Professor Hermann Doose died on April 23, 2018 after a short illness at the age of
90 years, leaving his family, friends, and former colleagues at a great loss. He was
a founding member of the neuropediatric society in Germany and a major proponent of
pediatric epileptology during the second half of the last century. He pioneered in
genetic epilepsies of childhood and the genetics of EEG traits and made many lasting
contributions to pediatric epileptology. His name stays inseparably connected with
Myoclonic Astatic Epilepsy, which also bears the name “Doose syndrome.”
Hermann Doose was born in September, 1927 in Lübeck, North Germany, as the son of
a surgeon and a gynecologist. In Lübeck he visited the local gymnasium, until he was
drafted at the age of 16 to serve at an antiaircraft gun during the last year of the
war. One day he fell off the platform, broke his leg, and was transferred to a hospital.
This finally made him the only survivor of the crew of students. He studied medicine
in Kiel and Freiburg, followed by a postgraduate training in physiology, pathology,
and finally pediatrics. In pediatrics he turned to neurology and epileptology after
his residency. He started the first EEG laboratory in Kiel and finished his professorial
thesis on the “Spectrum of Petit-Mal Epilepsies in Childhood” in 1963.
Professor Doose was head of the Department of Pediatric Neurology in Kiel, from 1975
until his retirement in 1992. His ambition for better treatment and comprehensive
care for children with epilepsy made him establish the North German Epilepsy Center
in 1972. He personally designed every detail of the building starting from the size
of the rooms down to the position of every single power socket. In the following years,
many hundreds of children with epilepsy benefited from his great clinical knowledge
and his ambition to improve the fate of every single patient. Until the last weeks
before his death he continuously received letters and phone calls from former patients
who had stayed in personal contact with him for decades. Hermann Doose was a charismatic
and dedicated teacher, who managed to attract many young doctors toward the field
of child neurology and pediatric epileptology, thereby spreading his knowledge throughout
the country. But he was also known as an almost relentlessly tough worker who sometimes
pushed himself and his coworkers beyond their limits. At times, this self-inflicted
work load and perfectionism took a toll on his health and family life.
Many of his publications stem from times before the days of PubMed, which makes a
precise number difficult to obtain. However, it must lie beyond 250 by a margin. He
also authored many books and book chapters. In the years between 1965 and 1998, his
publications contributed decisively to the delineation of juvenile absence epilepsy
(1965), myoclonic-astatic epilepsy, that is, Doose syndrome (1970), infantile absence
epilepsy (1994), and infantile grand mal epilepsy (1998), now recognized as Dravet
syndrome. At the age of 60, he decided to write a comprehensive textbook on pediatric
epileptology in paperback format, so that every resident would be able to carry it
in his white coat pocket and put it to use at bedside. When he was unable to find
a publisher who agreed on the low book price he proposed, he published it privately.
Today, this book, now named “Dooses Epilepsies in Childhood and Adolescence,” is available
in its 13th edition.
Hermann Doose was president of the German chapter of the ILAE and the Society of Neuropediatrics.
He received several prices, among them most namely the Michael price in 1963, the
Berger price in 1985, and the Otfrid Foerster medal in 2004. In 1975, he was named
“Ambassador for Epilepsy” by the ILAE. In 1974 he also founded a fundraising society
for research on childhood epilepsies that is still active today (“Hilfe für das anfallskranke
Kind”).
Hermann Doose is survived by his wife, two children, and their families. He will be
remembered as a great scientist and an empathic clinician by colleagues, friends,
and patients.
