“From the First Heartbeat to a Healthy Life” – Prof. Dr. Renate Oberhoffer, Vice Dean of the School and Former Dean of the Faculty, Delivers Farewell Lecture

After more than three decades at the Technical University of Munich and more than 15 years as Professor and head of the Chair of Preventive Pediatrics, Prof. Dr. Renate Oberhoffer bid farewell to TUM with her final lecture. Under the title "From the First Heartbeat to a Healthy Life," she reflected on her scientific career and demonstrated why prevention forms the foundation of lifelong health across all stages of life.

Numerous colleagues from academia, medicine, and the healthcare sector came to the TUM Olympic Park Campus to bid farewell to Prof. Oberhoffer. The university leadership was also represented at the event: Vice President Prof. Dr. Claudia Peus, Vice President Prof. Dr. Gerhard Kramer, Chancellor Albert Berger, and Prof. Dr. Stephanie Combs, Dean of the School of Medicine and Health, were all in attendance.

The event was hosted by Dr. Christiane Peters and Dr. Thorsten Schulz, the two longest-serving research associates at Prof. Oberhoffer's Chair of Preventive Pediatrics. The event opened with welcoming remarks from long-standing colleagues and scientific partners. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Locher, Secretary General of the Munich Medical Association (Ärztlicher Verein München e.V.), emphasized: "Inaugural and farewell lectures have a long tradition at the Munich Medical Association. We are delighted that Prof. Oberhoffer is continuing this tradition with her farewell lecture. It is a wonderful expression of her close connection to the Medical Association and Munich's scientific community. Prof. Oberhoffer, you stand in the tradition of the great pediatrician Napoleon August von Hauner (1811–1884)."

Prof. Dr. Stephanie Combs, Dean of the TUM School of Medicine and Health, highlighted Prof. Oberhoffer's contribution to the development of the School in particular: "Renate Oberhoffer played a key role in shaping the TUM School of Medicine and Health during a pivotal phase of its development. Through her commitment to prevention, interdisciplinarity, and the promotion of early-career researchers, she has left a lasting mark on our School. Our collaboration has always been characterized by trust, mutual respect, and open, collegial exchange, for which I am deeply grateful. You are the face of this TUM campus."

Following this, Prof. Oberhoffer was presented with the Angela Molitoris Diversity Award. The award recognizes members of the Technical University of Munich who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to equal opportunities and diversity. It was presented by Prof. Dr. Claudia Peus. In her laudatory speech, the Vice President for Talent Management and Diversity said: "Angela Molitoris was TUM's first Chancellor and a true pioneer. You too, dear Renate, have been a pioneer at our university – as a physician, as Dean, and as Vice Dean for Talent Management and Diversity. You have never regarded diversity as an abstract guiding principle, but as a lived responsibility. Through your commitment to talent development, equal opportunities, and a culture of appreciation, you have left a lasting impact on TUM. The Angela Molitoris Diversity Award is therefore more than a well-deserved recognition of your extraordinary dedication."

Prof. Dr. Joachim Hermsdörfer, Head of the Department Health and Sport Sciences, then paid tribute to Prof. Oberhoffer's lasting influence on the development of the Department – particularly during her tenure as Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, Vice Dean, and Dean: "With great foresight, Renate Oberhoffer established prevention as the unifying element of our Department. She created structures, initiated collaborations, and laid the foundation for many developments from which we continue to benefit today. As Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, she successfully implemented the demanding reform introducing Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes, thereby setting an important course for the future. I would also like to highlight her tremendous commitment to establishing TUM Sport and Health for Life, a project she played a decisive role in advancing. For all of these achievements, she deserves our heartfelt thanks."

Prof. Dr. Christine Joisten, President of the German Society of Sports Medicine and Prevention, emphasized that Prof. Oberhoffer's scientific influence extends far beyond TUM: "Renate, you have played a defining role in shaping sports medicine for many years. By establishing the Chair of Preventive Pediatrics, you created something unique in Germany. Your work has had an impact far beyond TUM and has fundamentally changed our understanding of prevention."

Dr. Sinann Al Najem, Head of Prevention and Research at the German Heart Foundation, also highlighted the significance of her work for cardiovascular medicine: "How can children grow up healthy? This question has shaped your entire scientific and medical career. You have always approached prevention from the perspective of children's needs – with the goal of enabling healthy children to become healthy adults. Projects such as 'Kids to move!' are exemplary of this approach because they translate scientific findings directly into clinical practice. For you, science was never an end in itself, but always a means of making a tangible difference in the lives of children and their families."

The evening then featured a special highlight: a gymnastics performance by the USC Munich children's competitive gymnastics teams, led by Jenny Grob and Frank Grob, which vividly reflected the event's central theme – physical activity as the foundation of a healthy life.

The highlight of the event was, of course, Prof. Oberhoffer's final lecture. In it, she traced the arc from her early work in pediatric cardiology to her research on cardiovascular prevention across the entire lifespan. Since 2008, she had held the Chair of Preventive Pediatrics at TUM. Together with her research group, she investigated risk factors for cardiovascular disease in children and adolescents and developed prevention and intervention programmes for children and adolescents with chronic illnesses, particularly patients with congenital heart defects or those recovering from cancer. Her scientific credo was clear: the foundations for lifelong health are laid in early development.

Alongside her research, Prof. Oberhoffer also played a key role in shaping the development of TUM through a number of leadership positions over many years. From 2008 to 2017, she served as Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, followed by one year as Vice Dean, and from 2018 to 2023 as Dean of what was then the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences. During this period, prevention became the Faculty's unifying scientific guiding principle. She oversaw the expansion of the Prevention Center, was responsible for the appointment of eight professors, and played a decisive role in the merger of the Faculties of Sport and Health Sciences and Medicine to form today's TUM School of Medicine and Health. Since 2023, she has served as Vice Dean for Talent Management and Diversity, where she has been committed to promoting early-career researchers and fostering an appreciative and inclusive research culture.

On September 30, Prof. Oberhoffer will step down both as Chair of Preventive Pediatrics and from her position as Vice Dean for Talent Management and Diversity at the TUM School of Medicine and Health. However, she will remain part of the TUM University Hospital. As Head of Fetal Cardiology at the Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Disease at the German Heart Center Munich, as well as at the Mother and Child Center of TUM University Hospital, she will continue her clinical work.

Dr. Till Lorenzen, Managing Director of the TUM School of Medicine and Health, then paid tribute to Prof. Oberhoffer's many years of outstanding dedication: "Dear Renate, you led our former Faculty with remarkable strategic foresight and played a decisive role in advancing this location both academically and organizationally. Looking back, it is fair to say that nothing better could have happened to the Faculty during the merger than to have you guiding the process. With great skill, you brought together two distinct academic cultures, overcame reservations, and built trust. In doing so, you laid the foundation for today's TUM School of Medicine and Health. Above all, you consistently reminded us that prevention and physical activity are central pillars of modern medicine—or, as we all know today: exercise is the best medicine. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your loyal and trusting collaboration."

At the end of the event, Prof. Renate Oberhoffer addressed the audience with a few personal words and concluded her farewell lecture by saying: "Things were not always easy or straightforward, but it has brought me great joy. One constant throughout my scientific and professional journey has been the desire to build connections: between people, between disciplines, and between research and clinical practice. Fortunately, there have always been allies and people who shared my passion for prevention. In pediatric cardiology in particular, we know that every second counts when it comes to congenital heart defects. That is why I firmly believe that vascular health begins with the very first heartbeat, and that science only unfolds its true impact when it reaches people.

My wish is that we place children's health even more firmly at the center of our actions. Children's health is not an expense—it is an investment with the longest time horizon and the highest return that any healthcare system can make. To achieve this, we need a strong Department of Pediatrics at TUM, a strong network for child and adolescent health in Munich, reliable structures with dedicated funding for prevention, early diagnostics, easily accessible counselling services, and excellent medical care for children and adolescents. I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has accompanied me on this journey."

To the homepage of the Chair of Preventive Pediatrics

Contact

Prof. Dr. Renate Oberhoffer
Vice Dean for Talent Management and Diversity
Chair of Preventive Pediatrics
Am Olympiacampus 11
80809 Munich

Phone: +49 89 289 24570
Email: renate.oberhoffer(at)tum.de

Text and photos: Bastian Daneyko