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About Berta Ottenstein

Prof. Dr. Berta Ottenstein (1891 - 1956) was an important dermatologist. In 1931 she was the first woman to habilitate at the University of Freiburg. Due to her Jewish descent she had to leave the university in 1933. She first emigrated to Hungary, where she worked at the clinic of the Royal Hungarian Pázmány Péter University in Budapest from 1933-1935. From 1935-1945 she headed the chemical laboratory of the Dermatology Clinics Istanbul. After the war she went to the USA. Since she was not allowed to practice as a doctor there, she worked in Boston as a research fellow in dermatology in the Dermatology Department of the New England Medical Center. In 1951 she was appointed Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Freiburg.

Berta Ottenstein's outstanding scientific achievements as well as her remarkable practical clinical work and patient care are the reason for choosing her name for the Clinician Scientists Program established at the Faculty of Medicine in October 2016. The Clinician Scientist Program is designed to promote early-career clinicians by creating protected research time beside their patient-care duties during medical specialty training.

In memory of Berta Ottenstein, an important Freiburg scientist, the Senate of the University of Freiburg named the Women's Promotion Prize after her in September 2005. The 5000 Euro prize, which is awarded annually, is an expression of the appreciation of special structural measures and innovative projects to promote the concerns of female students and scientists and the outstanding scientific achievements of women. Further information (German only).