1972 - 1977| Professor of Neurobiology

Hans Thoenen (*1928, † 2012) studied medicine at the Universities of Bern and Innsbruck and worked in various institutes in Bern, Basel and Gent. In 1972, he was appointed leader of the neurobiological research group at the newly established Biozentrum in Basel. In 1977, Hans Thoenen was appointed director of the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich and led the department of Neurochemistry. The main emphasis of his research was the examination of the occurrence and the triggers of neurotrophic factors, in particular of neurotrophins. Thoenen was a member of various national and international academies such as the National Academy of Science, USA. He received an honorary doctorate of the Universities of Würzburg and Zurich.