leipzig University Medical Center. Since then, Michael has significantly strengthened and advanced Leipzig’s expertise in metabolic medicine, specifically by establishing the DFG research group “Atherobesity” in 2006 and the IFB “AdiposityDiseases” in 2011 from which HI-MAG evolved.
Michael’s reasearch focuses on endocrinonolgy and metabolism, genetics and heredity, nutrition and dietetics, as well as biochemistry and molecular biology.
Research Areas and Expertise
Regulation of glucose metabolism, the pathogenesis and treatment of Type-2-Diabetes, the kinetics of insulin secretion, measuring and understanding insulin resistance, mathematical modelling of the oral glucose tolerance test, the genetics of diabetes and obesity, neuroendocrine control of appetite and adipose tissue as a secretory organ and recently the role of the microbiome in diabetes and obesity
Important Career Steps
Clinical Programme Director of the Helmholtz Institute for Metabolic, Obesity and Vascular Research (HI-MAG) of the Helmholtz Zentrum München at the University of Leipzig
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Leipzig University
Medical Chairmann (Vorstand), University Mecical Center Leipzig
Founding Director of the Helmholtz-Institute for Metabolic, Obesity and Vascular Research (HI-MAG), Leipzig
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Leipzig University
Professor of Medicine (C4)
Chief of Endocrinology, Diabetology, Nephrology
Medical Director, Divisions of Endocrinology, Nephrology & Rheumatology, University Medical Centre Leipzig
Adjunct Investigator, Clinical Diabetes and Nutrition Section, National Institutes of Health, Phoenix, USA (Dr. C. Bogardus)
Honors and Awards
Member of
the Saxonian Academy of Science
since 2017Werner-Creutzfeld Award
German Diabetes Association (DDG)
2014Minkowski Award
European Association for
the Study of Diabetes (EASD)
2003Heisenberg Fellowship
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
2002Ferdinand-Bertram-Award
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
2002
Selected Publications
See all2018 The Lancet
2008 New England Journal of Medicine
Weight Loss with a Low-Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low-Fat Diet
2005 The Lancet
2000 Diabetes Care
Use of the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test to Assess Insulin Release and Insulin Sensitivity
1995 New England Journal of Medicine
Metabolic Effects of Metformin in Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes mellitus
Networks and Affiliations
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