Photo Credit: © Charité/ Maria Streltsova
Berlin, 02.06.2025
Prof Peter Kühnen has set standards with his research into genetic obesity. On 1 June, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin appointed the renowned expert in hormonal disorders in childhood and adolescence to the Chair of Paediatrics with a focus on endocrinology and diabetology. This is linked to the management of the clinic of the same name, which Peter Kühnen took over at the end of 2022.
Based on basic scientific analyses, the paediatrician has succeeded in helping young people with a genetic form of obesity with a new treatment method. The treatment, a therapy with the appetite suppressant setmelanotide, has been approved in the EU since 2021 and is available to those affected on prescription. Peter Kühnen was honoured with the Paul Martini Prize in 2020 for this success. According to the jury’s statement, he has identified exemplary new molecular mechanisms of obesity and translated the findings into a therapy for patients. His work is therefore a prime example of targeted translational development.
In his role as Director of the paediatric endocrinology clinic, Peter Kühnen wants to extend this close interlinking of research and clinical care – known as translation – to other diseases. This is because endocrinology deals with a wide range of diseases that are influenced by hormonal processes in the body. These include, for example, disorders of insulin action and secretion such as diabetes mellitus, growth disorders, thyroid diseases or variations in sexual development, as well as many other so-called rare diseases that affect no more than one in 2,000 people.
Particularly complex: researching and treating rare diseases
‘We want to find out how genetic and epigenetic mechanisms contribute to the development of metabolic disorders and other rare hormonal diseases in order to use this knowledge to develop new drug treatment approaches,’ says Peter Kühnen. His aim is also to establish innovative diagnostic procedures. This is particularly relevant for rare diseases, whose diagnosis and treatment are a particular challenge. The physician also contributes his expertise in this area to the Berlin Centre for Rare Diseases (BCSE), whose paediatrics team he will continue to head.
In future, Peter Kühnen wants to focus even more on interdisciplinary collaboration, particularly in the area of rare diseases and prevention, for example to favourably influence or prevent the development of obesity in children and adolescents. In doing so, he attaches importance not only to the exchange with other specialist areas, but also to the dialogue with other basic scientists. Another central concern of the clinic he heads is to support the next generation of medical and scientific talent. This includes, for example, the promotion of young clinician scientists, i.e. researching doctors, or the further development of teaching formats and content in order to optimally impart medical knowledge to students.
Short biography
Peter Kühnen, born in Munich in 1977, studied human medicine in Würzburg, Zurich and at the Charité in Berlin. After completing his doctorate at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg in 2005, he worked as a junior doctor and scientist at the Institute of Experimental Paediatric Endocrinology at Charité. From 2013 to 2016, he was a fellow of the Clinician Scientist Programme, which Charité runs together with the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) to enable doctors to pursue a clinical-scientific career. A specialist in paediatrics and adolescent medicine since 2014, Peter Kühnen habilitated in 2018 and was awarded a Heisenberg Professorship by the German Research Foundation in 2019. In 2021, he obtained the additional qualification in paediatric endocrinology and diabetology. His excellent research is funded by a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). His numerous awards include the Galenus von Pergamon Prize (2018) and the Paul Martini Prize (2020), endowed with 50,000 euros. Peter Kühnen has been Head of the Department of Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology at Charité since December 2022.
About the Department of Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology
The Department of Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology at the Charité offers comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of all endocrine, i.e. hormonal, diseases and all forms of diabetes in children and adolescents. This includes common diseases such as obesity and growth and development disorders as well as rare to very rare diseases. The clinic operates the Berlin-Brandenburg Newborn Screening Laboratory, which supports and organises early detection measures for serious diseases in newborns and children. At the clinic, medical staff together with experts in diabetes counselling, nutritional therapy, nursing, social work and psychology provide individual, multidisciplinary outpatient and inpatient care for young patients. Treatment is based on the latest scientific findings, to which the clinic itself also contributes in its research groups.
About the BCSE
Charité’s Berlin Centre for Rare Diseases (BCSE) pools the expertise of Charité’s numerous specialist departments to make it accessible to patients with rare diseases. It helps them to find the right specialist contacts as quickly as possible and to obtain an interdisciplinary diagnosis for unexplained complaints. The BCSE works in two teams with different age focuses (BCSE paediatrics and BCSE adults). Experts from the various fields of paediatrics and adolescent medicine as well as adult medicine deal with enquiries from the entire spectrum of rare diseases.