Bochum, 25. Oktober 2025:

Der renommierte Diabetologe Prof. Werner Waldhäusl ist am 22. Mai 2025 in Wien verstorben. Er war jahrzehntelanger Weggefährte des Referenten (H.S.), zuerst während der gemeinsamen Zeit an der Universität Wien im Allgemeinen Krankenhaus, Waldhäusl an der an der I. und H.S. an der II. Medizinischen Klinik. In der Folgezeit begegneten sie sich auf praktisch allen diabetologischen Kongressen und Veranstaltungen rund um die Welt.   Werner Waldhäusl amtierte 1985 – 1995 als Präsident der 1969 von Alois Beringer in Wien gegründeten “Föderation der Internationalen Donausymposia über Diabetes mellitus (FID)”. Der Referent H.S. bezog als FID-Präsident (2003 – 2009)  das Baltikum in die Gesellschaft ein und benannte sie “Zentraleuropäische Diabetesgesellschaft”. Sein Nachfolger Michael Roden, inzwischen von Wien nach Düsseldorf gewechselt, wählte die englische Bezeichnung “Central European Diabetes Association (CEDA)”, weil bei den letzten Kongressen nicht mehr wie ursprünglich die deutsche, sondern zunehmend die englische Sprache verwendet wurde.

Werner Waldhäusel, Jahrgangskollege des Referenten und nur wenige Tage vor ihm geboren, hätte am 17. September 2025 seinen 88. Geburtstag gefeiert.

Michael Roden verfasste einen Nachruf, der hier mit seiner Genehmigung  gepostet werden soll.

***

Obituary

Univ. Prof. em. Dr. Werner Waldhäusl, 27 September 1937–22 May 2025

Werner Waldhäusl, long-time past-president of the FID/CEDA, recently passed away in Vienna, Austria, survived by his wife, Marianne his sons, his brother and their families.

Born in Leipzig, Germany, Werner moved to Austria in early childhood, where he went to school and university. After graduation as medical doctor in Vienna and an internship in a hospital in Lower Austria, he early on moved to research, first at the Department of General and Experimental Pathology and later at the 1st Medical University Clinics. Based on the isolation of a non-dialysable active pressor principle, which he reported together with Professor Meinrad Peterlik in Nature 1967, we continued his hypertension research between 1968 and 1970. Upon return to Vienna, he founded the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetology at the 1st Medical University Clinics. He also chaired this clinic from 1987 until 1992, where became chair and director of the Department of Medicine III and its Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the new General Hospital of Vienna. But even after his retirement, he continued working first as vice-rector of the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and then as the head of a diabetes rehabilitation clinic.

During his scientific life, we interested in many fields of diabetes. His contributions range from the human (patho)physiology of the interplay between insulin secretion and glucose disposal, e.g. by reporting splanchnic C-peptide production and the relative roles of peripheral versus hepatic insulin resistance during post-prandial hyperglycemia to clinical management, e.g. functional insulin treatment and the role of hypo-osmolar fluids during severe hyperglycemia.

These efforts led to prestigious awards, such as the Claude Bernard Prize from the EASD, the Paul Langerhans Medal from the German Diabetes Association and the Von Mering Gold Medal from the German Diabetes Center (DDZ), but also important positions in scientific associations, such as the presidency of the Austrian Diabetes Association (ÖDG), vice presidency of EASD and – many of us will remember editorship of Diabetologia.

Here, we remember Werner as the longest-term president of FID/CEDA, at these times termed the “Internationale Föderation der Donausymposia über Diabetes mellitus“, a term he very much liked to keep. Indeed, he served as “Vorsitzender“  for four times from 1985 or 1986 to 1995, when organized the 13. Symposium in Vienna – my first personal contact with CEDA. After his terms as president, he remained continuously interested in the development of CEDA, not only by suggesting interesting congress venues such as the cloisters along the river Danube to create a special atmosphere during the meetings, but also repeatedly highlighting the great potential of CEDA. This, we briefly summarized in the “History and Tasks of the Federation of International Danube Symposia on Diabetes mellitus (FID)/Central European Diabetes Association (CEDA)” some years ago, which comprise the common Central European history and culture, the bilingual – let´s now say: multilingual – basis of communication and the enormous medical and scientific talent in Central Europe. His strong committment to CEDA is best illustrated by the fact that two of his former coworkers, also became its presidents, myself and more recently Professor Thomas Stulnig, who organized the CEDA Congress 2022 in Vienna, the last meeting Werner attended. We still remember the nice evening in a Viennese “Heurigen”, where most previous president got together with CEDA family. So let´s keep Werner Waldhäusl in our memories as a great diabetologist and supported of our association.

Michael Roden^1,2,3

¹Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany

²Institute for Clinical Diabetology, German Diabetes Center, Leibniz Center for Diabetes

³Research at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Partner Düsseldorf, München-Neuherberg, Germany.
Michael.Roden@ddz.de