Friedrich Paulsen

Born in Kiel in 1965; Abitur and nursing training in Braunschweig; member of the Braunschweig cult band Bolle Boyz until 1988, studied human medicine at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel (CAU); internship (AiP) at the University Clinic for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery; assistant physician at the University ENT Clinic and the Institute of Anatomy at the CAU; 2001 habilitation in anatomy with Prof. Dr. med. Bernhard Tillmann; 2002 and 2003 research stays of several months at the Department of Ophthalmoloy, University of Bristol, UK. 2003 Appointments to C3 professorships in anatomy at LMU Munich and MLU Halle-Wittenberg; founding of a training centre for clinical anatomy in Halle. Further appointments to full professorships at the universities of Saarland, Tübingen and Vienna as well as at the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), where he has been Professor of Anatomy and Institute Director since 2010. From 2016 to 2022 first Vice-President for Teaching, then Vice-President People and thus part of the university management at FAU. Editor of the journal Annals of Anatomy since 2006 and member of the IMPP expert committee since 2014.

Honorary member of the Anatomical Society (Great Britain and Ireland) and the Societatea Anatomistilor (Romania). Since 2006 Secretary of the Anatomische Gesellschaft; from 2009-2019 Secretary General of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomy (IFAA), the international umbrella organisation of anatomists. From 2021-2023 President of the European Federation of Experimental Morphology (EFEM), the umbrella organisation of European anatomists. From 2018-2022 Visiting Professor at the Department of Topographic Anatomy and Operative Surgery at Sechenov University (Moscow/Russia) and Visiting Professor at Wroclaw Medical University (Wroclaw/Poland) and Khon-Kaen University (Khon-Kaen/Thailand). Numerous scientific awards, including Dr Gerhard Mann SICCA Research Award, SICCA Research Award of the Professional Association of Ophthalmologists of Germany, Golden Lion of the German Ophthalmic Surgeons, Commemorative Medal of Comenius University Bratislava as well as several awards for excellent teaching. 2022 Honorary Doctorate of the Carol Davila University Bucharest, 2023 Honorary Doctorate of the Grigore T. Popa University, Iasi, Romania and Honorary Citizen of the City of Iasi.

His research interests are broad, but a central focus is on the ocular surface, the lacrimal system and dry eye, where he is also internationally renowned. In addition, he also works on topics such as arthrosis of large limb joints, mechanical influences on the brain, questions about the larynx, general anatomical questions and questions about the influence of micro- and nanoplastics on the human body.

In anatomical teaching, Friedrich Paulsen attaches great importance to students actually being able to work on body specimens in the dissection course. "Dissecting your own body is not only extremely important for the three-dimensional understanding of anatomy and forms the basis for practically every medical subject, in the dissection course you also experience the feel of the body, the organs and the individual tissues for the first time and in most cases also deal intensively with the topic of death and dying as well as the clinical causes of death for the first time. In the team, you learn not only anatomy, but also how to deal with a special situation. You will never have such close contact with your fellow students and teachers again later on.