Professor Björn Brücher, Editor-in-Chief of 4open, appointed Member of the European Academy of Science and Arts

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Published on 28 March 2019

The German cancer surgeon and researcher is honored for his contribution to cancer research

With his election as a full member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea), Professor Brücher is one of a handful of scholars who deal with issues relevant to Europe in an interdisciplinary and cross-border manner. Among the approximately 2,000 members of the Academy worldwide, there are 32 Nobel Prize winners.

Brücher comes from Germersheim am Rhein, Germany, studied human medicine in Mainz, and completed parts of the course in Bradford, Edinburgh and Oxford. After his graduation together with his doctorate in 1993, he completed his surgical training at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) as Specialist in Surgery 2001 and Surgical Oncology 2005. He earned his habilitation in 2001 with successful clinical and molecular biology projects together with the TUM and the Helmholtz Centre in Munich in 2003. He spent a DFG funded molecular biology research visit at the largest cancer research center, the MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, Texas, USA. Brücher leaded the cancer surgery team at the University Hospital in Tubingen from 2007 to 2012. In 2008, he was appointed Professor of Surgery, founded the Theodor Billroth Academy and co-founded in 2013 its international consortium for scientific excellence, INCORE. Professor Brücher received numerous national and international awards such as the Karl-Heinrich-Bauer Cancer Research Award, various poster prizes and the prestigious Theodor-Billroth-Award by the Austrian Society of Surgery. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (F.A.C.S.), and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (F.R.C.S. Engl.). In 2012 he received honorary membership by the Israeli Society of Surgical Oncology (ISSO).

In 2012, Brücher was recruited to the Bon Secours Cancer Institute in Richmond, Virginia, USA. In addition to these accomplishments, Brücher served in multiple leadership and administrative research capacities over the past two decades while holding a Distinguished Fellowship and Professorship of Ethical Leadership of the New Westminster College in Vancouver, Canada. Additionally Professor Brücher serves as ambassador of the European Association of Cancer Research (EACR) since 2013 and was elected as one of the Leading Physicians of the World - Top Surgical Oncologist, Cancer Patient Care & Research Specialist" by 'The International Association of Oncologists' in 2014 and was invited as an expert of the AJCC (American Joint Cancer Committee) for the new cancer classification. In 2014 he published with his colleague Dr. Ijaz Jamall, Sacramento, California a new plausible complex cancer hypothesis. Both have added an entirely unanticipated level of complexity to our understanding of carcinogenesis and cancer.

Due to a familial stroke of fate he resigned from clinical and research positions (2013-2014) at the Bon Secours Cancer Institute, Richmond, Virginia, USA. Following a sabbatical until spring 2015, he now serves as Deputy Chair at the Department of Surgery, Carl-Thiem-Klinikum in Cottbus, Germany. In 2017, Professor Brücher became Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (F.R.S.B.) and he was appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the new interdisciplinary scientific journal 4open, published by EDP Sciences. The re-certification by the German Cancer Society in 2018 attested excellent results to the Visceral Oncology Center which he supervises.

Brücher serves the entire spectrum of general and cancer surgery and is an expert in the field of tumors of the digestive tract and in research on carcinogenesis and metastases.

Professor Brücher is among the founding Editors-in-Chief of 4open and has been involved in the journal since 2017. He is the Editor-in-Chief for Life Sciences – Medicine and is currently preparing a special issue on carcinogenesis which will be published shortly. His first editorial “Science belongs to no one—and to everyone” launched 4open in December 2017. “As is true for most human endeavors, science has power. With power come responsibilities. Good science involves finding helpful solutions to existing problems. Great science involves asking questions not immediately answerable and addressing the challenges, which must be proclaimed clearly and openly discussed and debated.” 4open congratulates Professor Brücher on his election to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and feels sure he will make a positive contribution to the academy alongside other leading scientists, artists, and practitioners of governance.

"Science belongs to no one—and to everyone" – read the full editorial here