Professor Karl-Dietrich Sievert serves as Section Director in Neuro-urology and Reconstructive Surgery at the Klinikum Lippe in Detmold Germany. Previously he was the Vice Chair of Urology for more than 10 years at the University Hospital of Tübingen. In his career he has initiated four interdisciplinary pelvic floor continence centers that he considers a key element of standard patient care (Urology, OBGYN, Neurology, General Surgery, Geriatric, Physiotherapy). He introduced these primary pillars into the field of research for spinal cord injured patients into the clinic. This approach became the basis for SCITReCS (Spinal Cord and Tissue Regeneration Center) at the PMU in Salzburg, where new ways of enhanced SCI treatment are being explored in the large animal model. His extensive knowledge of stem cell research and tissue engineering were a great benefit linking his clinical treatment and influencing his basic research (tissue regeneration, functional recovery, pharmacotherapy, neuromodulation).
KD Sievert received his medical degree from the Ruprecht-Karls-University Medical School in Heidelberg and the University Clinic of Mannheim in Germany where he wrote his doctoral dissertation “Selective Sacral Root Stimulation by using sinusoidal signal and specific organ frequency for the physiological bladder evacuation” under the direction of Professor Peter Alken. He completed fellowships at the University of California’s Urology Department with Professors Emil Tanagho and Tom Lue and at the Urology and Nephrology Center in Mansoura, Egypt with Professors Mohamed Ghoneim and Hassan Abol-Enein. KD Sievert has been highly recognized for his surgical expertise by both the American (FACS) and Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS). In addition to his leading knowledge in the field of reconstructive, functional and oncological urology, he built his expertise as a highly skilled laparoscopic surgeon as well as a certified DaVinci Console Surgeon.
KD Sievert has participated in numerous visiting professorships and international training courses, published in the fields of oncology, neuro-urology, incontinence, and reconstructive surgery and is a board member of urological and reconstructive surgery organizations. He has received funding and awards for his teaching and research and is a recurring meeting contributor for both his clinical and basic research work to the local and international community, such as the German, European, American Urology Associations, and International Continence Society, including State-of-the-Art presentations in oncology, incontinence, tissue engineering and stem cell treatments. After hosting the ESFFU-ERGURS meeting 2011 and 2013 and the 2012 AuF, Germany’s Urology Research meeting, he served Co-Chairman of the Global Congress on Lower Urinary Tracy Dysfunction meeting in Vienna, Austria 2016. Since 2007, Professor Sievert has been a Medical State Examiner (Part 2 and 3) for the German Medical licensing authorities. He is also a European School of Urology (ESU) faculty member, where he is an opinion leader, lecturer and surgical trainer. At the European Association of Urology, he is a Master Class and European Urology Residents Program Faculty Member.
Professor Sievert’s clinical and basic research interests include oncology (investigation of advanced detection tools and reduced invasiveness for improved functional outcome using anatomical and clinical findings), neuro-urology (diagnosis and treatment of urological nerve disorders), incontinence (pathophysiology), reconstructive surgery (medical devices, tissue engineering and stem cell treatments), pharmacotherapy and progressive and innovative treatment of spinal cord injured patients, such as early SNM implantation, which he won a 2010 Klee Innovation Prize award which resulted in several patents. He has initiated novel clinical trials. In recent years he became one of the few urologic experts in the stem cell and tissue-engineering field who has focused on the real-time processes of bringing research initiatives from the laboratory to clinic.