Maike Rotzoll

Maike Rotzoll serves as Professor of History of Pharmacy and Medicine at the Institute for the History of Pharmacy and Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy at Philipps University of Marburg since 2022. Previously, she held academic leadership positions at the Institute for History and Ethics of Medicine at Heidelberg University (2005-2022), including Academic Director (2020-2022) and Acting Director for Institutes in Halle and Heidelberg (2016-2018). Her extensive career bridges medical practice, historical research, and ethical reflection on medicine's darkest chapters.

• MD studies at Lübeck and Heidelberg (1983-1991)
• Medical residency and psychiatry training at Heidelberg University Hospital (1991-2001)
• PhD in Medical History at Lübeck (1994, summa cum laude)
• Board certification in Psychiatry (1998)
• Habilitation in History, Theory, and Ethics of Medicine (2014)

Rotzoll's research centers on the history of medicine under National Socialism, particularly psychiatric practices, euthanasia programs, and institutional care. She examines art from psychiatric contexts, drug testing in institutions, anatomical collections, and early modern medicine. Her work analyzes how medical institutions functioned during totalitarian regimes and how they transformed in post-war Germany, with special attention to ethical implications for contemporary medical practice. She approaches historical analysis through biographical, institutional, and comparative frameworks.

Her recent publications reveal a sustained focus on the medical crimes of National Socialism and their afterlives in post-war German institutions. Rotzoll's scholarship demonstrates remarkable continuity in examining the T4 euthanasia program while expanding into post-war institutional care, drug testing on vulnerable populations, and the development of psychiatric practices in both East and West Germany. Her work increasingly incorporates art historical perspectives, particularly through analysis of the Prinzhorn Collection, examining how artistic expression from psychiatric contexts challenges historical narratives.

• 2008 Research Prize 'Ärzte in der NS-Zeit' by Federal Ministry of Health, German Medical Association, and National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians for the book 'Das Vergessen der Vernichtung ist Teil der Vernichtung selbst'

Rotzoll leads and participates in significant research projects addressing historical injustices in medical institutions. As co-leader of the DFG project 'Normal#verrückte Kunst' (2021-present), she investigates artistic works from psychiatric contexts after 1945. Her BMAS project (2017-2020) documented suffering and injustice experienced by children in psychiatric institutions from 1949-1990. She serves on multiple scientific advisory boards for memorial sites including Hadamar and Kaufbeuren-Irsee, ensuring historical accuracy in commemorative practices. Rotzoll's Lancet Commission work connects historical analysis with contemporary medical ethics education.

Rotzoll serves as chair of the Friends of the Prinzhorn Collection association (since 2014) and participates in the Historical Commission of the German Society for Child and Adolescent Medicine. Her leadership in the Arbeitskreis zur Erforschung der nationalsozialistischen 'Euthanasie' (since 1993) has been instrumental in advancing research on Nazi medical crimes. Through her work with the Prinzhorn Collection at Heidelberg University Hospital, she bridges historical research with contemporary artistic and therapeutic practices.