Karl-Dietrich Sievert MD, PhD, FACS, FRCS

Professor Karl-Dietrich Sievert serves as Chair in Neuro-urology and Reconstructive Urology at Klinikum Lippe in Detmold Germany, where he was recruited to lead the new start-up medical university urology department.  Previously he was the Vice Chair of Urology for more than 10 years at the University Hospital of Tübingen.  Throughout his career he has initiated four interdisciplinary pelvic floor continence centers, which today are the standard of care (Urology, OBGYN, Neurology, General Surgery, Geriatric, Physiotherapy), which he considers a key element of patient care. 

Professor 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 and the Urology and Nephrology Center in Mansoura, Egypt with Professors Emil Tanagho and Tom Lue and Professors Mohamed Ghoneim and Hassan Abol-Enein, respectively.  Professor Sievert has been 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 and certified DaVinci Console Surgeon.  His strong interest in minimal-invasive surgery has led him to lead trials in new medical devices as well as publish a well-recognized series of publications in prostate anatomy.

Professor 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 a European School of Urology faculty member, where he is an opinion leader and lecturer and surgical trainer.  At the European Association of Urology, he is both 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 resulting in several patents.  He introduced critical treatment features and research into the clinic for spinal cord injured patients (BG-Clinic Tübingen).  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 have been explored in the large animal model.  He has initiated novel pharmacological clinical trials.   His long-term knowledge of stem cell research and tissue engineering have been recognized linking his clinical treatment knowledge and interest in basic research (tissue regeneration, functional recovery, pharmacotherapy, neuromodulation).   He is one of the few experts in the urological field that is both a urologists and basic researcher in reconstructive urology.  In recent years he became one of the few clinical urologic experts in the stem cell and tissue-engineering field who has focused on the real-time process of bringing research initiatives from the laboratory to clinic.