Prof. Dr. Walter Bruchhausen
Co-Director, Bonn; Co-Lead RGs Community Engagement + Zoonosis
Walter Bruchhausen studied Medicine, Catholic Theology, and Philosophy (Health Care Ethics) at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, and the University of Glasgow.
After working as a physician in Germany, Senegal, Rwanda, and Zaire (now the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo), he became a research associate, assistant professor, senior assistant, and adjunct professor at the universities of Bonn, Aachen, and Cologne.
In 2004, he completed his habilitation, becoming the first person in Germany to qualify in the field of History, Anthropology, and Ethics of Medicine. Since 2010, he has taught Global Health—initially at his home universities and later also in Hamburg and Düsseldorf.
In 2020, he was appointed to the newly established endowed professorship for Global Health – Social and Cultural Aspects at the University Hospital Bonn. Since then, he has headed the Global Health Section there and has led the international continuing education program for the MSc in Global Health.
Research Focus
Building on his medical experience in African and Asian countries, as well as his engagement with ethnomedicine—known in the English-speaking world as Medical Anthropology—he has conducted research on the development of medical pluralism in East Africa; the relationship between religion and health; health care systems in Africa, China, and India; medical development cooperation in both former German states; Global Health and medical ethics; intercultural ethics; and interculturality in health care delivery.
In the Section of Global Health, which he leads, these research interests are complemented in particular by work on One Health (in collaboration with the Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung (ZEF), where he serves as a Senior Fellow) and Global Clinical Care, with working groups on Global Oncology, Global Child Health, and Global Surgery.
International research collaborations are maintained with universities in Ghana and India.
He is a member of the Steering Committee of the German Alliance for Global Health Research (GLOHRA) and heads its Global Health Academy.
Awards
- German Africa Prize (Sponsorship Award), 2008
- Teaching Award of RWTH Aachen as patron of the student initiative Global Health
Research Areas
- Health Systems & Governance
- Global Health Ethics & Human Rights
- Medical Anthropology, especially Healing and Health Seeking Behaviour
- Global Health History, especially in Africa (East & West) and Germany (West & East)
- Religion/Spirituality and Health