Pioneers, partnerships, professional athletes

A doctor avatar as a second opinion expert, researching rare diseases with multi-omics analyses or what VIPs have to do with the future of transplant medicine. These were just some of the many exciting topics on Thursday evening, January 23, 2025, at the "Pack ma's" New Year's event for all Munich Rotary Clubs at St. Vinzenz-Haus on the LMU Klinikum's city center campus. Together with paediatrician Dr. Nicola Pape-Feußner from the Rotary4Hauner initiative, Prof. Markus Lerch, Medical Director of LMU Hospital, hosted the entertaining and informative evening with prominent discussion partners in front of around 200 guests. The motto was "what is already possible today and what awaits us". Josephine Marie Kohlpaintner, violin, and Ivana Svarc-Grenda, piano, provided the musical accompaniment to the event.

Rotary4Hauner has been supporting the Neue Hauner, the future pediatric and adolescent clinic on the Großhadern campus, since 2013. From 2030, the Clinics for Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery of the Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital will provide care for patients there with their departments and outpatient clinics. Almost 200 beds will be available for inpatient care. In addition to medical equipment, such a facility, in which the interaction between parents and children and the medical and nursing staff plays a central role, also needs facilities that offer children and young people space and opportunities to retreat.

Auction with DFB co-trainer Sandro Wagner

There is already a great deal of social commitment to this. Right at the forefront: the Rotary Clubs from Munich and the surrounding area. Dr. Nicola Pape-Feußner from RC München-Münchner Freiheit worked at "Hauner" for eleven years and is now a practising doctor. "We have already collected 500,000 euros since the start of our initiative. And we also raised another 10,000 euros at the Pack ma's evening." A spontaneous auction initiated by Prof. Markus Lerch also contributed to this. Sandro Wagner, sponsor of the New Hauner, had brought along a DFB jersey with the signatures of all the current national team players as a gift. Prof. Karl-Walter Jauch, former Medical Director of the LMU Hospital and member of the Rotary Club Munich, bought it at auction for 1,500 euros. His commitment was a matter close to his heart, the jersey will go to "my grandson", he said enthusiastically afterwards.

A pioneer in transplantation medicine is Prof. Eckhard Wolf, spokesman of the Collaborative Research Center Xenotransplantation. Together with the heart surgeons at the LMU Clinic led by Prof. Bruno Reichart and Prof. Christian Hagl, current head of the clinic, the researchers are working on a pig heart that can be implanted into a human recipient without an immunological rejection reaction and free of potentially harmful retroviruses. Prof. Wolf: "We are now so far along with our donor pigs that we want to start a clinical pilot study and a small group of patients from 2027," said the veterinarian and geneticist Wolf, adding "If this succeeds, then the term V.I.P. may take on a whole new meaning: Very Important Pigs."

Rotary Auction with DFB Assistant Coach Sandro Wagner

Pig Hearts for Humans? The Future of Xenotransplantation

Heart Received, Valves Donated

The importance of such advancements is impressively demonstrated by the story of Romina. The now 12-year-old received a new heart at the LMU Klinikum Großhadern – and she donated two heart valves from her own heart, helping others in the process. Prior to the transplant, she had to wait for a new organ for one and a half years in the pediatric intensive care unit in Großhadern, supported by a heart-assist device known as the Berlin Heart. During this time, she lacked, for example, a “space where she could quietly do her homework or a wall to climb,” said the young student. This is exactly why donations, like those from Rotary4Hauner, are so crucial. Equipment that helps children and their families creates a positive atmosphere during long hospital stays, enabling patients to cope with daily life and recover.

Another pioneer is PD Dr. Sarah Kim-Hellmuth from the Children's Clinic at the Dr. von Haunerschen Kinderspital. Her specialty is rare diseases, of which there are about 8,000. A disease is considered rare when no more than five out of 10,000 people are affected. Often, multiple genetic factors combined with environmental factors cause severe diseases. "To better understand these and then help the patients, we use what's called multiomics analysis," explained Kim-Hellmuth. This refers to proteins (proteome), metabolites (metabolome), the genome (DNA), and the gene transcripts (transcriptome).

A New Heart – and Two Heart Valves Donated

Understanding Rare Diseases – High-Tech Diagnostics with Multiomics

An Avatar as a Doctor

The most controversial topic was presented by Prof. Wolfgang Böcker, Director of Trauma Surgery and the Musculoskeletal University Center Munich (MUM) at LMU Klinikum: "Artificial Intelligence in Doctor-Patient Conversations," for example, when obtaining a second opinion for a knee joint prosthesis. The idea: Instead of another doctor's visit at a practice or clinic, the start-up DocRobin, in collaboration with experts, offers consultation via Artificial Intelligence. During the live presentation, there were some technical difficulties, but the medical expertise of the avatar was solid.

However, Dr. Marianne Koch, a physician, medical journalist, and former actress, was somewhat skeptical about this. She missed the exchange between doctor and patient in digital medicine, as well as the personal relationship that could also have a healing effect, as she assured.

Prof. Natalie Albert also relies heavily on technology. The nuclear medicine specialist demonstrated how she tracks cancer in the body. "Basically, I can act like a detective, searching through the body layer by layer across all organs to understand what's happening. All I need is a cube of sugar, a pinch of uranium, and a good camera," she explained to the audience.

Overall, the nearly three-hour event provided plenty of material for discussion, which continued afterward at a reception with a flying buffet, sparking lively conversations. The Rotary4Hauner community was certainly impressed, as emphasized by the two presidents of Rotary Munich-Münchner Freiheit, Christian von der Linde, and Rotary Munich-Blutenburg, Barbara Denfeld, at the end of the event.

Artificial Intelligence in Doctor-Patient Conversations – Future or Risk?

Dr. Marianne Koch on the Role of AI Avatars in Medicine

On the Trail of Cancer – High-Tech Diagnostics in Nuclear Medicine

On March 11, 2025, the groundbreaking ceremony for the New Hauner will take place at the Großhadern Campus. Present at the event will also be the Bavarian Prime Minister Dr. Markus Söder and Bavaria's Minister of Science Markus Blume.