Concept
Peter Propping (21 December 1942 – 26 April 2016) was a German human geneticist. The scientific work of Propping spans genetically complex diseases, especially affecting brain function such as alcoholism, manic depressive disorders, schizophrenia, epilepsy, and in addition hereditary cancer predispositions. He also studied the history of human genetics and eugenics. From 1984 to 2008 he was director of the Institute of Human Genetics of the University of Bonn. Propping studied medicine at the Free University of Berlin from 1962 to 1968, receiving his MD degree in 1970 based on experimental work in pharmacology. After having received his license to practise medicine, he became a research assistant at the Institute of Anthropology and Human Genetics of the University of Heidelberg. From 1980 to 1983, Propping was a Heisenberg fellow for psychiatric genetics of the German Research Council. During this time he worked both at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim and at the Institute of Anthropology and Human Genetics of the University of Heidelberg. From 1984 to 2008, Propping was a full professor of human genetics and director of the Institute of Human Genetics of the University of Bonn. He was dean of the faculty of medicine from 1990 to 1992, and vice rector for research of the University of Bonn from 1994 to 1996. In 1995 he received the newly introduced recognition as a specialist in human genetics by the German Medical Association. From 1991 to 1997 he coordinated the research programme on "Genetic factors in psychiatric disorders" of the German Research Council, and from 1996 to 2004 he was speaker of the graduate college "Pathogenesis of disorders of the central nervous system". From 1999 to 2012 Propping coordinated the German HNPCC consortium supported by the German Cancer Aid. From 2006 to 2008 he chaired the German Society of Human Genetics. After becoming an emeritus in 2008, he was named senior professor by the rector of the University of Bonn.