HPV Vaccines for Cervical Cancer: Past, Present and Future

Abstract

Harald zur Hausen speaks to Emily Hargrave, Commissioning Editor: Harald zur Hausen studied medicine at the Universities of Bonn, Hamburg and Dusseldorf (Germany) and received his MD in 1960. After his internship, he worked as a postdoc at the Institute of Microbiology in Dusseldorf, subsequently in the Virus Laboratories of the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia where he was later appointed as Assistant Professor. After a period of 3 years as a senior scientist at the Institute of Virology of the University of Wurzburg, he was appointed in 1972 as Chairman and Professor of Virology at the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg. In 1977, he moved to a similar position to the University of Freiburg. From 1983 until 2003, he was appointed as Scientific Director of the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (German Cancer Research Center) in Heidelberg. He retired from this position in 2003. He has received a number of national and international awards, among them the Robert-Koch-Price, the Charles S. Mott Price of the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, the Federation of the European Cancer Societies Clinical Research Award, the Paul-Ehrlich-Ludwig Darmstadter-Price, the Jung-Price, Hamburg, the Charles Rudolphe Brupbacher Price, Zurich, the Prince Mahidol Award, Bangkok, the Raymond Bourgine Award, Paris, the Coley-Award, New York, the Life Science Achievement Award of the American Association for Cancer Research, San Diego and the Nobel Prize for Medicine, 2008. He has received 30 honorary doctorates and is an elected member of various academies. A large number of special lectures and visiting professorships, memberships in editorial boards and active involvements in the organization of international meetings complement his curriculum.