About us
Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) and the Medical Faculty Heidelberg (MFHD) are of the oldest and at the same time most innovative and renowned University Hospitals and health care institutions worldwide. The most complex established medical procedures are performed in Heidelberg, world leading bio-medical researchers develop novel and innovative treatments and dedicated lecturers lead the way in medical teaching.
Resolute in Excellence
External audits have repeatedly confirmed the outstanding quality of care at Heidelberg University Hospital. In addition to legally required quality reports the medical center voluntarily participates in further quality initiatives which have shown excellent results. Heidelberg University Hospital has repeatedly been named one of the best hospitals in the world. In the latest edition of the "World's Best Hospitals 2024" ranking, which was compiled by the US magazine "Newsweek" in cooperation with the statistics and market research organization "Statista", it was ranked 15th worldwide.
Clinician scientists and bio-medical researchers in Heidelberg constantly develop innovations in the field of medicine. The Medical Faculty Heidelberg has gained international reputation for scientific excellence as illustrated by the amount of external funding it has attracted for collaborative research centres, research units, and national and international joint projects. And for many years medical students in Heidelberg achieved the best results nationwide in the state examination for medicine, underlining the exceptional quality for medical teaching in Heidelberg as well as the faculties appeal for young talent.
Medical Hub with a long standing history
The state-of-the-art medicine performed at UKHD and MFHD today is built upon a long tradition: The city of Heidelberg has through the centuries been a beacon of light for scientific progress in medicine as well as a beacon of hope for those struck by serious disease. And Heidelberg has been the scenery for may brilliant ideas that grew to be live saving therapies, long-term improvements of the health-care system, major breakthroughs in the understanding of human body and mind or noval approaches for medical teaching.
Today UKHD and MFHD are surrounded with several world renowned bio-medical research facilities that over time gravitated towards Heidelberg and the medical excellence of its University. Among them the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) or the Max Planck Institute für Medical Research (Max Planck Institut für Medizinische Forschung, MPIMF).
Rethink and Reshape the Healthcare System
In close cooperation with its local and international partners UKHD and MFHD constantly employ innovative projects such as the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT Heidelberg) that upon founding was the first Comprehensive Cancer Center in Germany and till date is one of the most impactful translational oncological research facilities. Encouraged by this success the Dietmar Hopp Children’s Cancer Center at Heidelberg (Hopp Kindertumorzentrum Heidelberg, KiTZ) was founded in 2016, a pioneering therapy and research center for oncological and hematological diseases in childhood and adolescence. Since 2023 UKHD and MFHD stand at the center of the Health + Life Science Alliance Heidelberg Mannheim (HLSA). Supported by the State of Baden-Württemberg seven outstanding university life science research institutions of the Rhine-Neckar region around Heidelberg join forces in the HLSA for the translation of research to patient care and the transfer into technological applications. In doing so, the HLSA aims to lay the foundation for a new leading industry.