New faculty spotlight: Bernd Fritzsch, PhD

Bernd Fritzsch, PhD, is a new faculty member at UNMC.

• Name: Bernd Fritzsch, PhD
• Hometown: Crescent, Iowa
• Title and department at UNMC: Professor, UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences

Previous positions:

• Emeritus professor, University of Iowa
• Director, Center on Aging, University of Iowa
• Director, Aging Mind and Brain Initiative, University of Iowa
• Chair, Department of Biology, University of Iowa
• Assistant dean for research, Creighton University
• Director for basic research, Creighton University
• Professor, Creighton University
• Assistant professor, University of Bielefeld, Germany
• Assistant professor, TU Darmstadt

Research, professional or medical interests:

• Ear, brainstem development
• Aging

How I fell in love with my field: I have been working in the ear development, its evolution and its connections from the brainstem for 35 years, and I am still interested in the genetics of the ear and brainstem development and evolution.

Degrees:

• PhD, TU Darmstadt, Germany

Memberships:

• Association for Research in Otolaryngology
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• Society for Neuroscience

Three things people may not know about me:

• I helped my wife to raise Sloughis, for which I was named “Sloughiman.” My simple name was too complicated with a single vowel (Fritzsch).
• For years, I was a gymnast. Since my Achilles tendon was ruptured about four years ago, I still exercise like before and still work to improve flexibility back to normal.
• This will be my last employment after two jobs at Germany and jobs at Creighton University (18 years), University of Iowa (15 years) and now UNMC (since July 1).