Lutz-Henning Block, MD
Medical University of Vienna
Vienna, Austria

Presentation Title
Neuropeptides in the Treatment of Pulmonary Diseases (Summary of Presentation)

Dr. Block is chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine IV, Pulmonary Division, at the University of Vienna, a position he has held since 1992. Prior to this appointment Dr. Block served as vice chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine, Pneumology Section, at the University of Freiburg (1987-1992) and assistant professor at the Kantonsspital of the University of Basel (1982-1987).

Dr. Block earned his medical degree in 1973 at the University of Würzburg and from 1974 to 1976 pursued postdoctoral studies at the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany. He then came to New Haven, Connecticut and completed two fellowships at Yale University School of Medicine, first in the Department of Pathology (1976-1977) and then in the Department of Medicine (1978-1979).

In 1985 Dr. Block received the Paul-Martini-Award for pharmacology and in 1989 the Krupp Prize. Since that time Dr. Block’s primary research interests have been in the molecular mechanisms of drug treatment for asthma and in novel approaches to the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. He and his colleagues demonstrated on a molecular level the mutually beneficial effects of steroids and a long-acting bronchodilator for the treatment of asthma, leading to a now-established combination therapy. More recently he has suggested the use of vasoactive intestinal peptide, a systemic and pulmonary vasodilator, as a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension.