Paul Huber

Paul Huber, Chairman of the Board of the Surgical University Hospital Innsbruck from 1956 to 1971, died on 30 December 1975. On 28 February 1925 he received his doctorate at the University of Innsbruck. His professional training as a surgeon took place at the Pathological-anatomical Institute of the University of Vienna under Prof. Maresch, at the IV. Medical Department of the Vienna General Hospital under Hofrat Kovács and from 1 January 1927 as an assistant at the Surgical University Clinic Innsbruck under Prof. Ranzi. In 1928 he was delegated to the German Hospital in London (Chief Physician Dr. Rast) for one year. Huber received further surgical training at the Surgical University Clinic in Innsbruck until the summer of 1932. In the autumn of 1932, he followed Prof. Ranzi, who had been appointed to the board of the first Surgical University Clinic in Vienna, as an assistant at the first Surgical Clinic in Vienna. In 1937 Huber habilitated in surgery. After the retirement of Prof. Ranzi in 1938, Huber remained an assistant at the clinic under Prof. Schönbauer until the end of the war. In May 1945 he was appointed to the board of directors of the surgical department at the Kaiserin Elisabeth Hospital in Vienna. In the same year the Vienna Medical Faculty awarded him the title of extraordinary university professor.

In 1956 Huber was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Surgical University Clinic in Innsbruck as successor to Prof. Breitner. With the takeover of the Innsbruck teaching pulpit, the imperative task arose of tackling, building and completing the new building of the Surgical University Hospital. In addition, he had to fulfil the duties of doctor, scientist and teacher associated with the office of the clinic board. Those who knew Huber know that he fulfilled all these duties with the utmost conscientiousness. The opening of the new, the largest surgical clinic in Austria in December 1968 was the crowning achievement of his professional life. In further pursuit of Breitner's ideas, Huber had already begun in previous years to subdivide the field of surgery by creating independent sub-areas in the form of his own teaching pulpits. During his time as a board member, the first independent institute of this kind in Europe was established, namely Anaesthesiology.

This was followed - now in alphabetical order - by pulpit training in geriatric surgery, neurosurgery, nuclear medicine, orthopaedics, plastic and reconstructive surgery, trauma medicine and urology. With this, he has broken new ground for the German-speaking world. He was convinced that only professional recognition by creating his own teaching pulpits could guarantee the necessary development of the special disciplines. However, he has always regarded and maintained the inner cohesion of all these subjects as indispensable.

from Acta Chirurgica Austriaca, "Prof. Dr. Paul Huber in Memory"

In his honour the Paul Huber Lecture is held every year in December with a lecture by a leading scientist in the field of surgery or oncology.