Otto Roth Award 2018

Dr. Lousia Bolm is awarded for her outstanding doctoral thesis on "The role of tumor-associated fibroblasts, desmoplastic stromal response, and translational prognostic factors in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and ampullary carcinoma".

Dr. Bolm started her PhD in 2013, investigating the role of tumor-associated fibroblasts (connective tissue cells) in pancreatic cancer and ampullary carcinoma in laboratory and clinical studies.
The focus is on the interaction between tumor cells and tumor-associated fibroblasts and their effects on the therapy of patients with pancreatic cancer. It has been shown that tumor-associated fibroblasts have a negative impact on overall survival. Furthermore, these cells significantly influence the local spread of tumor cells and thus have a decisive influence on the operability of the tumor and the extent of resection.
The results could be published in five papers in international surgical journals and were presented and discussed by Dr. Bolm at numerous national and international congresses such as the German Surgical Congress or the American Pancreasclub.

Dr. Louisa Bolm studied at the University of Lübeck from 2011 to 2017 with clinical stations at the University Hospital Dresden, Vienna`s General Hospital and Memorial Slon Kettering Cancer Center in New York. She received the Walter Brendel Award of the German Society for General and Visceral Surgery for her PhD in March 2018 and continues her research on tumor-associated fibroblasts in pancreatic cancer and supervises clinical and laboratory experiments.

The Otto Roth Award is the Medical Faculty`s annual award for an outstanding doctoral thesis donated by the Society of the University`s Alumni with an amount of 2.500 Euros.
It is named after Professor Otto Roth (1863-1944), the University`s first specialized surgeon. He became head of the Clinic of Surgery in Luebeck`s General Hospital (1897-1933) and collaborated with Heinrich Dräger (1847-1917) for the development of the world world-famous Dräger-Roth anaesthetic apparatus, allowing the thrive of modern anaesthesiology.