Career
Particle therapy had already been performed in United States of America and Japan using protons, carbon, and other light ions. Gerhard Kraft introduced it in Europe, with two significant innovations: raster scanning and biological treatment planning. Under his direction, 440 patients were treated from 1997 to 2008 at Graduate Student Instructor. Therapy now continues at the HIT center in Heidelberg using the system introduced at Graduate Student Instructor. Professor
Kraft is currently Helmholtz Professor, an honorary position awarded by the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres in Germany to scientists with outstanding reputation.
Gerhard Kraft got his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Cologne with a study of energy loss of carbon ions in matter. After a two-years fellwoship at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Berkeley, California, United States of America) under the supervision of Cornelius A. Tobias, he went back to Germany with the idea of using high-energy carbon ions to cure cancer.
Since 1981 he started his work on heavy-ion radiobiology and radiotherapy at Graduate Student Instructor, and the treatment room was completed in 1997. The last patient was treated in 2008.
Gerhard Kraft is currently supporting new heavy ion therapy centers in Marburg and Kiel.
