Mini Symposium Remembering Franz Halberg

This symposium is a remembrance of the life and work of Franz Halberg, who pioneered work in chronobiology while at the University of Minnesota. Franz coined the term circadian. His results were widely published, including a 1969 citation classic. He will be further remembered for showing that timing cancer treatment according to marker rhythms improves outcomes both in terms of heightened efficacy and lesser undesired side effects; for showing that the effect of a calorie consumed varies if it is consumed at breakfast vs dinner; and for his work in preventive cardiology by screening for abnormal patterns of blood pressure variability. Corresponding circadian timed treatment more than halved the risk of stroke and other adverse cardiovascular events.

Franz strove to introduce timing for diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and first and foremost prevention into clinical practice. At 93 years of age he was still active 7 days a week in the Halberg Chronobiology Center at the University of Minnesota, which continues his work.

HCC

Franz held professorships in Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Physiology, Biology, Bioengineering, and Oral Medicine at the University of Minnesota. He was an honorary member of the Romanian Academies of Science and Medical Sciences; received honorary doctorates from the University of Montpellier (France), Ferrara (Italy), Tyumen (Siberia), Brno (Czech Republic), L’Aquila (Italy), and People's Friendship University of Russia (Moscow, Russia). Franz was also an elected member of the prestigious Leibniz Society, and of the International Academy of Science. His achievements in the new field of chronomics earned him the O.Yu. Schmidt Medal and diploma for outstanding merits in development of geophysics, the first such award given to a non-physicist. He was also a recipient of a lifetime career award from the National Institutes of Health.

AAMCC