Stefan R. Bornstein (November 5, 1961 in Oberstdorf, Germany) is the director of the Centre for Internal Medicine and the Medical Clinic and Policlinic III at the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus of the Technical University of Dresden as well as the medical faculty's vice dean of international affairs and development and a member of the supervisory board of the University Hospital of Dresden. Furthermore, he is chair and honorary consultant for diabetes and endocrinology at King's College London. Previously, Bornstein worked as assistant director and professor of endocrinology at the University Hospital of Düsseldorf, as unit chief at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland and held the Heisenberg-scholarship of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
Bornstein is known primarily for his pioneering work on the stress system. He was the first to investigate the interactions of the two central stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol in healthy as well as sick individuals in close collaboration with Nobel Prize laureates such as Andrew V. Schally and Rita Levi Montalcini Recently, Bornstein co-developed new therapeutic approaches to diabetes in preclinical and clinical stages. He has authored more than 500 publications and textbook articles with more than 12,000 citations, won numerous prizes and holds honorary professorships at universities in Europe, Asia and the USA. He is a member of the German Science Association (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) and the German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina (Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften)
2018 he received the order of merit of the first class of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz 1 Klasse) from the President Frank Walter Steinmeier.
Biography and family
Bornstein was born in Oberstdorf, Germany, in 1961 as one of four siblings. His parents were textile merchants (Stoffversand Bornstein). In the late 19th century, the Bornstein family emigrated to the United States, only to return to Germany shortly before World War I in which Stefan R. Bornstein's grandfather was honored with the Iron Cross. During the Nazi regime, many members of the Bornstein family both from the father's and mother's side were persecuted. Stefan R. Bornstein's grandfather, Max Bornstein, survived the Theresienstadt concentration camp but died shortly after World War II. Other relatives fled to England or the USA. Richard Lindner, an uncle of Bornstein's became a famous painter in the US and a trailblazer of American Pop-Art. A cousin married into the Belgian royal house, becoming Princess Léa of Belgium. His grandmother on the maternal side Rosa Haas was a famous Opera star in Vienna. The international background of the family and the travelling required for their textile business introduced Bornstein to different cultures and languages at a young age. Professor Stefan R. Bornstein has two sons and was married to Monica Ehrhart-Bornstein, a well-known neurobiologist and molecular endocrinologist. She died in October 2015. Stefan got married again with Nitzan Bornstein a native from Tiberias, Israel and he has one daughter from his second marriage.
Education
Bornstein took his German Abitur at the Gertrud-von-le-Fort-Gymnasium in Oberstdorf as class winner and studied medicine at the University of Ulm/Germany from 1982 to 1988. He did his practical year at the University of Miami, US, supervised by Maxwell McKenzie. In addition to his German state examination he holds the American Medical Licence ECFMG as well as the British license to practice medicine GMC-UK. He did his residency at the University Hospital Ulm under Ernst-Friedrich Pfeiffer and Professor Guido Adler during which he had a short research internship at the Biochemistry Department of the South West Medical Center, University of Texas, US, with Michael Waterman. 1994 he earned his Certificate of Completion of Training of internal medicine and in 1996 the sub-specialization of Endocrinology and Diabetology. From 1994 to 1997 he had an assistant professorship at the Department for Internal Medicine at the University of Leipzig with Werner Scherbaum. In 1995 he received his state doctorate in cooperation with the IZKF at the University of Leipzig. From 1996 to 1997 and 1998 to 1999 he held the Heisenberg-scholarship of the German Science Association; later he became unit chief under Prof. George P. Chrousos at the National Institutes of Health.