Lothar Heinz Wieler (born 8 February 1961) is a German veterinarian and microbiologist who served as president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) from 2015 to 2023.^[1] In this capacity, he advised the German Federal and State Governments on topics of public health, especially infection hazards, and on the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2]

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Quick Facts Born, Nationality ...

Lothar H. Wieler
Born	Lothar Heinz Wieler (1961-02-08) 8 February 1961 (age 63) Königswinter, West Germany (now Germany)
Nationality	German
Scientific career
Fields	Veterinary medicine Microbiology
Website	www.rki.de/SharedDocs/Lebenslauf/Wieler_Lothar_H.doc

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Wieler was born in Königswinter, Germany. He studied veterinary medicine at Free University of Berlin and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich from 1980 to 1985.^[3]

From 1998 until 2015, Wieler worked as professor and director of the Institute of Microbiology and Epizootics at the Free University of Berlin. During that time, he spent a sabbatical at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Hinxton under the supervision of Gordon Dougan.^[3]

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, Wieler launched Europe’s first large-scale SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing in an effort to help researchers assess infection rates and monitor the spread of the virus more effectively; the study was carried out jointly by the Robert Koch Institute, Charité and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research.^[4]

In addition to his role at RKI, Wieler was a member of the World Health Organization's Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Infectious Hazards (STAG-IH) since 2018.^[5] In 2020, he chaired the WHO's Committee for the Review of the International Health Regulations.^[6] Also in 2020, he was appointed to the Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, co-chaired by Sheikh Hasina and Mia Mottley.^[7]

Since 2023, Wieler has been working at the Hasso Plattner Institute.^[8]

• Virchow Prize for Global Health, Member of the Council (since 2022)^[9]
• World Health Organization (WHO), Member of the European Advisory Committee on Health Research (since 2018)^[10]
• Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board (since 2016)
• Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Member of the Board of Trustees^[11]
• Robert Koch Foundation, Member of the Scientific Advisory Council^[12]

• 2024 Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany^[13][14]